The first board meeting has taken place
ISO 9001 Revision: What you need to know now!
The decision to revise ISO 9001 was made in August. From December 4th to 8th, 2023, the first meeting of the working group "TC 176 SC2 WG 29" on the "Revision of ISO 9001" – the international standard in quality management – took place in London at the BSI British Standards Institute with extensive participation.
What comes next, what applies?
The "Design Specification" for the revision process has been confirmed as a guideline. This means that no fundamental changes to the scope and structure of the standard are expected, meaning that the chapter structure and core content should remain unchanged. The requirements text is to be changed only slightly; clarifications are more likely to be made via comments and additions in the annex. Some changes will result from the further development of the common structure ("High Level Structure") - such as
- Standardization of basic text modules in order to achieve harmonization with those standards that are subject to the "High Level Structure";
- Overarching definition of requirements;
- forward-looking introduction of measures.
The focus is also on the development of guidelines to clarify requirements in the notes and/or in the form of notes.
A great deal of effort was put into assessing the relevance of "emerging topics". This refers to developments that were classified in advance as "potentially significant" (interpretation requests from recent years were reviewed and evaluated). In addition, initial discussions were held on differentiating between risks and opportunities, as well as on formulations with regard to documentation requirements and the understanding of the integration of the quality management system into the management of the overall organization.
The annex to the standard is to be expanded in order to avoid misinterpretations.
ISO 9000 is also being revised in parallel with ISO 9001. The corresponding ISO working group TC176 SC1 is considering the adaptation of the quality management principles and the introduction of new or amended definitions. The results will be coordinated.
The standard is being developed as a pilot project using a new "online development tool" - an introduction to the digitalization of ISO standards.
What happens next?
After an intensive round of discussions, a first internal draft will be created as a "working draft" based on the decisions and discussions and distributed to the working group for comments. The comments will then be discussed at the next meeting on the revision of ISO 9001 at the end of February 2024.
The work continues, and we will of course provide first-hand information on all qualityaustria channels. If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time!
