Ten things you need to know About ISO – the International Organisation for Standardization

Have you ever wondered about the meaning and origin of “ISO”? Here are ten things you need to know about ISO

Have you ever wondered about the meaning and origin of “ISO”? Here are ten things you need to know about ISO – the International Organisation for Standardization:

1.ISO is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations.
2.ISO  is the world’s largest developer of voluntary international standards and facilitates world trade by providing common standards between nations.
3.ISO has published 21607  International Standards and related documents, covering almost every industry, from technology, to food safety, to agriculture and healthcare. ISO International Standards impact everyone, everywhere.
4.The name of the organization is standardized. The name, “ISO” is not in the true sense an acronym but was derived from the Greek word “isos” meaning “equal”, though many say this etymological reference is a debatable after-thought!
5.Each ISO standard goes through a six stage process before being published as an ISO standard: Proposal Stage, Preparation Stage, Committee Stage, Enquiry Stage, Approval Stage and Publication Stage.
6.ISO has instituted a Fast Track procedure that allows
a standard which has been proven in the market to skip the first four or five stage to either the Approval Stage or the Publication Stage.
7.ISO has three membership categories: *Member bodies* – national bodies that have voting rights; *Correspondent members* – countries that do not have their own standards organization and do not participate in standards promulgation; and *Subscriber members* – countries with small economies that ONLY follow the development of standards.
8.ISO has formed joint technical committees (JTC) with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to develop standards and terminology in the areas of electrical and electronic related technologies – ISO/IEC JTC
9.Every standard for publishing consideration is overseen by a Technical Committee or Sub-committee (TC/SC)
10.International Standards (IS) are approved for publishing if a two-thirds majority of the Permanent Members of the TC/SC are in favour of the proposed standard and not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative.

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