The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

IS0 is an international agency for the development of standards on a wide range of subjects. It is a voluntary, nontreaty organization whose members are designated standards bodies of participating nations, plus nonvoting observer organizations. Although IS0 is not a governmental body, more than 70 percent of IS0 member bodies are governmental standards institutions or organizations incorporated by public law. Most of the remainder have close links with the public administrations in their own countries. The United States member body is the American National Standards Institute.

IS0 was founded in 1946 and has issued more than 5000 standards in a broad range of areas. Its purpose is to promote the development of standardization and related activities tofacilitate international exchange of goods and services and to develop cooperation in the sphere of intellectual, scientific, technological, and economic activity. Standards have been issued to cover everything from screw threads to solar energy. One important area of standardization deals with the open systems interconnection (OSI) communications architecture and the standards at each layer of the OSI architecture.

In the areas of interest in this book, IS0 standards are actually developed in a joint effort with ,another standards body, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). IEC is primarily concerned with electrical and electronic engineering standards. In the area of information technology, the interests of the two groups overlap, with IEC emphasizing hardware and IS0 focusing on software. In 1987, the two groups formed the Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1). This committee has the responsibility of developing the documents that ultimately become IS0 (and IEC) standards in the area of information technology.

The development of an IS0 standard from first proposal to actual publication of the standard follows a seven-step process. The objective is to ensure that the final result is acceptable to as many countries as possible. The steps are briefly described here. (Time limits are the minimum time in which voting could be accomplished, and amendments require extended time.)

1. A new work item is assigned to the appropriate technical committee, and within that technical committee, to the appropriate working group. The working group prepares the technical specifications for the proposed standard and publishes these as a draft proposal (DP). The DP is circulated among interested members for balloting and technical comment. At least three months are allowed, and there may be iterations. When there is substantial agreement, the DP is sent to the administrative arm of ISO, known as the Central Secretariat.

2. The DP is registered at the Central Secretariat within two months of its final approval by the technical committee.

3. The Central Secretariat edits the document to ensure conformity with IS0 practices; no technical changes are made. The edited document is then issued as a draft international standard (DIS).

4. The DIS is circulated for a six-month balloting period. For approval, the DIS must receive a majority, approval by the technical committee members and 75 percent approval of all voting members. Revisions may occur to resolve any negative vote. If more than two negative votes remain, it is unlikely that the DIS will be published as a final standard.

5. The approved, possibly revised, DIS is returned within three months to the Central Secretariat for submission to the IS0 Council, which acts as the board of directors of ISO.

6. The DIS is accepted by the Council as an international standard (IS).

7. The IS is published by ISO.

As can be seen, the process of issuing a standard is a slow one. Certainly, it would be desirable to issue standards as quickly as the technical details can be worked out, but IS0 must ensure that the standard will receive widespread support.

 


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