Have you ever gone into a store, checked a product, and seen the words “ISO” on it? Or maybe when you were watching television, an ad might have popped up, and you would have heard ‘ISO approved’ somewhere. Ever wondered what ISO stands for? Or why is it important to check the same?
ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, is an independent international organisation which creates standards and quality rules for multiple products. It is made up of experts from the national standards organisations of its member countries.
Created on February 23, 1947, ISO has published over 25,000 international standards. These standards cover almost everything you can think of, from technology and manufacturing to food safety and healthcare. The goal is to make sure products and services are safe, reliable, and of good quality. The organisation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, works in three official languages — English, French, and Russian.
Did you know?
Do you know what ISO stands for? Most might think it’s an abbreviation for International Organization for Standardization. Then should it not be IOS and not ISO?
You see, the founders of the organisation found themselves in a pickle while coming up with an abbreviation since in English, the name would be abbreviated as “IOS”, but in French, it would be “OIN” (from Organisation internationale de normalisation). In order to avoid any confusion, they chose the short name ISO, which comes from the Greek word “isos” (ίσος), meaning “equal”. Thus also showing their aim of ensuring things or products are of equal and consistent quality everywhere.
The history
ISO originally started as the International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations, or ISA, in 1926, and they mainly focused on standards for mechanical engineering. During the Second World War in 1942, the same had stopped working. It was after the war that the idea of a new global standards organisation was formed. In October 1946, members from 25 countries met in London and agreed to create the International Organization for Standardization.
With 174 members as of now, ISO consists of national standards bodies from the different member countries. For example, BSI is the standard body from India that is a member of ISO. There are three categories of members within the organisation —full members, correspondent members, and subscriber members.
Types of ISO Members
Full Members (Member Bodies): These are the most representative national standards bodies in their country. They actively participate and vote in ISO technical and policy meetings, influencing the development of standards and strategy as well as sell and adopt ISO international standards nationally.
Correspondent Members: These members observe ISO standards development and strategy by attending meetings as observers. They also sell and adopt ISO standards nationally within their territory.
Subscriber Members: These members are kept up-to-date on ISO’s work, but they cannot participate in technical discussions or sell and adopt ISO standards nationally.
What all does ISO bring out?
International Standards are the most common type of document that is published by ISO. Documents containing information that is different from a standard, like explanations or references, called Technical Reports, are also published by them. They also create guides, which are “standards for making standards”. They give rules to the technical committees on how to do their work. Most ISO documents are protected by copyright and must be purchased. This helps fund the organisation’s work. However, some standards are made available for free.
Published – October 22, 2025 04:06 pm IST
