International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

The international Organization for Standardization (ISO)

The international Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a world-wide federation of national standards bodies (Member Bodies). New International Standards are prepared by Technical Committees. Technical Committees are assembled from representatives of each Member Body interested in the subject. Draft International Standards are circulated to the Member Bodies and become International Standards if they are approved by at least 75 % of the Member Bodies casting a vote.

In other circumstances a technical committee may decide to publish other types of normative documents:

• an ISO Publicly Available Specification (ISO/PAS) represents an agreement between technical experts in an ISO working group and is accepted for publication if it is approved by 50 % of the members of the parent committee casting a vote;
• an ISO Technical Specification (ISO/TS) represents an agreement between the members of a technical committee and is accepted for publication if it is approved by 2/3 of the members of the committee casting a vote.
• an ISO/PAS or ISO/TS is reviewed every three years with a view to deciding whether it can be transformed into an International Standard.