ISO Transition, Migration and Revision Consulting in the Philippines
ISO transition consulting moves a certified management system, and the certificate that depends on it, from a withdrawn edition of a standard to the current one before the accreditation system’s transition window closes. Two windows are open for Philippine certificate holders now, each with a fixed end date set by Global ACI: ISO 14001:2026, published on 15 April 2026, with a transition ending 30 April 2029, and ISO 9001:2026, published on 16 September 2026, with a transition ending 30 September 2029. ISO/IEC 27701:2025 is in transition for privacy certificates, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 closed on 31 October 2025, and ISO 45001 is expected to follow in 2027. Sterling delivers every transition as Sterling Revise™: gap assessment against the ISO 9001:2026 standard, a gap report with the number before you commit, the updates, the internal audit and the certification-body booking, from Makati, Cebu and Davao.
Current ISO transitions at a glance, verified 18 September 2026
Two transitions are live, one is closing in 2028, one closed last year and two are coming. The table gives the position for each standard as verified on 18 September 2026 against the Global ACI transition documents for ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026; the page is updated the day any of these facts changes.
| Standard | Edition status | Transition position | What a Philippine certificate holder should do now |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 9001 (quality) | ISO 9001:2026 published 16 September 2026, sixth edition; cancels and replaces ISO 9001:2015 | Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M), issued 4 September 2026 and published 16 September 2026: three-year transition ending 30 September 2029; accreditation bodies ready by 31 March 2027, certification-body declarations by 30 June 2027, accreditation decisions by 30 September 2027, initial certifications only to the 2026 edition from 31 March 2028; 2015 certificates remain valid until 30 September 2029 | Gap analysis against the ISO 9001:2026 standard; ask your certification body when its accreditation will be extended; plan the transition into a 2027 or early-2028 visit. Detail on the ISO 9001:2026 transition page |
| ISO 14001 (environment) | ISO 14001:2026 published 15 April 2026, fourth edition | Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-04-30 (M), published 14 September 2026: three-year transition ending 30 April 2029; accreditation bodies ready by 31 October 2026, certification-body declarations by 31 January 2027, accreditation decisions by 30 April 2027, initial certifications only to the 2026 edition from 31 October 2027; 2015 certificates remain valid until 30 April 2029 | Run the update now, and where ISO 9001 is in the same integrated system, run both updates together. Detail on the ISO 14001:2026 transition page |
| ISO/IEC 27701 (privacy) | ISO/IEC 27701:2025 published 14 October 2025; now a standalone certifiable standard rather than an extension of ISO/IEC 27001 | Three-year transition; certification bodies are working to an end date in October 2028; confirm the exact date with your body | Decide whether the PIMS stays scoped to the ISMS or stands alone; transition at a scheduled ISMS visit |
| ISO/IEC 27001 (information security) | ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | Transition closed 31 October 2025; 2013-edition certificates are no longer valid | If you missed it, the route back is an initial certification to the 2022 edition, which Sterling can run quickly on a maintained system |
| ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety) | ISO 45001:2018 remains current; the revision is at ballot | Publication expected in 2027; a transition window will follow publication | Nothing to transition yet; do not buy “ISO 45001:2027” services |
| ISO 22000 (food safety) | ISO 22000:2018 remains current; revision ballot result under evaluation | No publication date | Nothing to transition yet |
What a transition is, and what it is not
A transition (Philippine usage also says migration, upgrade or upgradation; the meaning is the same) is the movement of an already-certified system to a new edition of its standard, confirmed by an audit and a re-issued certificate. It is triggered by ISO publishing a revision and withdrawing the previous edition, and it is bounded by the transition period that the accreditation system sets, during which certificates to the old edition remain valid.
It is not a new certification: the certificate, the scope and the certification cycle continue. It is not a recertification, although the two are often combined when the timing suits. It is not a scope extension, a change of certification body or a change of accreditation body, each of which is a separate process that can also be combined with a transition visit if planned. And it is never a re-issue of paperwork: every transition ends in an audit by the accredited certification body, and a certificate to the new edition issued without one is not worth the file it arrives in.
Three parties are involved, and they do not change. ISO writes and publishes the standard. Global ACI (Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated), which took over the roles of IAF and ILAC on 1 January 2026, issues the transition requirements that accreditation bodies such as the Philippine Accreditation Bureau (PAB), UKAS, JAS-ANZ and IAS apply to the certification bodies they accredit. The certification body audits and decides. Sterling prepares the organisation and conducts audits for certification bodies; Sterling does not certify.
