A source within ISO TC 176 has indicated that the final publication date for ISO 9001:2015 is at risk, and the publication date of the DIS (Draft International Standard) version is unlikely to happen in April, as originally scheduled by ISO.
The primary reason for the delay is, according to the source, that “not all the 1300+ comments were addressed in Paris.” Processing of TC 176 member comments is a critical step in the development of the standard, to ensure it reflects a consensus of the member nations. According to the source:
[A] small team is working electronically, to address the remaining comments (in sections 9 and 10), then an overall editorial review. Then, the whole document will be distributed to the WG members, and if they agree, it will go out as a DIS. By the end of the Paris meeting, no one had seen the whole document, so this will be the first chance to see it since the CD was out for ballot last year. Given that this will be the first chance for an end-to-end review, since the CD, there may be gaps, inconsistencies, etc., that may not have been obvious, when one is focused just on a specific clause.
The determination of whether the standard is ready for voting as a DIS must be completed by mid-May, as there is a requirement to apply two months for translation of the document into the applicable languages of the member nations. Thereafter, the DIS will be submitted for a three month voting period by the TC members. “If the document is not accepted by the WG by mid-May, there will not be enough time to translate, get it out for ballot, collect and collate comments, in time for the next plenary, in mid-November,” says the source.
If the mid-May date is missed, there would probably be a separate meeting in winter 2015, and it still might be possible to get the document published in late 2015. I suppose some ISO rules might be squeezed a bit, but there is still a risk. Definitely, the initial schedule to have a DIS out by mid-April, is not possible, unless someone has a magic wand in hand
ISO has already leaked that it expects the optional FDIS (Final Draft International Standard) step to be bypassed entirely, which is allowed under ISO standard development rules. This would result in the ISO 9001 document moving directly from DIS to a released IS (International Standard) version.
