Quality: come and help draft the new ISO 9001 standard
After the 2015 version, there will be the 2026 version of ISO 9001! The star standard governing quality management systems is undergoing revision. It is up to you, manufacturers and other economic players, to build the French position that AFNOR will promote internationally.
Quality and lean
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1987, 1994, 2000, 2008, 2015... and soon 2025 or 2026. ISO 9001, the most popular of the voluntary international standards, is undergoing revision. Whether you operate in industry, services, or elsewhere, you are familiar with it: it provides guidelines for implementing a quality policy. We talk about QMS, or "quality management system." And the concept of quality has evolved considerably in thirty-six years! Customer relations, sector-specific quality, overall performance, including climate and extra-financial performance in the sense of CSR... Quality has been enriched with new angles of attack and needs an updated reference framework. as we were discussing recently here from the perspective of certifications.
The last systematic review, in 2021, concluded that there was no need to revise the text. but invited us to reconsider the question in the medium term " The 2015 version brought many changes, which required certified companies to modify their approach to quality management. It was necessary to take a break. But today, we are getting ready to follow the international momentum," says Xavier Petit, consultant at CPC Premium and leader of the expert group working on the revision within the French standardization commission, hosted by AFNOR.
ISO 9001: linking quality and climate change
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), in which AFNOR represents France, is holding its first working meeting from December 4 to 8, 2023. AFNOR will relay the work in France and needs your help to propose additions to the 2015 text. Among the areas that lend themselves to this are: challenges, risks, and opportunities; supply chain; and documented information. Xavier Petit explains the expectations for the section dealing with documented information: "New cybersecurity issues are becoming part of quality, because a quality approach requires documenting information in order to provide evidence and leave a trail. We now need to describe how to do this with integrity, availability, and confidentiality," he says.
"The new version will also have to take into account issues related to climate change, like all major management standards that adhere to the 'harmonized structure' (ISO 9001, 14001, 27001, 56001, 45001, etc.)," adds Pauline Joris, who coordinates the work in France for AFNOR. Chaired by Cédric Meunier, representative of Renault, the French standardization commission can be contacted here.
This shift in focus on climate change is already a reality: since January 2024, an amendment is available , free of charge from AFNOR Editions. It does not have the same value as an updated version of the standard, nor can it be taken into account in current certification audits, but it sets the tone for the future.
ISO 9001: maintaining the PDCA approach
It is understood that this harmonized structure will remain in place, as will the objective, title, and scope of the standard, as well as the fundamentals of the PDCA (plan, do, check, act) approach. According to experts, therefore, there are no plans for a major overhaul. Really? "The long list of international ideas for revision includes extending the scope of ISO 9001 to include sustainable development. Does this refer to performance sustainability—in which case, ISO 9004 addresses the subject – or human and planetary sustainability? In other words, would ISO 9001 become a global performance standard covering economic, social, and environmental aspects?" asks Gérard Capelli, consultant-trainer and member of the AFNOR commission, on the platform. Cross-Pollination, unique to the QSE community .
According to him, the answer is no: quality is intrinsically a matter of products and services complying with customer requirements. Cédric Meunier shares this view, highlighting the concept of fitness for use in ISO 9001. "However, users of the standard will be asked to take an interest in climate and environmental change, which is a concern for the international community and a commitment that ISO is committed to addressing. These new dimensions will be addressed in terms of their impact on compliance management," explains the president of the AFNOR commission. This will have an impact on the risk and opportunity approach.
