• Technical work
  
• Stages of the development of standards
  
• International harmonized stage code system
  
• References of draft standards and other bibliographic data
  
• Technical committees section
  
• Work programme section
  
• Browse and search
  
• ISOTC

Technical work [back to top]

The technical work on the development of standards is carried out through technical committees (TC). Each technical committee may, in turn, establish subcommittees (SC) and working groups (WG) to cover different aspects of its work.

Within their scopes, technical committees and subcommittees determine their own programmes of work to identify the market requirements for individual work items.

To ensure coordination of work in all matters of common interest, liaisons are established between related technical committees.

Stages of development of standards [back to top]

Standards are developed by technical committees (TC) and subcommittees (SC) by a six step process:

• Stage 1: Proposal stage
  
• Stage 2: Preparatory stage
  
• Stage 3: Committee stage
  
• Stage 4: Enquiry stage
  
• Stage 5: Approval stage
  
• Stage 6: Publication stage

The following is a summary of each of the six stages:

Stage 1: Proposal stage

The first step in the development of a standard is to confirm that a particular standard is needed. A new work item proposal (NP) is submitted for vote by the members of the relevant TC/SC to determine the inclusion of the work item in the programme of work.

The proposal is accepted if the results of the vote have satisfied the established criteria. At this stage a project leader responsible for the work item is normally appointed.

Stage 2: Preparatory stage

Usually, a working group of experts, the chairman (convener) of which is the project leader, is set up by the TC/SC for the preparation of a working draft. Successive working drafts may be considered until the working group is satisfied that it has developed the best technical solution to the problem being addressed. At this stage, the draft is forwarded to the working group's parent committee for the consensus-building phase.

Stage 3: Committee stage

As soon as a first committee draft is available, it is distributed for comments and, if required, voting, by the members of the TC/SC. Successive committee drafts may be considered until consensus is reached on the technical content. Once consensus has been attained, the text is finalized for submission as a draft standard.

Stage 4: Enquiry stage

The draft standard is circulated to all members of the organization for voting and comment within a certain period. If the established approval criteria are not met, the text is returned to the originating TC/SC for further study and a revised document will again be circulated for voting and comment as a draft standard.

Stage 5: Approval stage

The final draft standard is circulated for a final Yes/No vote within a certain period. If technical comments are received during this period, they are no longer considered at this stage, but registered for consideration during a future revision of the standard. If the established approval criteria are not met, the standard is referred back to the originating TC/SC for reconsideration in the light of the technical reasons submitted in support of the negative votes received.

Stage 6: Publication stage

Once a final draft standard has been approved, only minor editorial changes, if and where necessary, are introduced into the final text. The final text is sent to the ISO Central Secretariat which published as the standard.

Review of International Standards

All standards are reviewed at least once every five years by the responsible TCs/SCs. The members of the TC/SC decide whether a standard should be confirmed, revised or withdrawn.

International harmonized stage code system [back to top]

To allow the monitoring of project development in a systematic way, an International harmonized stage code system has been developed. The system given in this table (click here to see it) shows four-digit stage codes representing the principal steps (stages/sub-stages) involved. A project is registered as having reached each particular step when the action or decision indicated at that point has been taken.

References of draft standards and other bibliographic data [back to top]

Project references

The status of each project can be seen from its reference number, which is made up of the following components:

1.Prefix indicating the international standardizing organization with responsibility for the project (e.g., ISO, IEC, or jointly ISO/IEC, etc.)
2.The prefix will normally also contain an indication of the current stage and document type (e.g., ISO/DIS, signifying an ISO draft International Standard, or ISO/IEC CD Guide, signifying a committee draft of a future ISO/IEC Guide, etc.)
3.A reference number for the project, which may include a part number, separated by a hyphen from the main number. In most cases, this is the number under which the final approved standard will be published.

In the case of an Amendment or Technical Corrigendum, the reference number is composed of the reference of the parent standard or project, followed by the document type and number of the Amendment or Corrigendum (e.g. ISO/IEC 9596-1:1998/CD Cor 1, indicating a committee draft of the first corrigendum to ISO/IEC 9596-1:1998)

To indicate the version of a document at a particular stage (for example a third committee draft), the reference number of the project is followed by a point and the version number.

