What is ISO?

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent, non-governmental international standards setting body composed of representatives from 164 national standards bodies / countries.

ISO develops and publishes International Standards. Standards are the distilled wisdom of people with expertise in their subject matter and who know the needs of the organizations they represent – people such as manufacturers, sellers, buyers, customers, trade association, users or regulators.

ISO founded in year 1947, promotes worldwide proprietary, industrial, and commercial standards. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

ISO is a voluntary organization whose members are recognized authorities on standards, each one representing one country. ISO council with a rotating membership of 20 member bodies provides guidance and governance, including setting the annual budget of the central secretariat. The technical management board is responsible for more than 250 technical committees, who develop the ISO standards.

ISO’s first standard: In 1951, the first ISO standard, ISO/R 1:1951 Standard reference temperature for industrial length measurements is published. Since then, the standard has been updated numerous times and is now ISO 1:2002 Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS) - Standard reference temperature for geometrical product specification.

ISO published since 1947 to 2020 more than 21000 standards; cover almost all aspects of technology and business.