Quality culture and ethical behaviour
Among top management's commitments in clause 5.1.1 there is a new one: promoting quality culture and ethical behaviour. An added note explains that this culture shows in the values, attitudes and practices shared across the organisation.
In practice, the auditor will not look for a document called "culture" but for consistency: that what management says it values matches what gets measured, recognised and corrected. A code of ethics nobody knows about proves nothing; the decisions taken at management review and the way nonconformities are handled do.
From improvement to continual improvement
The same clause now asks top management to promote continual improvement, not just improvement. It is a nuance of wording, but it reinforces the idea of a system that is reviewed systematically rather than in bursts before each audit.
A quality policy anchored in strategy
Clause 5.2.1 reorders its elements so that the policy takes account of the organisation's context and supports its strategic direction. A generic policy, interchangeable with any other company's, sits less comfortably with this wording.
Context and climate change
The 2024 amendment to the previous edition already required organisations to consider whether climate change is a relevant issue when analysing context and interested parties. The transition document does not list it among the 2026 changes, so the prudent course is to keep that analysis as it stands and check its wording in the new standard.
What an auditor usually asks for
- Top management's commitment to quality culture and ethics reflected in actions, not just in the policy
- Quality policy reviewed against context and strategic direction
- Analysis of context and interested parties up to date, including the climate issue
- Staff informed of the revised policy, with evidence that they know it
How to cover this block in Kimobox
- 1Publish the revised quality policy as a controlled document, with approval and read receipts from staff.
- 2Document the context analysis as one more record in the system, with a review date and an owner.
- 3Record management's decisions at each review, with a date and the person responsible for carrying them out.
Quality culture is demonstrated through decisions that are recorded and followed up — exactly what the system leaves behind.