International Organization for Standardization

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The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an organization made up of standards institute representatives from 159 countries. The organization develops and publishes international standards based on input from government and private sector representatives.

History

The idea for ISO was developed in 1946 when representatives from 25 countries assembled in London in an effort "to facilitate the international coordination and unification of industrial standards."^[1] The International Organization for Standards was formed on February 23, 1947 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its headquarters remain in Geneva to this day.

Name

The International Organization for Standardization is called ISO throughout the world. Because the acronym would be different in different languages (IOS in English, OIN in French for Organisation Internationale de Normalisation, etc.) the creators decided to simply call the group ISO, based on the Greek word isos (equal). In any country and any language, therefore, the organization is simply known as ISO.

Standards

Currently, ISO has more than 17,500 published standards. ISO standards are intended to uphold quality, environmental friendliness, safety, reliability, efficiency and interchangeability of a variety of products. ISO also sets standards for the manufacturing and distribution of these products, as well as international trade standards. ISO standards are voluntary, although they are sometimes adopted by a country as regulations or proposed as legislation. Some ISO standards become market requirements, such as ISO 9001 quality management systems.