Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your International Organization For Standardization shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the International Organization For Standardization offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of International Organization For Standardization at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a International Organization For Standardization? Wrong! If the International Organization For Standardization is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about International Organization For Standardization then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling International Organization For Standardization? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about International Organization For Standardization and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your International Organization For Standardization wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your International Organization For Standardization then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the International Organization For Standardization site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about International Organization For Standardization, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your International Organization For Standardization, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
The
International Organization for Standardization (
Organisation internationale de normalisation), widely known as
ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates world-wide industrial and commercial
standardizations. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.{{cite web], its ability to set standards that often become law, either through treaty or national standards, makes it more powerful than most NGOs. In practice, ISO acts as a consortium with strong links to governments.
Name and abbreviation
The organization's
logos in its two official languages, English and French, include the letters
ISO, and it is usually referred to by these letters.
ISO is not, however, an
Acronym and initialism for the organization's full name in either official language. Rather, the organization adopted
ISO based on the Greek word (
isos), which means
equal. Recognizing that the organization’s initials would be different in different languages, the organization's founders chose
ISO as the universal short form of its name. This, in itself, reflects the aim of the organization: to equalize and standardize across cultures.{{cite web|title=ISO's name|publisher=ISO|year=© 2007|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/en/networking/pr/isoname/isoname.html|accessdate=2007-09-07-->{{cite web|title=Discover ISO – ISO's name|publisher=ISO|year=© 2007|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/about/discover-iso_meet-iso/discover-iso_isos-name.htm|accessdate=2007-09-07-->
International Standards and other publications
ISO's main products are the International Standards. ISO also publishes Technical Reports, Technical Specifications, Publicly Available Specifications, Technical Corrigenda, and Guides.The ISO directives are published in two distinct parts:
*{{cite web|title=
ISO Directives, Part 1: Procedures for the Technical Work. 5th Edition|publisher=ISO/IEC|year=2004|url=http://www.iec.ch/tiss/iec/Directives-Part1-Ed5.pdf|format=pdf|accessdate=2007-09-07-->
*{{cite web|title=
ISO Directives, Part 2: Rules for the structure and drafting of International Standards. 5th Edition|publisher=ISO/IEC|year=2004|url=http://www.iec.ch/tiss/iec/Directives-Part2-Ed5.pdf|format=pdf|accessdate=2007-09-07-->
International Standards are identified in the format
ISO nnnnn Title, where
nnnnn is the number of the standard ,
yyyy is the year published, and
Title describes the subject.
IEC is included if the standard results from the work of JTC1 (the Joint Technical Committee).
ASTM is used for standards developed in cooperation with
ASTM International. The date and
IS are not used for an incomplete or unpublished standard, and may under some circumstances be left off the title of a published work.
Technical Reports can be issued when "a technical committee or subcommittee has collected data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard", such as references and explanations. The naming conventions for these are the same as for standards, except
TR prepended instead
IS in the report's name. Examples:
- ISO/IEC TR 17799:2000 Code of Practice for Information Security Management
- ISO/TR 19033:2000 Technical product documentation — Metadata for construction documentation
Technical Specifications can be produced when "the subject in question is still under development or where for any other reason there is the future but not immediate possibility of an agreement to publish an International Standard".
Publicly Available Specifications may be "an intermediate specification, published prior to the development of a full International Standard, or, in IEC may be a 'dual logo' publication published in collaboration with an external organization". Both are named by convention similar to Technical Reports, for example:
- ISO/TS 16952-1:2006 Technical product documentation — Reference designation system — Part 1: General application rules
- ISO/PAS 11154:2006 Road vehicles — Roof load carriers
ISO sometimes issues a
Technical Corrigendum. These are amendments to existing standards because of minor technical flaws, usability improvements, or to extend applicability in a limited way. Generally, these are issued with the expectation that the affected standard will be updated or withdrawn at its next scheduled review.
ISO Guides are meta-standards covering "matters related to international standardization". They are named in the format
"ISO Guide N:yyyy: Title", for example:
- ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004 Standardization and related activities — General vocabulary
- ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996 General requirements for bodies operating product certification
ISO document copyright
ISO documents are copyrighted and ISO charges for copies of most. ISO does not, however, charge for most draft copies of documents in electronic format. Although useful, care must be taken using these drafts as there is the possibility of substantial change before it becomes finalized as a standard. Some standards by ISO and its official U.S. representative (and the
International Electrotechnical Commission's via the U.S. National Committee) are made freely available.{{cite web]|url=http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2489/Ittf_Home/PubliclyAvailableStandards.htm|accessdate=2007-09-07-->{{cite web|title=Free ANSI Standards|url=http://webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/free_standards.asp|accessdate=2007-06-19-->
Members
]
ISO has
Countries in International Organization for Standardization,{{cite web|title=General information on ISO|publisher=ISO|year=© 2007|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/support/faqs/faqs_general_information_on_iso.htm|accessdate=2007-09-07--> out of the 195 total countries in the world.
