Decision guide · Updated as this changes
Can you still certify to ISO 9001:2015?
Yes — until March 31, 2028. After that date, new and initial accredited certifications may only be issued to ISO 9001:2026. That is roughly eighteen months away, and it is not the date you will find quoted elsewhere. Almost every page on this subject answers a different question: when the transition ends, in September 2029.
Last verified October 12, 2026
- Not yet certified
- You have until March 31, 2028, to certify to the 2015 edition, then transition by 2029.
- Already certified to 2015
- Transition by September 30, 2029. It can ride a surveillance or recertification audit.
- Mid-implementation
- Keep going. Stopping to wait costs more than transitioning later.
- Where these dates come from
- Global ACI-TECH-3-TR, issued September 16, 2026 — all five dates.
The two dates that decide it
Global ACI set the transition requirements for ISO 9001:2026 on September 16, 2026, the same day ISO published the standard. Five dates sit in that document. Two of them govern this decision, and they do different jobs.
| Date | What it does | Who it binds |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 31, 2028 | New and initial accredited certifications may only be issued to ISO 9001:2026. The last day you can start fresh on the 2015 edition. | Anyone not yet certified |
| Sep 30, 2029 | Organizations already certified to ISO 9001:2015 complete their transition. The date everyone quotes. | Existing certificate holders |
Conflating the two is the most common error in the coverage we have reviewed. If you are not certified yet, 2029 is not your deadline. Your deadline is eighteen months sooner, and after it the choice disappears rather than getting harder.
If you are not yet certified
The instinct is to wait for the new edition. It is usually wrong, for three reasons that have nothing to do with the standard itself.
- You mostly cannot certify to the 2026 edition yet. A certification body cannot issue accredited certificates to a new edition until its own accreditation has been extended. Accreditation bodies have until March 31, 2027, to be ready to assess, certification bodies until June 30, 2027, to file their transition declarations, and accreditation bodies until September 30, 2027, to complete their decisions. Waiting means waiting for that sequence, not for the standard.
- Certification takes months, not weeks. Implementation, an internal audit cycle, a management review, then Stage 1 and Stage 2. A decision to wait is rarely a decision to wait a little.
- A certificate you hold beats one you are waiting for. Customers, insurers and tender processes ask whether you are certified. They do not ask which edition.
The honest counter-case: if your system is barely started and you are comfortable being uncertified into 2028, waiting avoids one transition. That is a real position. It is just a much narrower one than the "wait for 2026" advice circulating suggests, and the window to choose it closes on March 31, 2028.
What the document does not say
One question matters commercially and has no published answer, so we are going to be explicit rather than fill the gap.
If you are issued a 2015 certificate in 2027, does it run a full three years, or is it cut short to expire at the 2029 deadline? Global ACI-TECH-3-TR sets the March 31, 2028, issuing cutoff and the September 30, 2029, transition deadline, and says nothing about the validity period of certificates issued in between. In previous ISO transitions certification bodies commonly shortened newly issued certificates so they expired at the transition deadline — but that was certification-body practice, not a published rule, and we have not found it stated for this transition.
So ask, and get it in writing before you sign. It changes what you are buying: a three-year certificate and a transition, or a shorter certificate and a transition. Any consultant or certification body stating this confidently today is telling you their expectation, not the rule.
What to do this quarter
- If you are starting: start, and certify to the 2015 edition. Build clause 6 with risks and opportunities separated from the outset — that costs nothing now and is the change most likely to need rework later.
- If you are mid-implementation: keep going. Finishing on the 2015 edition and transitioning later costs less than restarting.
- If you already hold a certificate: ask your certification body when their accreditation is expected to cover the 2026 edition, and book the transition audit early. Audit calendars fill in the back half of a transition window, and this one ends September 30, 2029.
- Everyone: if you buy a gap analysis, make sure it is done against the published text by someone who has read it, not against a summary, a draft or a template. Most certification bodies cannot audit to the 2026 edition yet, so there is time to do it properly.
Common questions
Can I still get certified to ISO 9001:2015?
Yes, until March 31, 2028. Global ACI-TECH-3-TR, issued September 16, 2026, states that from that date new and initial accredited certifications may only be issued to ISO 9001:2026. Before it, a certification body whose accreditation still covers the 2015 edition can certify you to it. That gives you roughly eighteen months from today, not the three years most coverage implies.
