International Organization for Standardization
| Author | Grant Eldridge, Laurie Hillstrom |
| Pages | 399-402 |
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The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, that works to develop technical standards for products and services sold around the world. The steady rise in international trade that began in the mid-19th century and has persisted until the present day provided impetus for the global standardization of goods and services. Companies with overseas operations must know that products or services they contract for outside their home country will conform to their needs, and the only way to ensure this is for both parties in the transaction to meet a single set of standards. Thus, as economic interdependence increased among nations on all continents, the need for an authoritative international standards body became increasingly apparent. To address this need, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was founded in 1947.
The ISO comprises national standards bodies representing 148 countries and serves a variety of functions. It facilitates communication and cooperation among its members, eases the distribution of scientific and technical information on standards and standardization, operates over 2,850 technical groups devoted to standards and other commercial and industrial research, and maintains online databases covering international standards and other organizational activities. The ISO also seeks to ensure that standards are not used as a nontariff barrier to international trade by formulating international standards applicable to the full scope of commercial activity in any locale worldwide.
Although the majority of standards promulgated by the ISO are the result of the internal activities of its technical committees and working groups, ISO standards are not necessarily handed down to companies from the central organization. Companies often send their own internal standards to the ISO for consideration as international standards. Similarly, national standards organizations work with the ISO
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to make accepted national standards internationally applicable.
Adherence to standards formulated by ISO is completely voluntary, but companies that do conform to them have a distinct advantage over those that do not, particularly when trading overseas. ISO standards cover the entire spectrum of scientific, industrial, and commercial activities, including computer operating systems, manufacturing processes, product quality, safety, management technique, and environmental protection. In addition to its specific quality standards, the ISO has issued two sets of general standards, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, to govern manufacturing and organizational processes and environmental protection, respectively.
Released in 1987 and updated in 2000, the ISO 9000:2000 standards series governs general international quality assurance for products and services. It is divided into five specific areas. ISO 9000 is an overview, which includes guidelines for the selection, and use of quality management and quality assurance standards, provides definitions of quality concepts, and serves as a guide for the selection of ISO quality models applicable to specific industries. ISO 9001 provides a model for quality assurance in design and development, production...
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