BRCGS Consumer Products Issue 5 Release Date and Timeline: Issue 4 or Issue 5 Next?

By Robert Low, Lead Management System Specialist and BRCGS Approved Trainer

If you have landed here searching for the BRCGS Consumer Products Issue 5 release date, here it is straight away: the standard publishes in October 2026, and certification audits against Issue 5 commence in April 2027. Everything before that date is Issue 4, everything from that date is Issue 5, and there is no choosing between the two.

The Full Timeline

The public consultation on the Issue 5 draft ran from 11 December 2025 to 22 January 2026. The BRCGS Technical Working Group is now reviewing consultation feedback and finalising the text. Publication is scheduled for October 2026, which gives the industry roughly six months between seeing the final standard and the first audits against it in April 2027. That sounds generous until you map it onto your own audit due date.

How to Work Out Which Issue Your Next Audit Is Against

Take your audit due date from your current certificate and compare it to April 2027. If your audit is carried out before April 2027, it is an Issue 4 audit and your certificate remains valid for the period stated on it. If your audit falls in April 2027 or any point after, it is an Issue 5 audit. That is the whole rule.

Audit due mid 2026: Issue 4. But your following audit in mid 2027 will be Issue 5, which means the certificate you are issued this year is effectively your last Issue 4 certificate. Your transition window is now.

Audit due January to March 2027: Issue 4, and among the very last Issue 4 audits ever conducted. Your 2028 audit will be Issue 5, so you get a slightly longer runway, but do not waste it.

Audit due April to June 2027: Issue 5, with the shortest possible gap between the October 2026 publication and your first audit against the new standard. If this is you, you should be planning a gap analysis for the week the final standard lands.

Do Not Rely on Corridor Advice

I have already come across a site that was told informally by their auditor that their upcoming audits would remain Issue 4, with no mention of the April 2027 cut-over. That kind of loose advice can leave a site preparing against the wrong standard, and with Issue 5 introducing significant changes, that is a risk to certificates, retailer listings and contracts. Check your own dates against the published timeline, and if in doubt, ask your certification body in writing.

For the full breakdown of what is actually changing in Issue 5, read my detailed article on the BRCGS Consumer Products Issue 5 consultation draft. And if you want a structured way to approach the change, see how to run an Issue 4 to Issue 5 transition project.