Equalfooting
Every participating ISO member institution has
the right to take part in the development of any standard which it judges to be
important to its country's economy. No matter what the size or strength of that
economy, each participating member in ISO has one vote. ISO's activities are
thus carried out in a democratic framework where each country is on an equal
footing to influence the direction of ISO's work at the strategic level, as
well as the technical content of its individual standards.
Voluntary
ISO
standards are voluntary. As a non-governmental organization, ISO has no legal
authority to enforce their implementation. A certain percentage of ISO
standards - mainly those concerned with health, safety or the environment - has
been adopted in some countries as part of their regulatory framework, or is
referred to in legislation for which it serves as the technical basis. Such
adoptions are sovereign decisions by the regulatory authorities or governments
of the countries concerned; ISO itself does not regulate or legislate. However,
although ISO standards are voluntary, they may become a market requirement, as
has happened in the case of ISO 9000 quality management systems, or of
dimensions of freight containers and bankcards.
Market-driven
ISO
develops only those standards for which there is a market requirement. The work
is carried out by experts on loan from the industrial, technical and business
sectors which have asked for the standards, and which subsequently put them to
use. These experts may be joined by others with relevant knowledge, such as
representatives of government agencies, consumer organizations, academia and
testing laboratories.
Consensus
Although
ISO standards are voluntary, the fact that they are developed in response to
market demand, and are based on consensus among the interested parties, ensures
widespread applicability of the standards. Consensus, like technology, evolves
and ISO takes account both of evolving technology and of evolving interests by
requiring a review of its standards at least every five years to decide whether
they should be maintained, updated or withdrawn. In this way, ISO standards
retain their position as the state of the art, as agreed by an international
cross-section of experts in the field.
Worldwide
ISO
standards are technical agreements, which provide the framework for compatible
technology worldwide. Developing technical consensus on this international
scale is a major operation. In all, there are more than 2 850 ISO technical
groups (technical committees, subcommittees, working groups etc.) in which some
30 000 experts participate annually to develop ISO standards.
