ISO 9001:2015Quality management systems
ISO 9001 describes what an organization needs in place to give customers what they asked for, every time, and to keep improving. It does not tell you how to make your product: it asks you to decide how you work, follow it, check the results and fix what is not working. AQC Group certifies to ISO 9001:2015. ISO published a 2026 edition in September 2026, and a certificate to the 2015 edition stays valid during the transition, which ends in September 2029.
A new edition has been published: what it means for you
01At a glance
- Standard
- ISO 9001:2015
- Subject
- Quality management systems
- Certificate
- Issued by AQC Group. Valid for three years, with a surveillance audit each year.
- Often combined with
- ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO 22000
- Facts checked
- 9 October 2026, against iso.org
Who it is for
- Manufacturers whose customers ask for a certified quality system
- Contractors and service companies bidding for tenders that name ISO 9001
- IT and software companies that want a consistent way of delivering projects
- Hospitals and clinics organizing care, records and patient feedback
- Food producers and medical device makers, alongside their sector standard
- Any company with repeated complaints, rework or late deliveries
02What you gain
What certification to ISO 9001 gives you
Meet tender and customer requirements
Many tenders and supplier approval forms ask for certification to ISO 9001. A certificate answers the requirement with independent evidence. Check which edition the buyer names.
Fewer repeated problems
The standard makes you record complaints and defects, find the cause and check later that the fix held. Problems that used to come back are closed.
Work that does not depend on one person
Key steps are written down and people are trained in them. When someone is absent or leaves, the work carries on the same way.
Decisions based on records
You measure a small number of things that matter, such as on-time delivery, defects and customer feedback. Management reviews them on a schedule and decides what to change.
A base for other standards
ISO 14001, ISO 45001 and others share the same structure. Document control, internal audit and management review set up for ISO 9001 can serve them too.
03What it asks of you
What ISO 9001 asks you to have in place
In plain terms and in our words, not the standard's. The standard itself is the authority, and you will need a copy.
Context and scope
Decide what the system covers: which products, services and sites. Write down the issues inside and outside the company that affect your ability to deliver. List who has a stake in your work, such as customers, regulators, owners and suppliers, and what each needs from you.
Leadership
Top management sets a quality policy, assigns responsibilities and takes part in the system, for example by leading the management review. An auditor interviews top management, so this cannot be left to the quality manager alone.
Risks, opportunities and objectives
Identify the risks and opportunities that bear on what you deliver: what could stop you, and what could help you do better. Decide what to do about them. Set quality objectives you can measure, each with an owner and a date. When you change the system, plan the change: why it is needed, what it could affect and who will carry it out.
People, resources and documents
Provide the people, equipment and working conditions the work needs. Show that staff are competent, through training records, qualifications or experience. Calibrate the measuring equipment you rely on. Keep documents under control, so that people use the current version and records can be found when they are asked for.
Customer requirements and design
Before you accept an order, confirm that you understand what the customer wants and that you can deliver it. Record changes to orders and tell the people who need to know. If you design products or services, plan the design, review it, test it against the requirements and keep the results.
Suppliers and outsourced work
Choose suppliers and subcontractors against criteria you have set. Tell them clearly what you need. Check what they deliver and keep a record of how they perform. You remain responsible to your customer for work you outsource.
Production and service delivery
Carry out the work under defined conditions: instructions where a mistake is likely without them, suitable equipment, checks at set points. Identify products so they can be traced where that matters. Release nothing until the planned checks are done. Keep product that fails a check apart and decide what happens to it.
Checking and improving
Monitor customer satisfaction and your own measures. Run internal audits to a programme. Hold management reviews and record the decisions. When something goes wrong, correct it, find the cause, act on the cause and check later that the action worked.
04The audit
How certification to ISO 9001 works
Application and quotation
You tell us your scope, sites and headcount. We quote the audit days the standard's rules require.
Stage 1 audit
A review of your documented system and your readiness. You get a list of anything to settle before stage 2.
Stage 2 audit
The auditor follows your processes on site and samples records, to see that the system is in use and works.
Decision
Nonconformities are answered, the file is reviewed independently of the audit team, and AQC Group issues the certificate.
Surveillance and recertification
A shorter audit in each of the next two years, then a full recertification audit in the third.
What the auditor looks at
- How complaints, defects and other nonconformities are recorded, traced to a cause and closed
- Whether top management knows the policy, the objectives and the latest results, and can show its own part in the system
- Order handling: that requirements were reviewed before acceptance and that changes were recorded
- Control of suppliers and outsourced work, with evidence of how they were evaluated
- Records of competence, calibration and inspection for the work sampled on the day
- Internal audits and management reviews: that they took place, covered the system and led to action
What affects audit time
- The number of employees, which sets the starting point for audit time
- The number of sites and shifts to be covered
- How complex the processes are, and whether you design your own products or services
- Whether other standards, such as ISO 14001 or ISO 45001, are audited in the same visit
NewWhat is changing
The 2026 edition and your ISO 9001:2015 certificate
ISO published a new edition, ISO 9001:2026, on 16 September 2026. It is the sixth edition and it replaces ISO 9001:2015. ISO has withdrawn the 2015 edition as a publication, but a certificate to it is not cancelled, and certification to it continues during a transition period.