What Sterling’s transition consulting covers
Sterling’s transition service is a fixed-scope engagement that covers the whole distance from “a new edition exists” to “the certificate cites it”, with one team accountable throughout. The seven elements below are the same for every standard; the content of each is set by the differences between the editions.
- Briefing on what changed. A working session for leadership and process owners on the new and changed requirements, with clause references, so the transition is understood before it is planned.
- Gap assessment against the ISO 9001:2026 standard. Clause by clause, on site, with the people who run each process; never against a draft once the text is published.
- Updates to the system and its documented information. Context, policy, registers, templates, procedures, awareness material and the references that cite the old edition, done in your existing tools or in Effivity where the system lives there.
- Training. Awareness for everyone affected, and internal auditor training on the changes through Sterling’s internal auditor and lead auditor courses, so the updated audit checklist is yours.
- Support until the changes are effective. The new requirements have to be seen working, not merely written; we stay through the weeks in which the evidence accumulates.
- Internal audit and management review to the new edition. Conducted by lead auditors, with specific coverage of the changes, and findings closed before the certification body arrives.
- Transition audit support. Certification-body booking, Stage-equivalent readiness, presence during the audit and closure of any findings.
The Sterling Revise™ method
Sterling Revise™ is the transition stream within Sterling OS™, Sterling’s delivery method. Its first four weeks are fixed, and they exist to answer one question early: how small is this transition, in days and pesos, before you commit to anything beyond the assessment.
| Week | What happens | What you have at the end |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Documentation review and gap assessment against the ISO 9001:2026 standard of the new edition | A findings worksheet: conforms, needs adjustment, must be created |
| Week 2 | The gap report | What stands, what changes, what it costs: the number, in writing, before commitment |
| Weeks 3 and 4 | Transition plan tied to your certification calendar; certification-body booking or booking strategy; first updates | Plan, booking, updated context, policy and registers |
| To audit date | Remaining updates, awareness, internal auditor briefing, internal audit, management review, audit-week support | Evidence file, closed findings, certificate re-issued to the new edition by the certification body |
Revise™ runs in either of Sterling OS™’s two tracks. In Design™ your team makes the updates while Sterling directs, reviews and trains; it costs less and leaves the capability with you. In Drive™ Sterling makes them; it is faster for a team without spare hands. Either way, the certification body, not Sterling, decides and issues.
What a transition audit involves
A transition audit is the certification body’s verification that a certified system now conforms to the new edition. Under the Global ACI transition requirements for ISO 9001:2026 (Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M)) it may be conducted during a scheduled surveillance or recertification audit or as a special transition audit, may be conducted remotely by information and communication technology, and must review, though not be limited to, the changed requirements of the new edition, changes to the organisation’s context and the need for any other changes to the management system; the certification body must consider whether additional audit time is needed and justify the calculation in accordance with ISO/IEC 17021-1. It ends in a re-issued certificate citing the new edition if the body’s decision is positive.
The body’s auditor will confirm five things. That a gap analysis against the new edition was done and its findings acted on. That the new and changed requirements are implemented and evidenced in operation, not only in updated documents; for ISO 9001:2026 that means, among other things, the analysis behind the risk and opportunity registers (6.1.2, 6.1.3), the seven considerations in change planning (6.3 a) to g)), the policy’s link to context and strategy (5.2.1 e)) and staff awareness of quality culture and ethical behaviour (7.3 e)). That the internal audit programme has covered the new edition and the auditors are competent in it. That management review has run on the new agenda. And that references to the withdrawn edition, including clause numbers and list letters that changed, have been corrected.
Nonconformities raised at the transition audit must be closed before the decision. When the transition is done at a surveillance visit, the expiry date of the current cycle normally stays as it is; when it is done at recertification, a new three-year cycle starts. The re-issued certificate appears on the global CertSearch register, which continues under Global ACI, showing the new edition. Certificates to the withdrawn edition cease to be valid at the end of the transition period, as ISO 9001:2008 certificates did in September 2018 and ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certificates did on 31 October 2025; for ISO 9001:2015 that date is 30 September 2029 and for ISO 14001:2015 it is 30 April 2029.
