The new edition of ISO 9001 is scheduled for publication on Wednesday 16th September 2026.

This was announced in an August bulletin from ISO/TC 176/SC 2, the ISO technical committee responsible for quality management standardisation.

The team here at ISO Accelerator recently helped a UK-based heating company to obtain ISO 9001:2015 certification.

ISO 9001 certification helps businesses to improve the quality and efficiency of their work.

If you run a small or medium-sized business, you may have heard of ISO 9001 certification without being entirely sure what the point of it is. Is it just another badge? More paperwork? Something only large companies need?

The short answer is no. ISO 9001 is designed to help organisations work better, deliver more consistent results and achieve greater customer satisfaction.

With a new edition of ISO 9001 arriving this year, many certified organisations are asking the same questions: what's changing, and what do we need to do about it?

The current version of ISO 9001 (known as ISO 9001:2015) is due to be replaced very soon. To be more specific, the revised standard is scheduled for publication on 16th September 2026.

A new Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) was released to ISO/TC 176/SC 2 members for ballot in May 2026. The ballot closed in July, and in August, it was announced that the FDIS had been approved with "overwhelming international support".

While the new standard has not been rolled out yet, we now have a pretty good idea of what the ISO 9001 revision will look like.

SHORT ANSWER: No, ISO 9001 certification does not have to be UKAS accredited.

First of all, it's important to understand that UKAS don't provide ISO 9001 certification directly. They're actually on the level above that, providing accreditation for the certification bodies who can get your business certified.

But UKAS-accredited certification companies are not the only bodies who can provide valid ISO 9001 certification. Other accreditation bodies do exist; for example, ISO Accelerator is accredited by the IAFDC, and this allows us to provide a dynamic alternative to UKAS-accredited certification services.