If I certify to the 2015 edition now, when do I have to transition?
By September 30, 2029, the same deadline as every other 2015 certificate holder. The transition does not have to be a separate exercise: TECH-3-TR states it may take place during a scheduled surveillance or recertification audit, or through a separate transition audit. Expect additional audit time whichever route you take.
Will a 2015 certificate issued in 2027 be shortened so it expires in 2029?
The document does not say, and we are not going to guess. TECH-3-TR sets the March 31, 2028, issuing cutoff and the September 30, 2029, transition deadline, and is silent on the validity period of certificates issued in between. In previous ISO transitions certification bodies commonly shortened newly issued certificates to expire at the transition deadline rather than running a full three years, but that was their practice rather than a published rule. Ask your certification body directly and get the answer in writing before you sign, because it changes what you are actually buying.
Can my certification body audit me to ISO 9001:2026 right now?
Almost certainly not yet. A certification body cannot issue accredited certificates to a new edition until its own accreditation has been extended to cover it. TECH-3-TR gives accreditation bodies until March 31, 2027, to be ready to assess, certification bodies until June 30, 2027, to submit transition declarations, and accreditation bodies until September 30, 2027, to complete their decisions. ANAB opened that process for its certification bodies on October 9, 2026, in Heads Up 564, and until a body has ANAB’s decision and formal notice it cannot issue ANAB-accredited certificates to the 2026 edition. Ask your certification body where they are in that sequence — their timetable, not the deadline, is what constrains you.
Is it wasteful to certify to an edition that is being superseded?
Usually not, and the arithmetic is worth doing rather than assuming. Certification takes months, the 2026 edition cannot be audited by most bodies yet, and a certificate you hold is worth more than one you are waiting for — customers, insurers and tenders ask whether you are certified, not which edition. The substantive changes are also concentrated in areas a well-built system addresses anyway, so a system implemented now with the revision in view needs updating rather than rebuilding.
What actually changed in the 2026 edition?
ISO's own launch announcement is the only ISO-authored summary, and it names four things: the edition places greater emphasis on leadership, a culture of quality and ethical behavior; it provides greater clarity on the consideration of risks and opportunities to support better strategic decision-making; a new section helps users better understand the intent of the requirements and apply them consistently; and it adopts the latest Harmonized Structure for ISO management system standards. Claims that it adds artificial intelligence, digital systems, supply-chain resilience or ESG requirements beyond the 2024 climate amendment have no published basis.
Related
- ANAB Heads Up 564, October 9, 2026 — ANAB's ISO 9001:2026 transition process for certification bodies.
- ISO 9001:2026 transition deadline — all five dates, the document behind them, and our record of getting this wrong for eleven days.
- What changed in ISO 9001:2026 — claims ranked by how well each one is sourced.
- Transition checklist — free, no email required.
- ISO 9001 consulting — what an engagement looks like.
Changelog
- 2026-10-12 — ANAB issued Heads Up 564 on October 9, 2026, opening the ISO 9001:2026 transition for its certification bodies: submissions due June 30, 2027, and no ANAB-accredited 2026 certificates until ANAB has decided and notified the body. Updated the FAQ on whether you can be audited to the 2026 edition now.
- 2026-10-03 — Re-checked ANAB: its bulletin list now runs to Heads Up 563, issued October 1 on ISO 14001:2026. Still no declaration of transition process for ISO 9001:2026. Revised the gap-analysis advice in “What to do this quarter”: the standard has been published for over two weeks, and the useful advice is no longer to wait but to insist the analysis is done against the published text.
- 2026-09-27 — Page published. Built on Global ACI-TECH-3-TR, Transition Requirements for ISO 9001:2026, issued September 16, 2026. The March 31, 2028, cutoff for issuing new accredited certificates to the 2015 edition is the date this page exists for; we reviewed the published ISO 9001:2026 pages of SGS, Intertek, DNV and DQS and found none of them publishing it. Recorded explicitly that TECH-3-TR says nothing about the validity of 2015 certificates issued during the window, because prior transitions handled that by certification-body practice rather than by rule.