Timing the transition against your certification cycle
The right moment for a transition is the scheduled visit that falls after your certification body is accredited for the new edition and before the last year of the window. Because the audits are added to existing visits, the decision is usually between the next surveillance and the next recertification, and the deciding factor is how much of the change needs elapsed time rather than desk work.
| Where you are in the cycle | Recommended approach |
|---|---|
| Surveillance visit due within the next six to nine months, before the body’s accreditation is extended to the new edition | Do the gap analysis and updates now; take the surveillance as scheduled to the current edition; transition at the following visit |
| Surveillance visit due in nine to eighteen months | Transition at that visit; use the lead time for the elements that need months of evidence |
| Recertification due before the body is accredited | Recertify to the current edition with the new-edition work already done; transition at the first surveillance of the new cycle (recertification is not an initial certification, so the 31 March 2028 cut-off for new ISO 9001:2015 certificates does not apply to it) |
| Recertification due after the body is accredited and inside the window | Combine transition and recertification in one visit |
| Any position, with the window’s final year approaching | Bring the transition forward to whichever visit comes first; do not plan for the final year |
Sterling books the certification body during Revise™ weeks 3 and 4, not after the updates, because in every previous window the auditor calendars in the Philippines filled from the far end.
Integrated systems: one update for ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026
Organisations that hold ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in one integrated system, which in the Philippines includes most contractors, manufacturers and facilities providers, should run both transitions as one update. The two 2026 editions were written to the same Harmonized Structure, so the shared clauses move together: the decision on which interested-party requirements the system addresses (4.2 c) in both), the strengthened planning of changes (6.3), the management review input on changes in interested-party expectations (9.3.2 c)) and the merged Clause 10. The standard-specific content, environmental aspects and compliance obligations on one side, quality culture and ethical behaviour, opportunities and customer contingency information on the other, is handled in the same workshops with the same process owners. One gap analysis, one plan, one internal audit, one combined transition visit; see integrated ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certification. Where ISO 45001 is also in the system, its revision is expected in 2027, and the 2026 work is done so that the 45001 update, when it comes, lands on a system already on the current structure.
The mistakes that make a transition late or unsuccessful
Most transition failures are timing failures, not technical ones. The system was capable of conforming; the audit was booked too late, the body’s accreditation had not been extended in time, or the evidence that needed months was started in the last one. The rest come from treating the transition as a documentation exercise.
- Waiting for the accreditation body’s document before starting. The ISO 9001:2026 standard is final; the transition requirements set the deadline, not the content.
- Treating the transition as find-and-replace. Edition numbers change in headers; nothing changes in behaviour; the interviews fail.
- Not asking the certification body for its accreditation date. Without it there is no plan, only a hope.
- Starting elapsed-time evidence late. Culture and ethics in ISO 9001:2026, and the monitoring and review of changes under 6.3 f) and g), are demonstrated by records that take months to accumulate.
- Accepting a “re-issued” certificate. No accredited body can re-issue a certificate to a new edition without a transition audit. A supplier’s 2026 certificate dated before its body’s accreditation is a red flag; read how to verify an ISO certificate.
- Leaving old references in place. Procedures citing clause numbers or list letters that no longer exist (there is no 10.3 in ISO 9001:2026, for instance) are found on the first day of the audit.
History: the ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015 migration
This section is kept as history. It describes a transition that closed in September 2018 and is retained because the pattern it set, a three-year window, a gap analysis against the new text and a transition audit at a scheduled visit, is the pattern still in use.
ISO 9001:2008 was a clarifying amendment of the 2000 edition, published in November 2008, with the same eight-clause structure, the same six mandatory documented procedures, the same quality manual and the same management representative. ISO 9001:2015, published in September 2015, was a different kind of revision. It moved the standard onto the ten-clause high-level structure shared by ISO 14001:2015 and, later, ISO 45001:2018; it introduced the context of the organisation and interested parties; it replaced preventive action with risk-based thinking; it replaced “documents” and “records” with documented information and dropped the mandatory manual, the six procedures and the management representative; it added organisational knowledge and broadened purchasing into the control of externally provided processes, products and services.
The transition window was three years from publication, set by IAF resolution, and it closed in September 2018, at which point ISO 9001:2008 certificates ceased to be valid. In the Philippines the pattern that Sterling saw then is the pattern it plans against now: certification bodies were accredited for the new edition over the first year, the sensible transition audits happened in the second year, and the third year was a scramble for audit dates. The 2015 edition also settled the question that comes up in every transition since: the amount of documentation required went down, not up, and the organisations that transitioned most easily were the ones that used the window to remove paper rather than add it.
The 2026 edition is, by comparison, a modest revision of the 2015 text. There is no structural move this time; the work is in analysis, leadership behaviour and review, and the lesson from 2015 to 2018 about timing applies unchanged.
Frequently asked questions
Which ISO standards are in transition right now? ISO 9001:2026 (published 16 September 2026; transition under Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M), published the same day, ending 30 September 2029) and ISO 14001:2026 (published 15 April 2026; transition under Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-04-30 (M), published 14 September 2026, ending 30 April 2029) for management-system certificates, and ISO/IEC 27701:2025 for privacy certificates, with certification bodies working to an October 2028 end date. ISO/IEC 27001:2022’s transition closed on 31 October 2025.
