The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations.

Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promotes worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial standards. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland,^[3] and as of March 2017 works in 162 countries.^[1]

It was one of the first organizations granted general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Overview

ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, is an independent, non-governmental organization, the members of which are the standards organizations of the 163^[1] member countries. It is the world's largest developer of voluntary international standards and facilitates world trade by providing common standards between nations. Over twenty thousand standards have been set covering everything from manufactured products and technology to food safety, agriculture and healthcare.^[3]

Use of the standards aids in the creation of products and services that are safe, reliable and of good quality. The standards help businesses increase productivity while minimizing errors and waste. By enabling products from different markets to be directly compared, they facilitate companies in entering new markets and assist in the development of global trade on a fair basis. The standards also serve to safeguard consumers and the end-users of products and services, ensuring that certified products conform to the minimum standards set internationally.^[3]

Language usage

The three official languages of the ISO are English, French, and Russian.^[2]

Name and abbreviations

The name of the organization in French is Organisation internationale de normalisation, and in Russian, Международная организация по стандартизации (Mezhdunarodnaya organizatsiya po standartizatsii). ISO is not an acronym. The organization adopted ISO as its abbreviated name in reference to the Greek word isos (ἴσος, meaning equal),^[4] as its name in the three official languages would have different acronyms. During the founding meetings of the new organization, the Greek word explanation was not invoked, so this meaning may have been made public later.^[5]

ISO gives this explanation of the name "Because 'International Organization for Standardization' would have different acronyms in different languages (IOS in English, OIN in French), our founders decided to give it the short form ISO. ISO is derived from the Greek isos, meaning equal. Whatever the country, whatever the language, the short form of our name is always ISO."

Both the name ISO and the ISO logo are registered trademarks, and their use is restricted.^[6]

History

The organization today known as ISO began in 1926^{[dubious – discuss]} as the International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA). It was suspended in 1942^[7] during World War II, but after the war ISA was approached by the recently formed United Nations Standards Coordinating Committee (UNSCC) with a proposal to form a new global standards body. In October 1946, ISA and UNSCC delegates from 25 countries met in London and agreed to join forces to create the new International Organization for Standardization; the new organization officially began operations in February 1947.^[8]

Structure

ISO is a voluntary organization whose members are recognized authorities on standards, each one representing one country. Members meet annually at a General Assembly to discuss ISO's strategic objectives. The organization is coordinated by a Central Secretariat based in Geneva.^[9]

A Council with a rotating membership of 20 member bodies provides guidance and governance, including setting the Central Secretariat's annual budget.^[9][10]

The Technical Management Board is responsible for over 250 technical committees, who develop the ISO standards.^{[9][11][12][13]}

IEC joint committees

ISO has formed joint committees with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to develop standards and terminology in the areas of electrical and electronic related technologies.

ISO/IEC JTC 1

Information technology

ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1) was created in 1987 to "[d]evelop, maintain, promote and facilitate IT standards".^[14]

ISO/IEC JTC 2

Joint Project Committee – Energy efficiency and renewable energy sources – Common terminology

ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 2 (JTC 2) was created in 2009 for the purpose of "[s]tandardization in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources".^[15]

Membership

ISO has 168 national members.^[1]

ISO has three membership categories:^[1]

• Member bodies are national bodies considered the most representative standards body in each country. These are the only members of ISO that have voting rights.
• Correspondent members are countries that do not have their own standards organization. These members are informed about ISO's work, but do not participate in standards promulgation.
• Subscriber members are countries with small economies. They pay reduced membership fees, but can follow the development of standards.

Participating members are called "P" members, as opposed to observing members, who are called "O" members.

Financing

ISO is funded by a combination of:^[16]

• Organizations that manage the specific projects or loan experts to participate in the technical work.
• Subscriptions from member bodies. These subscriptions are in proportion to each country's gross national product and trade figures.
• Sale of standards.

International Standards and other publications

ISO's main products are international standards. ISO also publishes technical reports, technical specifications, publicly available specifications, technical corrigenda, and guides.^[17][18]

International standards

These are designated using the format ISO[/IEC] [/ASTM] [IS] nnnnn[-p]:[yyyy] Title, where nnnnn is the number of the standard, p is an optional part number, yyyy is the year published, and Title describes the subject. IEC for International Electrotechnical Commission is included if the standard results from the work of ISO/IEC JTC1 (the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee). ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) is used for standards developed in cooperation with ASTM International. yyyy and IS are not used for an incomplete or unpublished standard and may under some circumstances be left off the title of a published work.

