What is ISO?
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent, international non-governmental organization with a membership comprising 167 national standards bodies and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
The organisation dates back to the 1920s when it was known as the International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA). It was suspended because of World War II, and afterwards the United Nations Standards Coordinating Committee (UNSCC) proposed a new global standards body, and the International Organization for Standardization was formed in 1947.
The short form of its name “ISO” was agreed upon to avoid any confusion with acronyms in different languages and is derived from the Greek 'isos', meaning equal.
From its membership base it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant industrial, and commercial international standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.
ISO currently develops and publishes some 24,200 standards that cover practically all products, materials, and processes across all sectors of business.
The ISO standards are agreed upon internationally by experts in the specific fields who fully understand all aspects of their subject. The panels of experts involved can include relevant individuals from manufacturing, commerce, trade associations, regulatory bodies as well as end-users.
Best known for producing its international standards, ISO also publishes a wide range of technical reports, technical specifications, publicly available specifications and guides.
The organisation plays an important role in facilitating world trade by providing common standards across all fields including technology, security, healthcare, manufacturing and the environment.
To the end user, ISO standards demonstrate that a product bearing certification is safe and conforms to international standards.
Most standards are very specific and relate to individual products or categories.
However, two of the most popular families of standards are applicable across all sectors. These are ISO 9000, relating to quality management systems (QMS) and ISO 2700 which deals with information security management systems (ISMS).