A transition audit assesses conformity to a revised edition of a standard and moves an existing certificate onto it.
When they happen
When a standard is revised, the accreditation community sets a transition period — historically around three years — during which certified organisations must move to the new edition. Certificates to the old edition become invalid at the end of that window.
How they are usually conducted
In previous transitions, certification bodies generally allowed the transition to be assessed during a scheduled surveillance or recertification audit with additional audit time added, or as a standalone visit where the timing did not work.
That is the pattern, not a rule. The specific arrangements are set out in the transition requirements published for each revision.
The certification body has to be ready first
A certification body cannot issue accredited certificates to a new edition until its own accreditation has been extended to cover it, which requires assessment by its accreditation body. This lag is routinely underestimated: publication of a standard and availability of transition audits are months apart.
Ask your certification body when their accreditation is expected to cover the new edition. They will know before anyone publishes it, and their audit calendar is the real constraint on your timing.
The timing mistake
Leaving it late. Audit calendars fill in the back half of a transition window, and an organisation that waits until the final months may find no auditor available before its certificate lapses.
ISO 9001:2026
As of late August 2026 the revision was at ISO stage 60.00, under publication, and no accreditation body had published a transition deadline. Widely quoted dates are estimates.