Technical reports

These are issued when a technical committee or subcommittee has collected data of a different kind from that normally published as an International Standard,^[17] such as references and explanations. The naming conventions for these are the same as for standards, except TR prepended instead of IS in the report's name.
For example:

• ISO/IEC TR 17799:2000 Code of Practice for Information Security Management
• ISO/TR 19033:2000 Technical product documentation — Metadata for construction documentation

Technical and publicly available specifications

Technical specifications may be produced when "the subject in question is still under development or where for any other reason there is the future but not immediate possibility of an agreement to publish an International Standard". A publicly available specification is usually "an intermediate specification, published prior to the development of a full International Standard, or, in IEC may be a 'dual logo' publication published in collaboration with an external organization".^[17] By convention, both types of specification are named in a manner similar to the organization's technical reports.
For example:

• ISO/TS 16952-1:2006 Technical product documentation — Reference designation system — Part 1: General application rules
• ISO/PAS 11154:2006 Road vehicles — Roof load carriers

Technical corrigenda

ISO also sometimes issues "technical corrigenda" (where "corrigenda" is the plural of corrigendum). These are amendments made to existing standards due to minor technical flaws, usability improvements, or limited-applicability extensions. They are generally issued with the expectation that the affected standard will be updated or withdrawn at its next scheduled review.^[17]

ISO guides

These are meta-standards covering "matters related to international standardization".^[17] They are named using the format "ISO[/IEC] Guide N:yyyy: Title".
For example:

• ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004 Standardization and related activities — General vocabulary
• ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996 General requirements for bodies operating product certification

Document copyright

ISO documents are copyrighted and ISO charges for most copies. It does not, however, charge for most draft copies of documents in electronic format. Although they are useful, care must be taken using these drafts as there is the possibility of substantial change before they become finalized as standards. Some standards by ISO and its official U.S. representative (and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission) are made freely available.^[19][20]

Standardization process

A standard published by ISO/IEC is the last stage of a long process that commonly starts with the proposal of new work within a committee. Here are some abbreviations used for marking a standard with its status:^{[21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}

• PWI – Preliminary Work Item
• NP or NWIP – New Proposal / New Work Item Proposal (e.g., ISO/IEC NP 23007)
• AWI – Approved new Work Item (e.g., ISO/IEC AWI 15444-14)
• WD – Working Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC WD 27032)
• CD – Committee Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC CD 23000-5)
• FCD – Final Committee Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC FCD 23000-12)
• DIS – Draft International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC DIS 14297)
• FDIS – Final Draft International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC FDIS 27003)
• PRF – Proof of a new International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC PRF 18018)
• IS – International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007)

Abbreviations used for amendments:^{[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]}

• NP Amd – New Proposal Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 15444-2:2004/NP Amd 3)
• AWI Amd – Approved new Work Item Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 14492:2001/AWI Amd 4)
• WD Amd – Working Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO 11092:1993/WD Amd 1)
• CD Amd / PDAmd – Committee Draft Amendment / Proposed Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/CD Amd 6)
• FPDAmd / DAM (DAmd) – Final Proposed Draft Amendment / Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003/FPDAmd 1)
• FDAM (FDAmd) – Final Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/FDAmd 4)
• PRF Amd – (e.g., ISO 12639:2004/PRF Amd 1)
• Amd – Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 1:2007)

Other abbreviations:^{[25][26][28][29]}

• TR – Technical Report (e.g., ISO/IEC TR 19791:2006)
• DTR – Draft Technical Report (e.g., ISO/IEC DTR 19791)
• TS – Technical Specification (e.g., ISO/TS 16949:2009)
• DTS – Draft Technical Specification (e.g., ISO/DTS 11602-1)
• PAS – Publicly Available Specification
• TTA – Technology Trends Assessment (e.g., ISO/TTA 1:1994)
• IWA – International Workshop Agreement (e.g., IWA 1:2005)
• Cor – Technical Corrigendum (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Cor 1:2008)
• Guide – a guidance to technical committees for the preparation of standards

International Standards are developed by ISO technical committees (TC) and subcommittees (SC) by a process with six steps:^[23][30]

• Stage 1: Proposal stage
• Stage 2: Preparatory stage
• Stage 3: Committee stage
• Stage 4: Enquiry stage
• Stage 5: Approval stage
• Stage 6: Publication stage

The TC/SC may set up working groups (WG) of experts for the preparation of a working drafts. Subcommittees may have several working groups, which can have several Sub Groups (SG).^[31]