ISO has three membership categories:
- Member bodies are national bodies that are considered to be the most representative standards body in each country. These are the only members of ISO that have voting rights.
- Correspondent members are countries that do not have their own standards organization. These members are informed about ISO's work, but do not participate in standards promulgation.
- Subscriber members are countries with small economies. They pay reduced membership fees, but can follow the development of standards.
Participating members are called "P" members as opposed to observing members which are called "O" members.
Products named after ISO
The fact that many of the ISO-created standards are ubiquitous has led, on occasion, to common usage of "ISO" to describe the actual product that conforms to a standard. Some examples of this are:
- CD images end in the file extension "ISO image" to signify that they are using the ISO 9660 standard filesystem as opposed to another file system - hence CD images are commonly referred to as "ISOs". Virtually all computers with CD-ROM drives can read CDs that use this standard. Some DVD-ROMs also use ISO 9660 filesystems.
- Photographic film's sensitivity to light, its "film speed," is described by ISO 5800:1987. Hence, the film's speed is often referred to as its "ISO number."
==ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1==To deal with the consequences of substantial overlap in areas of standardization and work related to information technology, ISO and International Electrotechnical Commission formed a Joint Technical Committee known as the ISO/IEC JTC1. It was the first such committee, and to date remains the only one.
Its official mandate is to develop, maintain, promote and facilitate IT standards required by global markets meeting business and user requirements concerning
- the design and development of IT systems and tools
- the performance and quality of IT products and systems
- the security of IT systems and information
- the portability of application programs
- the interoperability of IT products and systems
- the unified tools and environments
- the harmonized IT vocabulary, and
- the user-friendly and ergonomically-designed user interfaces.
There are currently 18 sub-committees:
- SC 02 - Coded Character Sets
- SC 06 - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems
- SC 07 - Software and System Engineering
- SC 17 - Cards and Personal Identification
- SC22 - Programming Languages, their Environments and Systems Software Interfaces
- SC 23 - Removable Digital Storage Media Utilizing Optical and/or Magnetic Recording * Technology for Digital
- SC 24 - Computer Graphics and Image Processing
- SC 25 - Interconnection of Information Technology Equipment
- SC 27 - IT Security Techniques
- SC 28 - Office Equipment
- SC 29 - Coding of Audio, Picture, and Multimedia and Hypermedia Information
- SC 31 - Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques
- SC 32 - Data Management and Interchange
- ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 - Document Description and Processing Languages
- SC 35 - User Interfaces
- SC 36 - Information Technology for Learning, Education, and Training
- SC 37 - Biometrics
Membership in ISO/IEC JTC1 is restricted in much the same way as membership in either of the two parent organizations. A member can be either participating (P) or observing (O) and the difference is mainly the ability to vote on proposed standards and other products. There is no requirement for any member body to maintain either (or any) status on all of the sub-committees. Although rare, sub-committees can be created to deal with new situations (SC 37 was approved in 2002) or disbanded if the area of work is no longer relevant.
IWA document
Like ISO/TS, International Workshop Agreement (IWA) is another armoury of ISO for providing rapid response to requirements for standardization in areas where the technical structures and expertise are not currently in place. The utility harmonizes technical urgency industrial wide.
See also
References
External links
- ISO's official website (free access to the catalogue of standards only, not to the contents)
- Publicly Available Standards (free access to a small subset of the standards)
- The ISO Standards Glossary
- ISO/IEC JTC1
- ISO Advanced search for standards and/or projects (search engine by/on ISO)
The
International Organization for Standardization (
Organisation internationale de normalisation), widely known as
ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates world-wide industrial and commercial standardizations. It is headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland.{{cite web], its ability to set standards that often become law, either through
treaty or national standards, makes it more powerful than most NGOs. In practice, ISO acts as a consortium with strong links to governments.
Name and abbreviation
The organization's logos in its two official languages, English and French, include the letters
ISO, and it is usually referred to by these letters.
