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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

General

Can anyone join ISO?

Individuals or businesses can’t join ISO. Membership of ISO is only open to national standards institutes or similar organizations that represent standardization in their country (one member in each country). It’s important to realize that companies that apply or certify ISO standards are not ISO members. Find out more about ISO members.

Conformity assessment involves a set of processes that show your product, service or system meets the requirements of a standard. It’s important to note that ISO doesn’t provide certification or conformity assessment. Find out more about conformity assessment.

No. ISO doesn’t provide certification or conformity assessment. Find out more about how conformity assessment and certification works.

Only ISO, ISO members, and ISO technical committees (TCs) are allowed to use the ISO logo and ISO short name in accordance with ISO Policies. Read more about our name and logo.

Only ISO, ISO members, and ISO technical committees (TCs) are allowed to use the ISO logo and ISO short name in accordance with ISO Policies. Read more about our name and logo.

ISO itself does not have data on equivalent standards (such as national or regional standards). However, a number of ISO members are able to provide this information. Therefore, please contact the ISO member in your country.

Working through the ISO community, it is the people who need the standards that decide. A particular industry or business sector can communicate its need for a standard to their national ISO member; the idea is then proposed to ISO as a whole. If accepted, the project is assigned to an existing technical committee. Proposals may also be made to establish technical committees to cover new scopes of technological activity. In order to use resources most efficiently, ISO only develops new standards for which there are clear market requirements. If you feel there is a need for a standard in your sector, please contact your ISO member.
Developing, publishing and maintaining ISO standards incurs a cost, and revenues from selling them helps ISO and its members to cover an important part of these costs. Charging for standards allows us to ensure that they are developed in an impartial environment and therefore meet the needs of all stakeholders for which the standard is relevant. This is essential if standards are to remain effective in the real world. ISO and its members offer a number of options to access ISO standards. Contact us or your national ISO member to find the best option for your needs.
ISO is a non-governmental organization (NGO). Therefore, unlike the United Nations, the national members of ISO are not delegations of the governments of those countries. Our national members are the national standards bodies, or equivalent organizations, in their country. Some of them are wholly private sector in origin, others are private sector organizations but have a special mandate from their governments on matters related to standardization, and others are part of the governmental framework of their countries. In addition, government experts often participate in ISO’s standards’ development work. So, while ISO is an NGO, it receives input from the public sector as it does from the private sector.
ISO’s national members pay subscriptions that meet the operational cost of ISO’s Central Secretariat. The dues paid by each member are calculated as a proportion of their country’s Gross National Product and trade figures. Another source of revenue is the sale of standards, which contributes more than a third of the budget. The operations of the Central Secretariat in Geneva represent only about one fifth of the cost of our international standardizing activities . The remaining costs are borne by the organizations which manage the specific projects or loan experts to participate in the technical work. These organizations are, in effect, subsidizing the technical work by paying the travel costs of the experts and allowing them time to work on their ISO assignments. Such organizations and individuals make an essential and highly valued contribution to standardization.

The General Assembly is the ultimate authority of the Organization. It is composed of ISO members, and considers any matter submitted by the ISO Council.

The proposals put to the General Assembly are developed by the Council, which is drawn from the ISO membership. The Council, which resembles the board of directors of a business organization, meets three times per year to discuss key matters relating to ISO strategy and policy, financial as well as operational and statutory matters. ISO Council membership rotates regularly to ensure that it is representative.

Operations are managed by a Secretary-General, who is appointed for five-year term. The Secretary-General reports to a President who is a prominent figure in standardization or in business, elected for two, or three years. To learn more, see our section on structure and governance.

While we work together with United Nations (UN) specialized agencies on some standardization projects, ISO is an independent not-for-profit organization and is not part of the UN.

Purchasing
How can I purchase ISO products?

