The 2018 IAF/ILAC Mid-Term Meetings provided Accreditation and Certification bodies with the opportunity to assess the situation of the transition to the 2015 ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 quality and environmental management system standards.

• Progress is now accelerating as the last five months of the transition period approaches. This has been aided by the IAF rule that no work on the previous versions of both standards be permitted after 15 March 2018. IAF members are stressing the necessity for any organisation that still needs to transition to ensure that all efforts are made to meet the 15 September 2018 deadline.

• IAF wishes to remind any certified entity that on 15 September 2018, all ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certificates will expire and no longer be valid. This means that each certified entity must work with their certification body to ensure that all elements of the certification process have been completed, from audits to the technical review and decision by the certification body to the issue of the certificate by the deadline.

• Certification to ISO 9001 and/or ISO 14001, especially for many businesses, is essential as a gateway for involvement in supply chains and providing their goods and services to a variety of customers. IAF wishes to stress that only completion of the full transition process by 15 September 2018 ensures continued certification to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

As IAF has previously stated, the completion of the transition process provides access to the key benefits of the revised standards. The new ISO 9001 promotes enhanced leadership involvement in the management system, introduces risk-based thinking and aligns the quality management system policy and objectives with the strategy of the organisation. The changes in ISO 14001 focus on key issues such as protecting the environment improving environmental performance, lifecycle thinking and organisations’ environmental leadership.