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Resources for standards development

This page contains 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.

Code of Conduct

Participants in ISO committees, working groups or consensus groups are asked to work to the principles in the Code of Conduct (PDF).

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 [email protected].

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 the ISO Copyright Officer by emailing [email protected].

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 [email protected]

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 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 Policy or the Declaration can be directed to the ISO Data Protection Officer: [email protected].

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.

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

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.

My ISO Job (PDF 1.5 MB)

Getting Started toolkits

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 [email protected]

Developing standards

This section provides an overview of the standards development process with links to the tools, documents and resources for each stage.

IT Tools for Standards Development

This section contains details on all IT Tools that help support the standards development process.

For questions about IT tools, contact [email protected]

Forms, Model Agendas and Standard Letters

This section contains the forms, model agendas and standard letters that may be needed when developing standards. More information on the documents needed at each stage can be found in the Developing Standards section.

Drafting standards

Learn How to write standards (PDF 545kb).

Submit your draft using our simple template.

Other ISO templates (word and autocad)