ISO 9001 draft now available for public comment

One of the world's most popular quality management standards is being revised, with the current draft now available for purchase. ISO 9001 – Quality Management Systems, one of the most widely used ISO standards, has now been made available as a Draft International Standard (DIS), a key milestone in its revision process.

Like all ISO standards, ISO 9001 is reviewed every five years and is now being revised to ensure it is relevant and up-to-date.

At the DIS stage all interested parties can submit feedback that will be considered before the final draft is published by the end of 2015.

In addition, the draft version can now be purchased, giving companies the opportunity to get a taste of the new standard before the final publication date.

The main changes in the new draft relate to its format and the increased importance on risk. These include:

• the same high-level structure used by other management system standards which will help companies implementing more than one standard,
• the identification of risk and risk control as requirements in the standard,
• the requirement of top management to take a more active role in aligning quality policies with business needs, and
• a number of changes in terminology.

Organizations certified to the current standard, ISO 9001:2008 will be given a three-year transition period after the new version has been published to migrate to the new edition of the standard.

Reference: ISO org