Comment by Dr. Anni Koubek, Executive Vice President Business Development Certification Quality, Quality Austria
Is ISO 9001 going into revision?
ISO 9001 is THE international standard in quality management and enables organizations to deliver products and services in accordance with requirements and at the highest quality level. The extent to which standards still meet current requirements is reviewed in regular intervals and it is determined whether they need to be renewed (revision). Our qualityaustria Expert, Dr. Anni Koubek, informs us about the current status:
The future of ISO 9001 - quo vadis?
The vote in 2021 was extremely close. In the so-called "Systematic Review", in which the ISO member countries are asked whether a standard should be revised or maintained, the decision at that time was 36 to 32 in favor of keeping ISO 9001:2015 unchanged.
Since then, the responsible standards committee has regularly monitored developments and trends, continued to work on a possible revision, and evaluated new findings. A specification was written regarding the direction a revision would need to take. Now the member countries are being asked again whether this concrete revision should commence, or whether the revision of the quality standard should not start until 2026.
The current crises and issues that are occupying companies around the world also have a significant influence: Supply chains have become unstable as a result of corona and wars, which means that topics such as product quality and delivery reliability are once again in the spotlight. Here it can be sensible to re-sharpen ISO 9001 so that it continues to support organizations in meeting customer requirements. Companies must also be able to rely on the fact that suppliers who use ISO 9001 are also able to meet today's requirements, and that these topics are also taken into account in audits.
The standard was essentially developed in the years 2012 to 2014. A lot has happened since then: Topics such as resilience, sustainability, collaborative supply chains, and agility are not included - and the topic of change management is addressed only rudimentarily.
It remains exciting! In a few months, it will be clear what the global community decides: A clearly delimited revision, starting in December 2023, or whether a new attempt will be launched in 2026, which should then be defined as part of the "Systematic Review" in 2026.
We will of course continue to keep you informed. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our qualityaustria experts.
Further information
Product portfolio Quality
ISO 9001
Complete Course Quality Management Representative
