International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations.

Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promotes worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial standards. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and as of 2015 works in 196 countries.

ISO Guides:

These are meta-standards covering “matters related to international standardization”. They are named using the format “ISO[/IEC] 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

A standard published by ISO/IEC is the last stage of a long process that commonly starts with the proposal of new work within a committee. Here are some abbreviations used for marking a standard with its status:

  • PWI – Preliminary Work Item
  • NP or NWIP – New Proposal / New Work Item Proposal (e.g., ISO/IEC NP 23007)
  • AWI – Approved new Work Item (e.g., ISO/IEC AWI 15444-14)
  • WD – Working Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC WD 27032)
  • CD – Committee Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC CD 23000-5)
  • FCD – Final Committee Draft (e.g., ISO/IEC FCD 23000-12)
  • DIS – Draft International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC DIS 14297)
  • FDIS – Final Draft International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC FDIS 27003)
  • PRF – Proof of a new International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC PRF 18018)
  • IS – International Standard (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007)

Abbreviations used for amendments:

  • NP Amd – New Proposal Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 15444-2:2004/NP Amd 3)
  • AWI Amd – Approved new Work Item Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 14492:2001/AWI Amd 4)
  • WD Amd – Working Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO 11092:1993/WD Amd 1)
  • CD Amd / PDAmd – Committee Draft Amendment / Proposed Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/CD Amd 6)
  • FPDAmd / DAM (DAmd) – Final Proposed Draft Amendment / Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 14496-14:2003/FPDAmd 1)
  • FDAM (FDAmd) – Final Draft Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/FDAmd 4)
  • PRF Amd – (e.g., ISO 12639:2004/PRF Amd 1)
  • Amd – Amendment (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Amd 1:2007)

Other abbreviations:

  • TR – Technical Report (e.g., ISO/IEC TR 19791:2006)
  • DTR – Draft Technical Report (e.g., ISO/IEC DTR 19791)
  • TS – Technical Specification (e.g., ISO/TS 16949:2009)
  • DTS – Draft Technical Specification (e.g., ISO/DTS 11602-1)
  • PAS – Publicly Available Specification
  • TTA – Technology Trends Assessment (e.g., ISO/TTA 1:1994)
  • IWA – International Workshop Agreement (e.g., IWA 1:2005)
  • Cor – Technical Corrigendum (e.g., ISO/IEC 13818-1:2007/Cor 1:2008)
  • Guide – a guidance to technical committees for the preparation of standards

International Standards are developed by ISO technical committees (TC) and subcommittees (SC) by a process with six steps:

Initially Preliminary work item(PWI) is to be carried out

  • Stage 1: Proposal stage   – New work item proposal
  • Stage 2: Preparatory stage – Working draft or drafts
  • Stage 3: Committee stage – Committee draft or drafts
  • Stage 4: Enquiry stage – Enquiry draft
  • Stage 5: Approval stage – Final draft
  • Stage 6: Publication stage – International Standard