Our ISO products can be purchased either from the ISO Store or from the ISO national member body. ISO Store All items available for purchase have an associated shopping basket function on the right side of the page. Here, you can choose the format (Paper, PDF and ePub) and the language of the publication.

ISO Member:

Orders for ISO Standards and other ISO Publications can be addressed to your national ISO Member. Some members can offer a personalized service and give technical feedback on certain standards. The main benefit of ordering through your national member is that with them, you can purchase ISO Products in your local currency.

The Online Browsing Platform is a platform created by ISO that allows you to search and access our standards online. On the OBP you can freely preview parts of the standards (Foreword, Introduction, Scope, Normative references or Terms & definitions). This can help you decide whether it is the right standard you are looking for. The OBP is also used to access and purchase Graphical Symbols & Symbol Collections, Country Codes, Terms & Definitions.

No, it is not possible to consult your library offline. But you can have offline access to any file you have previously downloaded to your computer.

Prices for ISO publications ordered from the ISO Store are expressed in Swiss Francs (CHF) and can only be invoiced in this currency. If you wish to convert the price of any ISO publication into your local currency, you can find a currency converter at www.oanda.com. To purchase standards in your local currency, you can contact your national ISO Member.

As our Terms & Conditions, you can pay for your order with a credit card (MasterCard, Visa, and American Express) or by bank transfer. No debit cards are accepted. Your credit card information will be secure with the use of our Secure Transaction System. (See also our Privacy Policy ). For payment by bank transfer, the payment must mention your order number.

Note: All bank charges have to be paid by the purchaser. If you choose this payment method, you will receive an email with the bank information. Bank transfers can take around 3 working days to be processed.

As per our Terms & Conditions, local taxes are applied to online orders delivered in Switzerland only. For international orders, no taxes are charged. If there are taxes to be paid outside of Switzerland, they are the customers’ responsibility.
Note: All bank charges have to be paid by the purchaser. If you choose this payment method, you will receive an email with the bank information. Bank transfers can take around 3 working days to be processed.

As per our Terms & Conditions, local taxes are applied to online orders delivered in Switzerland only. For international orders, no taxes are charged. If there are taxes to be paid outside of Switzerland, they are the customers’ responsibility.
Note: All bank charges have to be paid by the purchaser. If you choose this payment method, you will receive an email with the bank information. Bank transfers can take around 3 working days to be processed.

As per our Terms & Conditions, local taxes are applied to online orders delivered in Switzerland only. For international orders, no taxes are charged. If there are taxes to be paid outside of Switzerland, they are the customers’ responsibility.
Note: All bank charges have to be paid by the purchaser. If you choose this payment method, you will receive an email with the bank information. Bank transfers can take around 3 working days to be processed.

Creating an Account:

  • Go to the Online Browsing Platform and click “Sign In” on the top right corner.
  • Click “Create Account” and enter the information required.
  • You will receive an email confirmation and will be asked to validate your account.

Editing your Account Information:

Go to your Account and click on “Profile”. There you will be able to change the information you need. Note that this information is the one that will be displayed on your invoice, so make sure you keep it updated. The account is personal and the contact information needs to be properly indicated for a single user, and not a company. If you wish to modify the email address in your account, please contact the customer service.  

Once you have made the payment and received an order confirmation, the electronic document can be downloaded from your online account. You will find the document under the “Products” tab, where you can either view it online or download it to your computer. It is important to know that all electronic files are subject to ISO Copyright, which you will need to comply with.

Referring to our Terms & Conditions, if you need a copy of your invoice, you need to log into your Account. Under the “Orders tab”, select your invoice and press the “Email” button. A copy will be sent to you by email. ISO regrets to inform you that once an order has been confirmed and an invoice has been generated, the invoice information can no longer be modified. Therefore please make sure that all the Account information is up to date.

As per our Terms & Conditions, if you purchased a product in CD or paper format , then it will be shipped to you according to your selected delivery method:

  • Standard Delivery: 4-10 business days , no tracking possibilities
  • Express Delivery (DHL): 2-4 business days, tracking number available

Shipments are sent out from the ISO Central Secretariat in Switzerland, either on the same day or the next business day, after we receive your payment.

Note: Shipments to Mexico will only by sent by Express delivery and shipments to Switzerland, only by Standard delivery. PDF files have to be downloaded directly from your online account: Go to your ISO Store account.

As per our Terms & Conditions, except in the case of an error made by the ISO Central Secretariat, ISO does not accept returns, nor provide a refund for PDF and ePub documents. For physical documents (paper or CD-ROM), the return has to be accepted by the ISO Central Secretariat first, who will explain the procedure to follow. Please note that orders will be credited only upon receipt of the returned goods.

Information: Should you have any doubts about a standard you are interested in, you can refer to our Online Browsing Platform (OBP) where you can preview different sections of the standard free of charge. For more complete information, you can also contact our Customer Service team or the ISO member in your country.

ISO publications come with a single-user licence. When you purchase a standard from the ISO Store, the document(s) can be assigned for your personal individual use (“You”) or for use by your colleague(s) (“someone else”) within your company. The document will be watermarked in the user’s name. If you wish to post standards on your company’s Intranet for access by multiple users, please contact us or your ISO Member to explore the options. Note: The ISO Store is dedicated to end users only and not resellers. If you are interested in reselling ISO products, please contact your national ISO Member for further information.
Standards and Handbooks
How can I access the ISO Standards and Handbooks that I purchased?

The electronic documents can be accessed from your Account . You will find the document under the “Products” tab, where you can either view it online on the Online Browsing Platform (OBP) or download it to your computer. It is important to know that all electronic files are subject to ISO Copyright, which you will need to comply with. If you purchased a product in CD or paper format, then it will be shipped to you according to your selected delivery method:

  • Standard Delivery : 4-10 business days, sent via standard mail, no tracking possibility,
  • Express Delivery : 2-4 business days, sent via DHL with tracking number available

Shipments are sent out from the ISO Central Secretariat in Switzerland, either on the same day or the next business day, after we receive your payment.

If you purchase a hardcopy, you are allowed to share it with any person that wants to read it. However, you cannot copy the text by scanning it, photocopying it, or reproducing it in any other way. For electronic files, you can store them on any device, and you are allowed to print one copy for your own personal needs. However, you are not allowed to make copies or transfer the electronic file, or reproduce parts of it. For more information, please contact us at copyright@iso.org.

PDF is a file format created by Adobe. In order to open and read the PDF files you have purchased you will need to have the  Acrobat Reader Software installed on your computer. PDF files are provided in either character-based format or, for older documents, in TIFF image-based format. All PDF files purchased from the ISO Store are watermarked in order to protect  ISO Copyright.

ePub is short for “electronic publication”. It is a format optimized for tablets, e-readers and smartphones. It allows you to easily navigate the publication on a small, touch screen. On iOS, you can download iBooks from the AppStore for an optimized reading experience. To add the file to your Apple device, you can download the file from your Account and add it to the iTunes Library. For Android, you can download FBReader from Google Play.

All downloadable standards are watermarked. The ISO Central Secretariat uses watermarks in order to protect  ISO’s Copyright. A watermark is additional information that has been added to a document to identify the rightful licensee of the document. Using a watermark is a means of personalizing each standard that you download. By default, the watermark in the PDF file displays (on each page of the document) the order number, the download date and the email address of the contact provided in the Account. Example of a watermark:

Sample of a watermark

Withdrawn standards are available for sale in PDF or paper version, for the price of CHF 63.00 (+ Shipping & Handling for the paper copy). Withdrawn standards can only be purchased by contacting the ISO Customer Care Team, Opening Hours: Monday to Friday, from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00 (UTC +1).

Or by contacting your national ISO member directly.

