What is ISO?

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from more than 145 countries, with one body representing each country. ISO is a non-governmental organization established in 1947 and based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its mission is to promote the development of standardization and related activities in the world, in order to facilitate the international exchange of goods and services and to develop cooperation in intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity. ISO's work results in international agreements, which are published as International Standards and other types of ISO documents.

You will find an introduction to ISO in the About ISO section of ISO’s Web site.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the sole U.S. representative and dues-paying member of ISO. As a founding member of the ISO, ANSI also plays an active role in its governance.

Each country that belongs to ISO is represented by a national organization called a "member body." Each member body has a mechanism for identifying issues and developing national consensus on the work being done by ISO Technical Committees (TC). Different countries are members of different committees.

In the United States, this mechanism is called the ANSI-Accredited U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the specific ISO TC, or it may be referred to as the U.S. National Committee (USNC).

TAGs in the United States are accredited by ANSI, and must follow specific ANSI procedures, known as the Model Operating Procedures for U.S. Technical Advisory Groups to ANSI for ISO Activities.

The primary purpose of the TAG (or national committee) for each country is to develop and transmit that country’s position on activities and ballots related to the work of each ISO TC. These groups are comprised of delegates, who are actively involved in the international negotiation and preparation of international standards.

Other organizations involved in standards development include ASTM, IEEE, NSF, SAE, Underwriters Laboratories, and BSI.