Document Revision Criteria

ISO documentation practices, requirements

Question

Is there any criteria available for the frequency of document revision in ISO 9001 or ISO 13485?  Some organization don’t revise the documents for a period of more than 2-3 years.  The reason provided by the organization is that there were no changes during this period. Do ISO standards mandate the revision of documents within a certain time frame? Can we treat this as non-compliance, if the documents are not revised over a period of 2-3 years ?
Answer

There are no criteria nor a requirement for document revision in ISO 9001:2015, 7.5.

ISO 13485:2016, 4.2.4, states, “review, update as necessary and re-approve documents.” This leave the review to the discretion of the organization.

Thus, there is no mandatory review frequency and no non-conformance if documents are not revised within a determined time frame.  ISO 13485 does require a review, however. But, the frequency of the review is not mandated.

George Hummel

Leave a Reply