Examples of the principal abbreviations used in the technical programme

This table (click here to see it) gives examples of the principal abbreviations used in the ISO technical programme, together with an indication of the corresponding project stage.

Other bibliographic data

In addition to the project reference, the Technical committees and Technical programme sections give the following bibliographic information:

Edition - Edition number of the project.

Number of pages (p) - indicates the number of technical pages in the document and is given only for documents having been circulated for DIS or FDIS ballot.

Technical committee/subcommittee (TC/SC) - refers to the technical committee and subcommittee responsible for the development and maintenance of the project.

ICS - The ICS (International Classification for Standards) notation of the group or sub-group in which a given document is classified.

Current stage - To allow the monitoring of project development in a systematic way, the stage code chart shows a four-digit stage code representing the principal steps (stages/sub-stages) involved. The technical programme includes projects from stage 20.00 (new project registered in TC/SC programme of work) through stage 60.00 (International Standard under publication) inclusive.

Date of current stage - the date at which a project is registered as having reached each particular step.

Start and end of votes on drafts and final drafts are also displayed.

Technical committees section [back to top]

This section contains the list of technical committees at the first levels which are displayed in numerical order. Selecting the links, the user may further navigate to sub-committee lists, then to the lists of standards and drafts under the responsibility of the committee/sub-committee, and then to the bibliographic data of these standards and drafts. Thus, this section includes information on standards and draft standards displayed in TC/SC order

Work programme section [back to top]

This section contains lists of draft standards. All drafts are classified into fields, groups and sub-groups according to the International Classification for Standards (ICS). The ICS is a hierarchical classification which consists of three levels. Level 1 covers broad fields of activity in standardization. Each field contains a two-digit notation:

e.g. 11 HEALTH CARE TECHNOLOGY

The fields are subdivided into groups (level 2). The notation for a group consists of the field notation and a three-digit group number separated by a point:

e.g. 11.040 Medical equipment

A number of groups are further divided into sub-groups (level 3). The notation of a sub-group consists of the group notation and a two-digit number separated by a point:

e.g. 11.040.30 Surgical instruments and materials

The same draft may be classified in several groups and/or sub-groups. If a draft completely covers the subject of a group which is subdivided into sub-groups, this draft is classified under the sub-group which has the notation terminating with ".01".

A full copy of the ICS is available on the WSSN web site: (http://www.wssn.net/WSSN/RefDocs/refdocs.html).

Browse and search [back to top]

The listing Work programme is based on the ICS classification. Levels are hyperlinked, making it convenient to navigate through the entire classification.

Browse by subject - In the section Work programme, you will see the list of ICS fields. Select the subject field required and the groups and sub-groups of ICS will be seen. Select the group or the sub-group of your interest and a list of documents is displayed. The reference to each document can then be selected to reveal the bibliographic information on the document.

Browse by TC/SC -In the section Technical committes, you will see the list of technical committes

Search Form - This form allows searching the Standards and Work programme sections by number and/or keyword(s). Selecting the links, the user may further navigate to sub-committee lists, then to the lists of standards and drafts under the responsibility of the committee/sub-committee, and then to the bibliographic data of these standards and drafts. Thus, this section includes information on standards and draft standards displayed in TC/SC order

ISOTC [back to top]

The ISOTC server of ISO is structured into three parts:

the Standards Developers' Information Site (SDIS), which is open, provides information on the rules and procedures for standards development and for the drafting of standards. Tools used for the preparation of standards, e.g. the ISO templates, etc., are also accessible through the SDIS;

the main ISOTC home site (partially password-protected) is designed to support the collaborative work within ISO technical committees, subcommittees and working groups. It hosts the day-to-day working sites of the various ISO technical committees and provides the interface for the ISO committees to the internal standards production chain in the ISO Central Secretariat;

the site of the Information Technology Task Force (ITTF) (partially password-protected) is responsible for the day-to-day planning and coordination of the technical work of the joint ISO/IEC technical committee JTC 1, Information technology