International Standards Organization

Type:	Non-Governmental Organization
Industry:	International Standardization
Founded:	February 23, 1947
Headquarters:	Geneva
Country:	Switzerland
Website:	www.iso.org
Key People
Dr. Boris Aleshin, President Mr. Sadao Takeda, Vice-President Policy Mr. Jacob Holmblad, VP Technical Management Mr. Julien Pitton, Treasurer Mr. Rob Steele, Sec. General-CEO

'International Standards Organization (ISO) is a non-government organization composed of a network of national standards institute from 163 countries. ISO develops, publishes and holds the largest repository of international standards. The founders of the ISO derived the name of the organization from the greek word "isos" which means equal. English, French and Russian are the official languages used by ISO. Its headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

Historical Background

ISO was officially established on February 23, 1947. The establishment of the organization was a result of the meeting in London which ws attended by delegates from 25 countries. ISO was basically formed when the International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA) and the United Nations Standards Coordinating Committee (UNSCC) combined. Upon its establishment in 1947, a meeting in Paris was held and 67 ISO technical committees were recommended. During that time, the early members idea for international standardization was to base it from the existing standards and re-implement it nationally as Recommendations. The first general assembly of the ISO was held in Paris in 1949. ISO's membership started to increase from developing countries within the next ten years. The International standards that was created in the 1950s to 60s were highly beneficial to developing countries because it offers a vast information about technology however, developing countries were unable to use these international standards because they don't have established industrial infrastructures, related technical components and adequate financial and technical resources.The DEVCO Committee was established in 1961 in response to the needs of its members from developing nations.

In 1968, the Correspondent Member was created as a category for organizations from countries that do not have a fully developed national standards. These members do no participate in the technical and policy development work of the ISO but received full information on issues relevant to their organization.

In 1971, ISO started to publish its technical works as International Standards. This paved the way to the expansion of the organization and became actively involved in international communities and became an international specialized organization.

In 1979, the ISO Technical Committee (TC) 176, Quality Management and Quality Assurance was established. In 1986, the ISO/TC 176 released ISO 8402 as its first standard defining the standard terminology for quality management. Subsequently in 1987, TC 176 published ISO 9001, IS0 9002, ISO 9003 and 1SOP 9004; a complete a requirement and guidance for quality management systems including Research & Development used by different organizations.

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and ISO collaborated and were directly involved on environmental standards in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)also known as the 1992 Earth Summit. The two organization established the Strategic Advisory Group on the Environment (SAGE), which submitted recommendations on environmental management and to create a new ISO Technical Committee to develop standards on this area. In 1993, the ISO/TC 207 Environmental Management was officially created. In 1996, thee committee's published its first standard, ISO 14001, Environmental Systems Specification with Guidance.

At present, ISO is one of the three primary organizations providing international standardization together with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU}. ISO maintains that its' international standards comply with the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.

Governance & Operation

A five-year strategic plan approved by the ISO members serves as a guideline in the operations of the organization. The General Assembly is the highest authority of the organization, which is composed of its Principal officers and delegates appointed by the member bodies. Members of the General Assembly meet every year and the President is the Chairman.The membership of the General Assembly is divided into three categories:

• Members Bodies which has the only right to vote.
• Correspondent Members
• Subscriber Members.

The governance of ISO is handled by The Council which meets twice a year and is composed of different policy development committees including:

• Conformity Assessment Committee (CASCO)
• Consumer Policy Committee (COPOLCO)
• Committee for Developing Country matters (DEVCO)

The Technical Management Board (TMB) handles the entire management of the technical work as well as some of the organizations' strategic and technical advisory groups and it reports to the Council.Meanwhile, the Secretary General (CEO) manages the operations at the ISO Central Secretariat Office in Geneva.

The ISO Central Secretariat has 154 full-time staffs from 124 countries who are tasked to provide administrative and technical support to the ISO Members. It is also responsible in coordinating and publishing the output of the decentralized standards' development program and serves as the secretariat of the governing bodies, policy development committees and their subsidiary bodies.

ISO Standards

Technical Committee Develops Standards

The experts of the ISO Technical Committees (TC) including its sub-committees or project committees develop ISO standards.

Development of New ISO Standards

New ISO Standards are developed when a proposal is submitted by sectors or stakeholders approved by the majority members of the Technical Committee, which identifies the global relevance of the proposal. In addition, the three policy development committees of the ISO also submits recommendations to develop new international standards for their stakeholder groups.

The development of international standards undergo through six stages including:

• Stage 1: Proposal stage- A proposal is submitted indicating that a new international standard is necessary and needs to be approved by majority of the TC or subcommittees. If the proposal is approved, a project leader will be chosen.
• Stage 2: Preparatory stage
• Stage 3: Committee stage
• Stage 4: Enquiry stage
• Stage 5: Approval stage
• Stage 6: Publication stage

ISO publishes around 1100 new standards every year. More than 18,500 international standards was already developed and published by the organization in different subjects. The Best selling ISO standards include:

• ISO 26000:2010-Guidance on Social Responsibility
• ISO 31000:2009-Risk Management - Principles and Guidelines
• ISO 14001:2004-Environmental Management Systems - Requirements with Guidance for Use

International Standards Organization