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Why standards matter What if standards did not exist?

If there were r*o standards, we waid socn nocce. Standards make an encrmcus ccntnbution to most aspccts cf our trvcs • aithough very cften, that ccntnbutlcn ts mytsibłe. It ts when there rs an absence of standards Ihat their tmportance is trought home. For exampte, as purchasers or users of Products, we soon nocce when they tum out to be of poor quabty, do not flt. arc incompabble with equpment we afready have, are unreliabie or dangerous. When Products meet our ckpectabons, we tcnd to take tfus for granted. We are usuaiy unaware of thc role ptayed by standards m rasmg levds of cjutMy, safety, rdiataty, effloency and mterchangeaMity • as wełl as m prCMdng such beneflts at an economical cost

ISO (Intemaoonał Orgarezabon for Standardfcatton) is thc worWs lar gest devcłcpcr of standards. AJthough ISCrs prtnopal actMty ts thc dcvełopment of tcchmcal standards, ISO standards ałso have important economic and sooal rcpercusswns. ISO standards make a posmvc dffcrence, not just to engmeers and manufacturers for whom they sohe basc probfoms tn produebon and dstribubon, but to sooety as a whełe.

The International Standards whkh ISO deveiops are very useful. They are useM to industrial and business orgamzabons of aa types, to govemments and other regulatory bodies, to trade offlcials, to conformity assessment professaonaB, to suppkers and customers of Products and serwces m both pubie and prlvate sectors, and, Jbmatefy, to peopfe in generał m thełr rołes as consuners and end users.

ISO standards contnbute to making the devełopment, manufacturmg and suppły of Products and services morę effident, safer and deaner. They make trade between countnes eaaer and fairer. They prcMde goremments with a techncai base for health, safety and enwronmentai legstation. They ató In transfer ring techncłogy to óeveloping countnes. ISO standards aiso serve to safeguard ccnsumers, and users m generał, of Products and services - as we* as to make their kves srtnpter.

When thngs go weil - for exampłe, when Systems, machnery and devlces werk wen and safeły - then often it is because they conform to standards. And the orgamzabon responsitte for many thousands of the standards whłch beneflt sooety worldwtde is ISO.

ISO is a network of the nabonał standards msbtutes of 146 countnes, on the t»«s of one member per country, with a Central Secretartat m Geneva, Switzerland, that coordnates the system.

ISO B a non-govcmmcntal orgamzabon: its members arc not, as is the case m the United Naocns system, ddegabens of nabonal govemments. Nevcrthdess, ISO occuprcs a spcoal posibon between the pubie and prwate sectors. TTus e because, on thc one hand, many of its member msbtutes arc part of the govcmmental structure of their countnes, or arc mandated by their goYcmmcnt. On the other hand, other members have their roots umgueły m the pnvate sector, having becn set up by nabonal partnerstrps of mdustry assooabons.

Thcrcforc, ISO is ablc to act as a bndgng orgamzabon m whkh a consensus can be reached on sdubons that meet both the reguirements of business and the broader needs of sooety, such as the needs of stakthofder groups like consuners and users.

Because "International Orgamzabon for Standanłzabon' woiid havc dfferent abbrevtabons in dfferent languages flOS" in English, "OiN* in French for Organtsaocn mtemadonate ae /wnaisaoicrt), it was deoded at the outset to use a word denved from the Greek isos, meamng ”equar. Therefore, whatever the country, whatever the language, the short form of the orgamzabon** name B dways ISO.

How it all started

Nabonal

International standardizabon began in the electrotecfimcal flełd: the International Bectrotechncal Commission (16C) was estaCtohed m 1906. ftoneenng work m other fiełds was camed out by the International Federabon of the