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Procedures for the
technical work —
Consolidated ISO Supplement —
Procedures specific to ISO
Directives ISO/IEC, Partie 1 — Procédures pour les travaux techniques — Supplément ISO consolidé — Procédures spécifiques à l’ISO
V01/2024
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Significant updates since the last edition
1 Organizational structure and responsibilities for the technical work
1.1 Role of the technical management board
1.2 Advisory groups to the technical management board
1.4 Role of the Chief Executive Officer
1.5 Establishment of technical committees.
1.6 Establishment of subcommittees
1.7 Participation in the work of technical committees and subcommittees
1.8 Chairs of technical committees and subcommittees
1.9 Secretariats of technical committees and subcommittees
1.13 Groups having advisory functions within a committee
1.15 Liaison between committees
1.16 Liaison between ISO and IEC
1.17 Liaison with other organizations
2 Development of International Standards
2.10 Corrections and amendments
2.14 Reference to patented items (see also Annex I.)
3 Development of other documents
3.1 Technical Specifications (TS)
3.2 Publicly Available Specifications (PAS)
4.2 Procedure for calling a meeting
4.5 National Bodies participating by correspondence at plenary meetings
4.7 Virtual participation at committee meetings
5.2 Appeal against a subcommittee decision
5.3 Appeal against a technical committee decision
5.4 Appeal against a technical management board decision
5.5 Progress of work during an appeal process
Annex B (normative) ISO/IEC procedures for liaison and work allocation
Annex C (normative) Justification of proposals for the establishment of standards
Annex D (normative) Resources of secretariats and qualifications of Secretaries/Committee Managers
Annex E (normative) General policy on the use of languages
Annex F (normative) Options for development of a project
Annex G (normative) Maintenance agencies
Annex H (normative) Registration Authority (“RA”) Policy
Annex I (normative) Guideline for Implementation of the Common Patent Policy for ITU‑T/ITU‑R/ISO/IEC
Annex J (normative) Formulating scopes of committees
Annex K (normative) Project committees
Annex L (normative) Selection criteria for people leading the technical work
Annex M (normative) Horizontal Documents
ANNEXES APPLICABLE TO ISO ONLY
Annex SA (normative) ISO Code of Ethics and Conduct
Annex SB (normative) Document distribution
Annex SC (normative) Strategic business plans
Annex SD (normative) Matrix presentation of project stages
Annex SE (normative) Numbering of documents
Annex SF (normative) Hosting meetings
Annex SG (normative) Second (and subsequent) language texts for ISO standards
Annex SH (normative) Procedures for the standardization of graphical symbols
Annex SI (normative) Procedure for the development of International Workshop Agreements (IWA)
Annex SK (normative) Deadlines for posting committee and working group meeting documents
Annex SL (normative) Harmonized approach for management system standards
Appendix 1 (normative) Justification criteria questions
Appendix 2 (normative) Harmonized structure for MSS with guidance for use
Appendix 3 (informative) Terminology guidance in support of Annex SL
Annex SM (normative) Global relevance of ISO technical work and publications
Annex SN (Currently blank — placeholder for new annexes)
Annex SQ (Currently blank — placeholder for new annexes)
Annex SR (normative) Statements intended to limit the purpose or use of documents
Annex SS (normative) Optional use of the Committee Draft (CD) stage — Guidance for committees
Annex ST (normative) Twinning Policy
0.1 Purpose of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) agreement assigns special status to International Standards. The WTO TBT Committee has defined six principles for the development of International Standards that are used to determine if standards are International.
1. Transparency
2. Openness
3. Impartiality and consensus
4. Effectiveness and relevance
5. Coherence
6. Development dimension
For more details see Annex 2 to Part 1 in the WTO document “Decisions and recommendations adopted by the WTO committee on Technical Barriers to Trade since 1 January 1995”.
The ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, define the procedure for the technical work to safeguard these fundamental principles in the development of International Standards and other documents.
0.2 Structure of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1
The ISO/IEC Directives are organized in a set of four documents:
- ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1: Outlines the ISO and IEC common procedure for technical work applicable to ISO and IEC committees for the development of International Standards and other documents.
