The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a global federation made up of national standardization bodies from 130 countries, one for each country.
ISO is a non-governmental organization established in 1947. ISO's mission is to promote the development of standardization and related activities in the world with the aim of facilitating the exchange of services and goods, and to promote cooperation in the sphere of the intellectual, scientific, technological and economic.
All work carried out by ISO results in international agreements which are published as International Standards.
Where does the ISO name come from?
Many people will have noticed the mismatch between the Organization's alleged English acronym and the word "ISO". So it would be, but ISO is not the acronym.
Indeed, "ISO" is a word, derived from the Greek "isos", which means "equal", which is the root of the prefix "iso" which appears in countless terms.
From "equal" to "standard" it is easy to follow this line of thought which led to choosing "ISO" as the name of the Organization.
ISO Standards
How does ISO develop its standards?
The International Organization for Standardization stipulates that its standards are produced according to the following principles:
1) Consensus: The views of all stakeholders are taken into account: manufacturers, sellers, users, consumer groups, analysis laboratories, governments, specialists and research organizations.
2) Global Industrial Application: Global solutions to satisfy global industries and customers.
3) Voluntary: International standardization is market driven and therefore based on the voluntary commitment of all market stakeholders.
