ISO - Resources

Resources to support the work of individuals involved in standards development.

The majority of this information is not password protected. However, some links may take you to pages where your login is required.

ISO Code of Ethics and Conduct

Participants in ISO committees, working groups or consensus groups are asked to work to the principles in the ISO Code of Ethics and Conduct.

Competition law guidelines

Compliance with competition law in the standards-setting process is essential to ensure that markets operate efficiently and competitively, and that the ISO standards development process remains a platform of trust. ISO provides broad guidelines on competition law issues for all participants in the ISO standards development process.

Any questions regarding the guidelines on competition law can be directed to the ISO legal team at compliance@iso.org.

Copyright

All participants in the ISO standardization activities shall respect the copyright of ISO publications and drafts developed, as well as of any content submitted to ISO. This is reflected in a Declaration to which all those involved in ISO standardization must agree.

Any questions regarding the Declaration can be directed to copyright@iso.org.

Policy on communication about committee work to external parties and document retention

Participants in the ISO standards development process may be asked (e.g. by the media), or may wish on their own initiative (e.g. through social media), to share information with external parties about various aspects of committee work. ISO has developed a Policy for such external communications.

Any questions regarding the Policy can be directed to the TMB Secretariat by emailing tmb@iso.org.

Data Protection Policy

All those participating in ISO standardization activities have rights and obligations related to data protection. These are reflected in the Data Protection Policy for ISO members, the Privacy Notice, and a Declaration to which all those involved in ISO standardization must agree. It applies to data stored on ISO IT tools, as well as any personal data collected in the course of standardization work (e.g. attendance lists, minutes).

Any questions regarding the the Member Policy, the Privacy Notice or the Declaration can be directed to: DataProtection@iso.org.

Explanation of terms and expressions used in ISO standards

ISO uses specific terms and expressions to differentiate between requirements and recommendations in its International Standards. This has implications for conformity assessment. Find out more about terms and expressions.

International Standards and trade

ISO observes and promotes the WTO principles in the development of its International Standards. This is to ensure that they do not create barriers to trade. Find out more about ISO standards and trade.

Sanction law issues within ISO

ISO has created a document to download that summarizes issues in connection with sanctions [PDF] and the ISO standards development process.

Engaging stakeholders and building consensus

ISO works to ensure that standards are developed by the stakeholders for the stakeholders, so that market needs can be effectively met.

Here you will find documents to provide guidance on stakeholder engagement processes:

Guidelines for sustainability in standards

Sustainability is such an important issue for ISO that we have created a guide to help include these principles into more and more standards.

Called Guide 82 and created by a world leading team of sustainability and standards experts, it provides all the guidance required to address sustainability in standards

Accessibility Toolkit

The accessibility toolkit provides guidance to help technical committees determine if their deliverables have relevance in terms of accessibility.

Publicly available resources

The ISO Central Secretariat provides various types of Publicly available resources to support the ISO community.

Roles and responsibilities

The following documents include details of the roles and responsibilities of those involved in standards development, as well as how to play an active role in the process.

Directives and Policies

The ISO/IEC Directives define the basic procedures to be followed in the development of International Standards and other publications.

Other policies (such as the Patent Policy or the Policy on Global Relevance) contain guiding principles for standards development

For questions on the ISO/IEC Directives please contact directives@iso.org.