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ISO

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)¹⁶ is one of the world's largest developers and publishers of international standards. The term ISO is not an acronym. Because “International Organization for Standardization” would have different acronyms in different languages (“IOS” in English, “OIN” in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), its founders decided to give it a short, all-purpose name. They chose “ISO,” derived from the Greek isos, meaning “equal.” This way, whatever the country or language, the short form of the organization's name is ISO.

ISO, founded on February 23, 1947, promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial standards. ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 159 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland that coordinates the system.

ISO is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors. On the one hand, many of its member institutes are part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are mandated by their government. On the other hand, other members have their roots uniquely in the private sector, having been set up by national partnerships of industry associations. Therefore, ISO enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society.