International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
Website: http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html
Category: Standards
Year of Foundation: 1946
Location of Foundation: London, UK
Location of Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Brief Description: The International Organization for Standardization describes itself as 'the world's largest developer and publisher of International 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.' (Source: www.iso.org; accessed 13 April 2010)
Founding Rationales:
At the end of the Second World War it 'seemed
desirable to organize a new body which could function free from any
prejudices' apparently possessed by earlier bodies such as the International Federation of National Standardization Associations and the United Nations Standards Co-ordinating Committee. At the conferences establishing the ISO it was 'agreed that most publications of the
association would be minutes and reports on standards work done by
technical committees, including descriptions of which bodies agreed to
which proposed standard. ... the Council could publish documents “as International Standards” as long as it received no veto.'
Source: JoAnne Yates and Craig N. Murphy, 'From Setting National Standards to Co-ordinating International Standards: The Formation of the ISO', Business and Economic History On-Line, vol. 4, 2006, pp. 16, 19.
Evolution of Membership (Organizations):
Sources: YIO; EAIO; www.iso.org (accessed 13 April 2010).