Clause 4.2 of ISO 9001 requires the organization to determine the relevant interested parties for the quality management system and the requirements of those parties that matter to the QMS. In plain words: who affects or is affected by your ability to deliver conforming product — customers, suppliers, employees, regulators, the community, shareholders, banks — and what each of them expects from you. ISO 9001:2026 keeps what Amendment 1:2024 added: clause 4.2 notes that interested parties can have requirements related to climate change (customers with emission targets, lenders, regulators) — assess them and record the outcome.
The key word that many companies ignore is relevant: the standard does not ask for a list of every stakeholder in the universe, only for those whose requirements have an impact on quality. A trade union is relevant if collective agreements affect the operation; the local authority is relevant if an operating permit determines whether you can run at all. A matrix with 30 generic parties is weaker than one with 8 parties that have been properly analyzed.
The minimum structure of the matrix: interested party, their requirements and expectations, what they provide or how they affect the QMS, criticality (high, medium or low) and how the company monitors that those requirements are being met. That last field is the one auditors push hardest on: it is not enough to list that the customer expects on-time delivery — you have to say how you track it (the OTIF indicator, a survey, contract meetings).
Review the matrix together with the SWOT analysis at the annual management review: interested parties change when the company changes market, wins a large customer with requirements of its own or starts answering to new regulation. The example below is from a small manufacturing company and shows the level of detail that passes an audit comfortably.