AQC Group certifies to ISO 9001:2015, and that is the edition this page describes. A certification body may issue accredited certificates to a new edition only once its accreditation has been moved to it. We confirm the edition your audit will use when we quote.
The rules for the change are set by Global Accreditation Cooperation (Global ACI), which took over the work of the IAF on 1 January 2026. Its transition document gives three years, ending on 30 September 2029. New accredited certificates can be issued to ISO 9001:2015 until 31 March 2028. After 30 September 2029 accredited certificates to ISO 9001:2015 are no longer valid.
The 2026 edition keeps the structure and most of the requirements of the 2015 edition, and Global ACI describes the overall changes as minimal. The wording is clearer. Top management is asked to promote a quality culture and ethical behaviour. Risks and opportunities are handled separately, each with its own actions. Planning a change includes how it will be communicated and how you will check that it worked. Management review looks at changes in what interested parties need. An annex explains what the requirements intend. So a system built to the 2015 edition is adjusted for the new one, not rebuilt.
A certificate to ISO 9001:2015 is moved to the new edition through a transition audit. It can be part of a planned surveillance or recertification audit, or a separate audit. The auditor looks at the changed requirements, at changes in your context and at anything else in your system that has to change. The audit, any corrections and the new certificate all have to be finished before 30 September 2029, so plan it well ahead of that date.
- 16 September 2026
- ISO 9001:2026 published.
- 31 March 2027
- Latest date for accreditation bodies to be ready to assess certification bodies for the 2026 edition.
- 30 September 2027
- Latest date for accreditation bodies to decide on moving each certification body's accreditation to the 2026 edition.
- 31 March 2028
- After this date, new and first-time accredited certificates are issued only to ISO 9001:2026.
- 30 September 2029
- End of the transition. Accredited certificates to ISO 9001:2015 are no longer valid after this date.
05Often combined with
Standards audited alongside ISO 9001
Standards that share a structure can be audited together, in one visit and against one set of documents.
06Questions
Questions about ISO 9001
What does the 2026 edition mean for our ISO 9001:2015 certificate?
Your certificate stays valid during the transition period, which ends on 30 September 2029, as long as your surveillance audits continue as normal. Before that date you need a transition audit to ISO 9001:2026 and a new certificate. The audit can be combined with a planned surveillance or recertification audit.
The dates and the main changes are in the note about the 2026 edition on this page.
A tender asks for ISO 9001. Which edition should we apply for?
Read the tender wording first. If it names an edition, that decides it. If it only says ISO 9001, both editions are valid during the transition, so ask the buyer which they accept.
AQC Group certifies to ISO 9001:2015. A new certificate to it can be issued until 31 March 2028 and is valid until 30 September 2029 at the latest. Before then it is moved to the 2026 edition through a transition audit. If a buyer asks for ISO 9001:2026 by name, tell us before you apply.
What documents does ISO 9001 require?
Fewer than many people expect. Since the 2015 edition the standard has not asked for a quality manual or a fixed list of procedures. It asks for a documented scope, a quality policy and quality objectives, and for the documents and records you need to run your processes and to show that they were carried out as planned.
In practice that means records such as order reviews, training, calibration, supplier evaluation, inspection results, complaints, internal audits and management reviews. Write a procedure where a mistake is likely without one. A short system that people follow is better evidence than a long one they do not read.
Is ISO 9001 practical for a company of 10 or 20 people?
Yes. The standard sets no minimum size and does not ask for a quality department. In a small company the owner often leads the system, one person keeps the records alongside their main job, and the documents fit in one folder.
What cannot be skipped are the checks: internal audits, a management review and follow-up of complaints. Internal audits must be impartial, so the person who does a job should not be the one who audits it. Small firms often swap roles for the audit or bring someone in.
Does an ISO 9001 certificate mean our product is certified?
No. ISO 9001 certification covers your management system: the way you take orders, make or deliver, check and improve. It is not a product certificate or a test report, and it should not be presented in a way that suggests the product itself is certified.
If a market needs product approval or testing, that is a separate matter. Sector standards such as ISO 13485 for medical devices and ISO 22000 for food safety add requirements that ISO 9001 does not contain.
Can ISO 9001 be combined with other standards?
Yes. ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 share its structure, so one system and one audit visit can cover quality, environment and health and safety. Each standard keeps its own requirements, and a combined audit saves time on the shared parts.
Many organizations start with ISO 9001 and add others later. If you expect to add a standard within a year or two, tell us when you ask for a quotation, so that the audit programme can be planned for it.
Ask about ISO 9001 for your organization.
Tell us your scope, your sites and how many people work in them. We will tell you what the audit involves.