ISO is not, however, an Acronym and initialism for the organization's full name in either official language. Rather, the organization adopted
ISO based on the Greek word (
isos), which means
equal. Recognizing that the organization’s initials would be different in different languages, the organization's founders chose
ISO as the universal short form of its name. This, in itself, reflects the aim of the organization: to equalize and standardize across cultures.{{cite web|title=ISO's name|publisher=ISO|year=© 2007|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/en/networking/pr/isoname/isoname.html|accessdate=2007-09-07-->{{cite web|title=Discover ISO – ISO's name|publisher=ISO|year=© 2007|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/about/discover-iso_meet-iso/discover-iso_isos-name.htm|accessdate=2007-09-07-->
International Standards and other publications
ISO's main products are the International Standards. ISO also publishes Technical Reports, Technical Specifications, Publicly Available Specifications, Technical Corrigenda, and Guides.The ISO directives are published in two distinct parts:
*{{cite web|title=
ISO Directives, Part 1: Procedures for the Technical Work. 5th Edition|publisher=ISO/IEC|year=2004|url=http://www.iec.ch/tiss/iec/Directives-Part1-Ed5.pdf|format=pdf|accessdate=2007-09-07-->
*{{cite web|title=
ISO Directives, Part 2: Rules for the structure and drafting of International Standards. 5th Edition|publisher=ISO/IEC|year=2004|url=http://www.iec.ch/tiss/iec/Directives-Part2-Ed5.pdf|format=pdf|accessdate=2007-09-07-->
International Standards are identified in the format
ISO nnnnn Title, where
nnnnn is the number of the standard ,
yyyy is the year published, and
Title describes the subject.
IEC is included if the standard results from the work of JTC1 (the Joint Technical Committee).
ASTM is used for standards developed in cooperation with
ASTM International. The date and
IS are not used for an incomplete or unpublished standard, and may under some circumstances be left off the title of a published work.
Technical Reports can be issued when "a technical committee or subcommittee has collected data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard", such as references and explanations. The naming conventions for these are the same as for standards, except
TR prepended instead
IS in the report's name. Examples:
- ISO/IEC TR 17799:2000 Code of Practice for Information Security Management
- ISO/TR 19033:2000 Technical product documentation — Metadata for construction documentation
Technical Specifications can be produced when "the subject in question is still under development or where for any other reason there is the future but not immediate possibility of an agreement to publish an International Standard".
Publicly Available Specifications may be "an intermediate specification, published prior to the development of a full International Standard, or, in IEC may be a 'dual logo' publication published in collaboration with an external organization". Both are named by convention similar to Technical Reports, for example:
- ISO/TS 16952-1:2006 Technical product documentation — Reference designation system — Part 1: General application rules
- ISO/PAS 11154:2006 Road vehicles — Roof load carriers
ISO sometimes issues a
Technical Corrigendum. These are amendments to existing standards because of minor technical flaws, usability improvements, or to extend applicability in a limited way. Generally, these are issued with the expectation that the affected standard will be updated or withdrawn at its next scheduled review.
ISO Guides are meta-standards covering "matters related to international standardization". They are named in the format
"ISO Guide N:yyyy: Title", for example:
- ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004 Standardization and related activities — General vocabulary
- ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996 General requirements for bodies operating product certification
ISO document copyright
ISO documents are copyrighted and ISO charges for copies of most. ISO does not, however, charge for most draft copies of documents in electronic format. Although useful, care must be taken using these drafts as there is the possibility of substantial change before it becomes finalized as a standard. Some standards by ISO and its official U.S. representative (and the International Electrotechnical Commission's via the U.S. National Committee) are made freely available.{{cite web]|url=http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2489/Ittf_Home/PubliclyAvailableStandards.htm|accessdate=2007-09-07-->{{cite web|title=Free ANSI Standards|url=http://webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/free_standards.asp|accessdate=2007-06-19-->
Members
]
ISO has
Countries in International Organization for Standardization,{{cite web|title=General information on ISO|publisher=ISO|year=© 2007|url=http://www.iso.org/iso/support/faqs/faqs_general_information_on_iso.htm|accessdate=2007-09-07--> out of the 195 total countries in the world.
ISO has three membership categories:
- Member bodies are national bodies that are considered to be the most representative standards body in each country. These are the only members of ISO that have voting rights.
- Correspondent members are countries that do not have their own standards organization. These members are informed about ISO's work, but do not participate in standards promulgation.
- Subscriber members are countries with small economies. They pay reduced membership fees, but can follow the development of standards.
Participating members are called "P" members as opposed to observing members which are called "O" members.
