ISO 9001:2026 training
Your food safety certificate is clean. Two unannounced audits, good grades both times. And last quarter you lost a listing worth R1.4 million a year on a training records finding, your complaints went from 12 a month to 18, and the national retailer’s supplier questionnaire now has a line on it asking for ISO 9001 certification or a plan to certify. Safe product, unhappy customer. That is a quality management problem, and it has its own standard.
ISO 9001:2026 was published on 16 September 2026. It is the sixth edition, it cancels and replaces ISO 9001:2015, and it folds in Amendment 1:2024, the climate change amendment. If your site is certified, you have work to do before 30 September 2029. If your site is not certified and a customer has just asked for it, you have a project to plan. ASC has written two courses for those two situations, and three articles that are free to read whether or not you ever buy anything.
The two courses
| Course | Who it is for | Duration | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introduction to ISO 9001:2026 FS32-0401, Foundation |
Supervisors, team leaders, QA and technical staff, administrators, new quality coordinators, and any manager who will be interviewed by an auditor. Everyone who works inside the system but does not build it | About 4 hours | R1495 | Start the Introduction |
| ISO 9001:2026 Understanding and Implementation FS32-0402, Intermediate to Advanced |
QA and quality managers, management representatives and QMS coordinators, internal auditors, consultants, and operations managers who own processes. The people who have to build, upgrade or run the system | About 14 hours | R4800 | Build the system |
Both courses are self paced with lifetime access, run on any phone or laptop, are priced in rand with a currency converter on the page, and allow three attempts on every assessment. The Introduction is standalone. It is not Module 1 of the Implementation course.
What changed in ISO 9001:2026
The foreword of the standard lists the main changes:
- Inclusion of core ISO management system terms and definitions. Clause 3 now includes a limited number of terms and definitions. ISO 9000 remains the normative reference for all quality management terms and definitions.
- Introduction of quality culture and ethical behaviour. Now addressed within the requirements, particularly in relation to leadership, awareness and the environment for the operation of processes.
- Separation of risks and opportunities. More clearly distinguished, with separate consideration of actions to address each.
- Strengthened management of change. Requirements related to changes to the quality management system have been reinforced to support the achievement of intended results.
- Enhanced explanatory content in Annex A. Revised to clarify the structure, terminology and intent of the requirements as informative text, without introducing additional requirements.
- Removal of Annex B. It previously gave information on other ISO/TC 176 standards. Those references now sit in Annex A and on the ISO/TC 176 website.
The sixth edition also incorporates Amendment 1:2024, the climate change amendment. In practice, for a site already certified to the 2015 edition, the biggest new build is the opportunity register under 6.1.3, followed by the rebuilt change record under 6.3. Neither edition has ever required a quality manual, six documented procedures or a management representative.
The transition timeline
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 16 September 2026 | ISO 9001:2026 published |
| 30 September 2029 | The IAF transition period is three years from publication, so ISO 9001:2015 certificates are expected to remain valid until this date. Confirm the exact cut-off dates that apply to your site with your own certification body |
Which course do I need?
| If this is you | The course |
|---|---|
| An auditor will interview me about my own job | Introduction, R1495 |
| I have to write the context analysis, the registers and the process map | Implementation, R4800 |
| I run the internal audit programme | Implementation, R4800 |
| Our certificate is on the 2015 edition and I own the transition | Implementation, R4800 |
| I am a supervisor, planner, buyer or line leader inside the scope | Introduction, R1495 |
| I am a consultant advising sites on the new edition | Implementation, R4800 |
| I am the MD and I will be interviewed under 5.1.1 | Introduction, R1495. Your QA manager does the Implementation course and coaches you from Lesson 2.4 |
| We are a whole site starting from nothing | One or two people on the Implementation course, the rest on the Introduction. For five or more, contact ASC for a group arrangement |
Free reading
- ISO 9001:2026 is published: every change from 2015, clause by clause. The foreword list, then the clause by clause table of what changed, and what a certified site has to do about each one.
- Transition to ISO 9001:2026: a 12 month plan for a certified site. The dates, a month by month plan, the five things ASC expects certification bodies to look at first, and who on your site needs which course.
- Quality culture, ethical behaviour and climate change: the three new words in ISO 9001:2026 and what an auditor will ask. The exact wording of 5.1.1 i), the 5.1.1 Note 2, 7.1.4, 7.3 e), 4.1 and the 4.2 note, what evidence satisfies each, and what does not.
Questions people ask
How long are ISO 9001:2015 certificates valid for?
ISO 9001:2026 was published on 16 September 2026. The IAF transition period is three years from publication, so ISO 9001:2015 certificates are expected to remain valid until 30 September 2029. Confirm the exact cut-off dates with your own certification body.
Do I have to do the Introduction before the Implementation course?
No. The Introduction is standalone and is not a prerequisite. If your job is to build or run the system, go straight to the Implementation course. The usual pattern on a site is one or two people on Implementation and everyone else on the Introduction.
Our site is certified to a GFSI benchmarked food safety scheme. Do we need ISO 9001 too?
No standard says so. Customers do. A food safety certificate says the product is safe. It says nothing about the wrong sleeve, the low fill, the late delivery or the complaint that took 21 days to close. Sites lose listings on quality while passing food safety audits, and that is the gap ISO 9001 covers.
Does this apply outside food?
Yes. ISO 9001 applies to any organisation of any size in any sector. The ASC examples come from food manufacturing, a citrus packhouse and a restaurant group, because that is where these practitioners work, but the clauses and the auditor’s questions are sector neutral.
Do I need a site of my own to do the practical work?
No. Both courses run on a case study with the data supplied, and the Implementation workshop offers three case sites. If you have your own site and permission to use its data, you may use it instead.
Is a quality manual required in the 2026 edition?
No. Neither the 2026 edition nor the 2015 edition requires a quality manual, six documented procedures or a management representative. Annex A says the clause structure is not a documentation model, and Annex A is informative: it clarifies, it adds no requirements.
What certificate do I get?
A certificate from ASC Food Safety Consultants carrying the course document code, FS32-0401 or FS32-0402. It is released once every knowledge check and the final assessment are passed at 70 percent, every game is completed, the assignment is passed at 70 percent on the Implementation course, and a short course review is submitted. The Implementation certificate is QR verified. Neither is a certification of your organisation, and neither is a lead auditor qualification.
Can we train a team?
Yes. Prices are in rand with a currency converter on each course page. For teams of five or more, contact ASC for a group arrangement. There are no discount codes on the Implementation course.
About ASC
ASC Food Safety Consultants write and review every course in this catalogue. The practitioners who wrote these two implement and audit management systems on South African sites, and every clause reference was checked against the published text of the standard before the course went live. Each course is reviewed by a panel of ASC practitioners. No individual is named, because the work is ASC’s and ASC stands behind it.
If your site also runs a food safety scheme, see Implementation of FSSC 22000 Version 7 (food manufacturing) and the ASC hygienic design course.
ISO 9001:2026 is a standard published by ISO. This course is an independent training product and is not approved or endorsed by ISO or by any certification body.