1.4 How standards are developed

A national standards body (NSB), or one of its member organizations, will first determine the market need for a standard.

For example, this need might be a request from the government to use a standard as a technical regulation to support consumer protection, or it might be a request from an industry group to address interoperability problems.

The standardization body can then do one of four things:

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  • At the national level, an NSB can develop a new national standard, using a national technical committee which represents interested stakeholders (including, for example, consumer interests).
    Note: different NSBs have different processes for involving stakeholders
  • An NSB can adopt a national standard from another NSB, with the latter's prior agreement and payment of copyright fees and other commercial arrangements
  • An NSB can adopt an already existing International Standard as a national standard
  • An NSB can submit a new work item proposal for a new International Standard:
    • to the ISO Central Secretariat for further development, if it is an ISO member
    • to the IEC Central Office if it is a member of IEC
    • in some cases, an NSB can offer a national or regional standard to form the basis of an International Standard (“fast track procedure”) or as a sample text appended to a new work item proposal

In ISO, a proposal for an International Standard can also originate from other sources, such as an ISO policy or governing body, the ISO Secretary-General, a technical committee or an organization in liaison.

New work item proposals must meet certain acceptance criteria before advancing to the next stage of development.