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Directives and Policies

The ISO/IEC Directives define the basic procedures to be followed in the development of International Standards and other publications.

There are, however, other documents containing guiding principles for standards development, which can also be found below.

Contact us

For questions about the ISO Directives please contact us on directives@iso.org

For any general questions on drafting ISO standards, please contact us on draftingstandards@iso.org

Official Rules

Here are the official rules that state how to develop an ISO standard:

Supplementary Documents

Here are some supplementary documents that may help guide the standards development process:

  • Cooperation with CEN (the Vienna Agreement)
    Committees cooperating with CEN under the Vienna Agreement will need to refer to details on this agreement.
  • Global Relevance
    Guidance for how to make sure an International Standard can be implemented as broadly as possible.
  • Patent Policy
    Contains guidance for technical committees in case patent rights matters arise.
  • Supporting Public Policy Initiatives (PDF)
    Principles for developing ISO and IEC standards related to or supporting Public Policy Initiatives.
  • Normative References (login required)
    Individuals developing standards are given access to the standards or normative documents referred to in the ISO/IEC Directives.

Topics to Consider

Here is some information on topics to take into account when developing standards:

  • ISO and ISO/IEC Guides: what they are and what they can help you achieve (PDF)
  • List of ISO/IEC Guides (login required)
  • ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004, Standardization and related activities - General vocabulary (PDF)
  • ISO/IEC GUIDE 15:1977, ISO/IEC code of principles on "reference to standards"
  • ISO/IEC Guide 21-1:2005, Regional or national adoption of International Standards and other International Deliverables - Part 1: Adoption of International Standards (PDF)
  • ISO/IEC Guide 21-2:2005, Regional or national adoption of International Standards and other International Deliverables - Part 2: Adoption of International Deliverables other than International Standards (PDF)
  • ISO/IEC Guide 23:1982, Methods of indicating conformity with standards for third-party certification systems (PDF)
  • ISO/IEC Guide 71:2001, Guidelines for standards developers to address the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities (PDF)