Products named after ISO
The fact that many of the ISO-created standards are ubiquitous has led, on occasion, to common usage of "ISO" to describe the actual product that conforms to a standard. Some examples of this are:
- CD images end in the file extension "ISO image" to signify that they are using the ISO 9660 standard filesystem as opposed to another file system - hence CD images are commonly referred to as "ISOs". Virtually all computers with CD-ROM drives can read CDs that use this standard. Some DVD-ROMs also use ISO 9660 filesystems.
- Photographic film's sensitivity to light, its "film speed," is described by ISO 5800:1987. Hence, the film's speed is often referred to as its "ISO number."
==ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1==To deal with the consequences of substantial overlap in areas of standardization and work related to information technology, ISO and
International Electrotechnical Commission formed a Joint Technical Committee known as the ISO/IEC JTC1. It was the first such committee, and to date remains the only one.
Its official mandate is to develop, maintain, promote and facilitate IT standards required by global markets meeting business and user requirements concerning
- the design and development of IT systems and tools
- the performance and quality of IT products and systems
- the security of IT systems and information
- the portability of application programs
- the interoperability of IT products and systems
- the unified tools and environments
- the harmonized IT vocabulary, and
- the user-friendly and ergonomically-designed user interfaces.
There are currently 18 sub-committees:
- SC 02 - Coded Character Sets
- SC 06 - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems
- SC 07 - Software and System Engineering
- SC 17 - Cards and Personal Identification
- SC22 - Programming Languages, their Environments and Systems Software Interfaces
- SC 23 - Removable Digital Storage Media Utilizing Optical and/or Magnetic Recording * Technology for Digital
- SC 24 - Computer Graphics and Image Processing
- SC 25 - Interconnection of Information Technology Equipment
- SC 27 - IT Security Techniques
- SC 28 - Office Equipment
- SC 29 - Coding of Audio, Picture, and Multimedia and Hypermedia Information
- SC 31 - Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques
- SC 32 - Data Management and Interchange
- ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 - Document Description and Processing Languages
- SC 35 - User Interfaces
- SC 36 - Information Technology for Learning, Education, and Training
- SC 37 - Biometrics
Membership in ISO/IEC JTC1 is restricted in much the same way as membership in either of the two parent organizations. A member can be either participating (P) or observing (O) and the difference is mainly the ability to vote on proposed standards and other products. There is no requirement for any member body to maintain either (or any) status on all of the sub-committees. Although rare, sub-committees can be created to deal with new situations (SC 37 was approved in 2002) or disbanded if the area of work is no longer relevant.
IWA document
Like ISO/TS, International Workshop Agreement (IWA) is another armoury of ISO for providing rapid response to requirements for standardization in areas where the technical structures and expertise are not currently in place. The utility harmonizes technical urgency industrial wide.
See also
References
External links
- ISO's official website (free access to the catalogue of standards only, not to the contents)
- Publicly Available Standards (free access to a small subset of the standards)
- The ISO Standards Glossary
- ISO/IEC JTC1
- ISO Advanced search for standards and/or projects (search engine by/on ISO)
ISO - International Organization for Standardization
Promotes the development of standardization and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing ...
International Organization for Standardization - Wikipedia, the free ...
The International Organization for Standardization (Organisation internationale de normalisation), widely known as ISO (pronounced /ˈɑɪsəʊ/), is an international-standard ...
International Organization for Standardization from FOLDOC
International Organization for Standardization < standard, body > (ISO) A voluntary, nontreaty organisation founded in 1946, responsible for creating international standards in ...
ISO - International Organization for Standardization
International Standards for Business, Government and Society
International Organization for Standardization
The Free Online Dictionary of Computing (http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/) is edited by Denis Howe < dbh@doc.ic.ac.uk >. Previous: International Organisation for Standardisation Next ...
International Organization for Standardization - Hutchinson ...
Global federation of national standards bodies from over 130 countries, with one body for each country. The ISO is a non-governmental organization, established in 1947, and its ...
ISO
Data Collection Services — news and technical information for insurers that report data to ISO: The ISO Family of Companies: International Welcome
International Organization for Standardization financial definition of ...
International Organization for Standardization. ISO is not an acronym but the name of a standards setting organization chartered by the United Nations.
Multimap Client Zone V2.2 : Documentation - Terminology
ISO Codes: Multimap software recognizes countries by their unique two-character International Organization for Standardization (ISO) country code.
GDS Infocentre :: International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
Setting the Standards India Infra speaks to ISO?s Alan Bryden about how ISO 14001 is helping revolutionise the way industry looks at environmental concerns.