Is my current certificate still valid during a transition? Yes. Certificates to the previous edition remain valid until the end of the transition period set by the accreditation system. For ISO 9001:2026 the period ends on 30 September 2029; for ISO 14001:2026 it ends on 30 April 2029, both fixed by Global ACI. Validity ends at the close of the window, so the transition audit must be complete before then.
What does a transition cost compared with the original certification? A fraction, because the work is the update, not the system. Sterling Revise™ gives you the figure in writing in week two, after the gap assessment, so you commit to the transition knowing the number. A maintained single-site ISO 9001:2015 system needs a few consultant-days of desk work plus the weeks in which behavioural evidence accumulates; neglected or multi-site systems need more.
Can the transition be combined with recertification? Yes, and it often should be, provided the certification body is accredited for the new edition by the recertification date and the visit falls inside the window. If recertification comes first, recertify to the current edition with the new-edition work done and transition at the following surveillance visit. Sterling times this against your cycle in the week-three plan.
Can we transition ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 together? Yes. Both 2026 editions share the Harmonized Structure, so an integrated system takes one gap analysis, one plan, one internal audit and one combined transition visit. The shared changes (4.2 c), 6.3, 9.3.2 c), the merged Clause 10) are done once; the standard-specific content is handled in the same workshops.
Does Sterling issue the new certificate? No. Sterling prepares your system, audits it internally and supports you through the transition audit; the accredited certification body audits, decides and issues the certificate citing the new edition. Any provider offering to do both, or to re-issue a certificate to a new edition without an audit, should be avoided.
What happens if we miss the transition deadline? Your certificate to the withdrawn edition lapses at the end of the window, and the route back is an initial certification to the current edition: Stage 1, Stage 2 and a new cycle. That is what organisations that missed the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 deadline on 31 October 2025 are doing now. It is avoidable by booking the transition into a 2027 or early-2028 visit.
How ISO and GRC certification fits the Sterling system
Sterling delivers ISO and GRC certification through Sterling OS™ — our delivery operating system: Design™ (guided) or Drive™ (fully managed), then Sustain™, Automate™ and Revise™. It connects into the Sterling Business Excellence Framework™, one integrated system across quality, environment, safety, energy and continuity. Not sure which standard is right for you? Use our free Select the Standard™ tool, or request a free gap analysis.
Transition training for your people, online. The ISO 9001:2026 Awareness course on Sterling Academy (12 modules) takes every employee through the sixth edition in their own time, with practice checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered Certificate of Completion, verifiable online. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary ISO 9001 awareness training as part of a transition engagement, so the awareness evidence for clause 7.3 is in place before the transition audit.
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Read next
The ISO 9001:2026 transition page for the full clause-referenced picture; the ISO 14001:2026 transition page; Sterling Revise™ and its revision tracker; the clause-by-clause register of ISO 9001:2015 vs 2026 changes; and how to verify an ISO certificate in the Philippines. The ISO 9001:2026 guides go step by step: the twelve-step migration plan, what drives the transition cost, what your certification body does at the transition audit, and the transition, internal auditor and lead auditor courses.
Sources
ISO 9001:2026, Quality management systems — Requirements, sixth edition, published 16 September 2026 (ISO catalogue stage 60.60): 4.2 c), 5.2.1 e), 6.1.2, 6.1.3, 6.3 a) to g), 7.3 e), 9.3.2 c), 10.1, 10.2; https://www.iso.org/standard/9001. ISO 14001:2026, published 15 April 2026; Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-04-30 (M), Transition Requirements for ISO 14001:2026, published 14 September 2026 (transition ends 30 April 2029; milestones 31 October 2026, 31 January 2027, 30 April 2027, 31 October 2027). ISO/IEC 27701:2025, published 14 October 2025 (DNV transition notice); certification-body transition notices citing an October 2028 end date. ISO/IEC 27001:2022, transition closed 31 October 2025. ISO 45001 revision at ballot, publication expected 2027; ISO 22000 revision, ballot result under evaluation. Global ACI (Global Accreditation Cooperation Incorporated), successor to IAF and ILAC from 1 January 2026: Global ACI-TECH-3-TR 2029-09-30 (M), Transition Requirements for ISO 9001:2026, version 1.0, issued 4 September 2026, published 16 September 2026 on global-aci.org; verified in the documents themselves on 18 September 2026. History: ISO 9001:2008 (November 2008), ISO 9001:2015 (September 2015) and the IAF three-year transition that closed in September 2018.