- ISO Supplement: Outlines the ISO specific procedure for technical work applicable to ISO committees only for the development of International Standards and other documents.
- IEC Supplement: Outlines the IEC specific procedure for technical work applicable to IEC committees only for the development of International Standards and other documents.
- JTC 1 Supplement: Outlines the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1) specific procedure for technical work applicable to JTC 1 only for the development of International Standards and other documents.
The respective websites of ISO, IEC, and ISO/IEC JTC 1 offer supplementary guidance and tools for individuals involved in the technical work. Additional documents may require referencing, such as Standing Documents (SD) for JTC 1 to complement the ISO/IEC Directives and the Consolidated JTC 1 Supplement. For committees collaborating with CEN under the ISO-CEN technical cooperation agreement, the Vienna Agreement is applicable. Similarly, for committees collaborating with CENELEC under the IEC-CENELEC technical cooperation agreement, the Frankfurt Agreement is applicable.
0.3 Consolidated supplement edition
The ISO, IEC, and JTC 1 committees are required to follow the rules and procedures outlined in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and their respective Supplements. To ensure consistency and clarity across all committees, three consolidated editions are published for ease of reference:
- ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 – Consolidated ISO Supplement (applicable to ISO committees)
- ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 – Consolidated IEC Supplement (applicable to IEC committees)
- ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 – Consolidated JTC 1 Supplement (applicable to JTC1)
Each consolidated edition includes all the necessary rules and procedures relevant to the respective committee and is recommended as the reference document for the technical work.
The following highlighting scheme is used in the consolidated editions to distinguish text that is specific to ISO, IEC and JTC 1:
- Text from the ISO Supplement is marked by a light red highlight
- Text from the IEC Supplement is marked by a light blue highlight
- Text from the JTC 1 Supplement is marked by a blue highlight
0.4 Terminology
IEC and ISO do not always use the exact same terminology. For example, ISO refers to its country members as "Member Bodies," while IEC uses the term "National Committees". In such situations, the Directives use generic terms, “National Body”, is used for the mentioned example.
A comprehensive list of these terms and their corresponding equivalents for IEC and ISO is provided further below in the Foreword.
0.5 Maintenance of the Directives
The following groups are responsible for the maintenance of the Directives:
- ISO/IEC Joint Directives Maintenance Team (for the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1)
- IEC Directives Maintenance Team (for the IEC Supplement)
- ISO Directives Maintenance Team (for the ISO Supplement)
- JTC1 in cooperation with JDMT (for the JTC 1 Supplement)
The ISO/IEC Joint Directives Maintenance Team includes members of the IEC Directives Maintenance Team and the ISO Directives Maintenance Team, with JTC 1 Officers serving as members of both teams.
All recommendations for changes in the Directives and Supplements are approved by the IEC Standardisation Management Board (SMB) and/or the ISO Technical Management Board (TMB).
0.6 Change Requests to the Directives
ISO and IEC are dedicated to the continual improvement of the procedures for development of ISO and IEC documents. ISO/IEC National Bodies, committees, and Office of the CEO staff can suggest revisions to the ISO/IEC Directives at any time using an online Change Request (CR) form.
0.7 General Directives procedures
These procedures have been established by ISO and IEC in recognition of the need for International Standards to be cost-effective and timely, as well as widely recognized and generally applied. To attain these objectives, the procedures are based on the following concepts.
a) Current technology and project management
Within the framework of these procedures, the work may be accelerated, and the task of Experts and secretariats facilitated both by current technology (e.g. IT tools) and project management methods.
b) Consensus
Consensus, which requires the resolution of substantial objections, is an essential procedural principle and a necessary condition for the preparation of International Standards that will be accepted and widely used. Although it is necessary for the technical work to progress speedily, sufficient time is required before the approval stage for the discussion, negotiation and resolution of significant technical disagreements.
For further details on the principle of “consensus”, see 2.5.6.
c) Discipline
National Bodies need to ensure discipline with respect to deadlines and timetables to avoid long and uncertain periods of “dead time”. Similarly, to avoid re-discussion, National Bodies have the responsibility of ensuring that their technical standpoint is established, taking account of all interests concerned at the national level, and that this standpoint is made clear at an early stage of the work rather than, for example, at the final (approval) stage. