Standards FAQ
What is a technical standard?
A documented agreement on how something should be made, measured, tested or communicated so that products, services and systems work together. Standards may cover dimensions, terminology, performance or safety. They are usually voluntary but become mandatory when cited in laws or contracts.
What does ISO stand for?
ISO is the International Organization for Standardization, a network of national standards bodies from more than 170 countries, founded in 1947. The short name is deliberately not an acronym of any one language and echoes the Greek word isos, meaning equal.
What is the difference between ISO, IEEE, IETF and ITU?
ISO covers nearly every industry through national member bodies. IEEE focuses on electrical and electronics engineering and gave the world 802.11 and 802.3. The IETF develops Internet protocols like TCP and DNS through open Request for Comments documents. The ITU is the United Nations agency coordinating radio spectrum, telephone numbering and telecom standards.
Is ISO 9001 required by law?
No. ISO 9001 is voluntary, but many customers, government tenders and supply chains require certification before doing business. Some regulated sectors effectively require aligned systems through variants such as ISO 13485 for medical devices and IATF 16949 for automotive.
Which standard is the most used in the world?
By daily touch, the quiet champions are ISO 216 A4 paper, USB connectors and Wi-Fi. By certification count, ISO 9001 leads with more than a million certificates. On the web, UTF-8 and HTML together underpin essentially every page ever served.
Are standards free to read?
It depends on the body. Internet standards from the IETF and most W3C specifications are free to download. ISO, IEC and many national bodies sell standards to fund their work, though libraries and some public windows provide access.