If you have purchased a standard and a corrigenda has been published, it will automatically be added to your Account. Alternatively, you can access it for free on the Online Browsing Platform.Note: All bank charges have to be paid by the purchaser. If you choose this payment method, you will receive an email with the bank information. Bank transfers can take around 3 working days to be processed.

If you have purchased a standard and a corrigenda has been published, it will automatically be added to your Account. Alternatively, you can access it for free on the Online Browsing Platform.

A Redline document compares the current standard with the previous edition. It allows you to see any updates made at a glance, by highlighting in red, all the parts that were removed from the previous edition, and by highlighting in green the new parts that were added. Redline documents are not sold separately but as a bundle, included with the standard.

Information: Redline documents are only available for some standards.

Information: Redline documents are only available for some standards.

As indicated in our Licence Agreement, standards cannot be shared with other users or posted on a company intranet. If you wish to do so, please contact your national  ISO member, who will be able to offer a suitable licence.

Country codes collection
What is a country codes collection and why purchase it?

The country codes collection is an annual subscription that provides you with the complete updated lists of official country codes from ISO 3166 (parts 1, 2 and 3) in .XML, .CSV and .XLS format so you can download them to your database. With the subscription you will also receive notifications of any updates.

You have to go to the Online Browsing Platform and access to your Account. You will find your collection under the “Subscriptions” tab.

The Country Codes can be downloaded to your database and used in order to implement the standard ISO 3166. However, selling them to others and further reproduction is not permitted.

Updates are included in your subscription. You will be notified when changes are made so you can download the latest versions.

Your subscription is automatically renewed every year, which means that you will keep receiving updates until you stop the auto-renewal. This is easy to do through from your account and will be effective immediately.
Graphical symbols
How can I purchase Graphical Symbols?
If you are looking for a single Graphical Symbol, you can search, preview and buy it from the Online Browsing Platform (OBP). They are available in AI, DWG, EPS formats and in some cases also in vectorized PDF. If you buy a Graphical Symbol collection, (ISO 7000 or ISO 7000/IEC 60417), you pay a yearly fee to access and download the symbols.

You have to go to the Online Browsing Platform  and log into your Account. If you purchased an individual symbol, it will be available under the “Products” tab. If you purchased a Collection of Graphical Symbols, you will find it under the “Subscriptions” tab.

Graphical Symbols can be reproduced as needed for the implementation of the respective ISO Standards. However, posting them on the Internet or selling them to others is not permitted.

When you subscribe to a Graphical Symbol Collection, you will be informed if an update is available. Updates are included in your annual subscription and any modification in the collection will be updated automatically in your Account, free of charge.

The subscription to a Graphical Symbols Collection lasts for one year. The subscription is automatically renewed, unless you cancel the renewal. To do so, you have to log into your Account and select the “Stop Auto-renewal”.

Newsletter & notification tool
What is the notification tool?

The notification tool sends you an alert via email when there is any updated information regarding a standard you follow. You will receive information when a new standard is published, withdrawn, or if a new format of the standard is available.

First of all, you will need to sign into your Account. Then you can go to the  Online Browsing Platform, search for the standard and click on “Follow”. If you wish to stop following a standard, then you go to your Account and uncheck the “Following” button. Another possibility is when you buy a standard through the ISO Store. On the Shopping Basket, the “Follow” function will be automatically selected. If you do not want to receive notifications about the standard, you can uncheck “Follow”.

You can click on the document reference to access it. If it is already part of your library, you will be able to see the entire document. Otherwise, you will only be able to see the publicly available sections. You can then decide to purchase the standard if you wish.

ISO Glossary

Ad hoc group (AHG) :

Group set up within a committee to look into a particular problem and report back to the parent committee at a meeting. The group is disbanded after the meeting at which it presents its report.

CASCO (Conformity Assessment Committee):

Committee whose secretariat is provided by ISO/CS that deals with conformity assessment and is responsible for the development of conformity assessment standards.

See the full glossary of terms