It is possible to omit certain stages, if there is a document with a certain degree of maturity at the start of a standardization project, for example a standard developed by another organization. ISO/IEC directives allow also the so-called "Fast-track procedure". In this procedure a document is submitted directly for approval as a draft International Standard (DIS) to the ISO member bodies or as a final draft International Standard (FDIS) if the document was developed by an international standardizing body recognized by the ISO Council.^[23]

The first step—a proposal of work (New Proposal) is approved at the relevant subcommittee or technical committee (e.g., SC29 and JTC1 respectively in the case of Moving Picture Experts Group – ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11). A working group (WG) of experts is set up by the TC/SC for the preparation of a working draft. When the scope of a new work is sufficiently clarified, some of the working groups (e.g., MPEG) usually make open request for proposals—known as a "call for proposals". The first document that is produced for example for audio and video coding standards is called a verification model (VM) (previously also called a "simulation and test model"). When a sufficient confidence in the stability of the standard under development is reached, a working draft (WD) is produced. This is in the form of a standard but is kept internal to working group for revision. When a working draft is sufficiently solid and the working group is satisfied that it has developed the best technical solution to the problem being addressed, it becomes committee draft (CD). If it is required, it is then sent to the P-members of the TC/SC (national bodies) for ballot.

The CD becomes final committee draft (FCD) if the number of positive votes is above the quorum. Successive committee drafts may be considered until consensus is reached on the technical content. When it is reached, the text is finalized for submission as a draft International Standard (DIS). The text is then submitted to national bodies for voting and comment within a period of five months. It is approved for submission as a final draft International Standard (FDIS) if a two-thirds majority of the P-members of the TC/SC are in favour and not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative. ISO will then hold a ballot with National Bodies where no technical changes are allowed (yes/no ballot), within a period of two months. It is approved as an International Standard (IS) if a two-thirds majority of the P-members of the TC/SC is in favour and not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative. After approval, only minor editorial changes are introduced into the final text. The final text is sent to the ISO Central Secretariat, which publishes it as the International Standard.^[21][23]

Products named after ISO

The fact that many of the ISO-created standards are ubiquitous has led, on occasion, to common use of "ISO" to describe the actual product that conforms to a standard. Some examples of this are:

• Many CD images end in the file extension "ISO" to signify that they are using the ISO 9660 standard file system as opposed to another file system—hence CD images are commonly referred to as "ISOs". Virtually all computers with CD-ROM drives that can read CDs use this standard. Some DVD-ROMs also use ISO 9660 file systems.
• Photographic film's sensitivity to light (its "film speed") is described by ISO 6, ISO 2240 and ISO 5800. Hence, the film's speed is often referred to as by its ISO number.
• As it was originally defined in ISO 518, the flash hot shoe found on cameras is often called the "ISO shoe".
• ISO 11783, which is marketed as ISOBUS.

Criticism

With the exception of a small number of isolated standards,^[19] ISO standards are normally not available free of charge, but for a purchase fee,^[32] which has been seen by some as too expensive for small open source projects.^[33]

The ISO/IEC JTC1 fast-track procedures ("Fast-track" as used by OOXML and "PAS" as used by OpenDocument) have garnered criticism in relation to the standardization of Office Open XML (ISO/IEC 29500). Martin Bryan, outgoing Convenor of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 WG1, is quoted as saying:

I would recommend my successor that it is perhaps time to pass WG1’s outstanding standards over to OASIS, where they can get approval in less than a year and then do a PAS submission to ISO, which will get a lot more attention and be approved much faster than standards currently can be within WG1.

The disparity of rules for PAS, Fast-Track and ISO committee generated standards is fast making ISO a laughing stock in IT circles. The days of open standards development are fast disappearing. Instead we are getting 'standardization by corporation'.^[34]

Computer security entrepreneur and Ubuntu investor, Mark Shuttleworth, commented on the Standardization of Office Open XML process by saying "I think it de-values the confidence people have in the standards setting process," and Shuttleworth alleged that ISO did not carry out its responsibility. He also noted that Microsoft had intensely lobbied many countries that traditionally had not participated in ISO and stacked technical committees with Microsoft employees, solution providers and resellers sympathetic to Office Open XML.

When you have a process built on trust and when that trust is abused, ISO should halt the process... ISO is an engineering old boys club and these things are boring so you have to have a lot of passion … then suddenly you have an investment of a lot of money and lobbying and you get artificial results. The process is not set up to deal with intensive corporate lobbying and so you end up with something being a standard that is not clear.^[35]

See also