Discover ISO
How ISO decides to develop a standard
ISO launches the development of new standards in response to the sectors that express a clearly established need for them. An industry or business sector communicates its requirement for a standard to one of ISO's national members. The latter then proposes the new work item to ISO as a whole. If accepted, the work item is assigned to an existing technical committee. Proposals may also be made to set up technical committees to cover new scopes of activity.
At the end of 2006, there were 3 041 technical bodies in the ISO system, including 193 ISO technical committees.
The focus of the technical committees is specialized and specific. In addition, ISO has three general policy development committees that provide strategic guidance for the standards' development work on cross-sector aspects. These committees ensure that the specific technical work is aligned with broader market and stakeholder group interests. They are:
Discover ISO
- ISO's name
- Why standards matter
- What standards do
- Who standards benefit
- The ISO brand
- How to recognize an ISO standard
- The scope of ISO's work
- Examples of the benefits standards provide
- What's different about ISO 9001 and ISO 14001
- Why conformity assessment is important
- What "international standardization" means
- ISO's origins
- Who can join ISO
- How the ISO system is managed
- How the ISO system is financed
- How ISO decides to develop a standard
- Who develops ISO standards
- How ISO standards are developed
- ISO's international partners
- ISO's regional partners
News feeds
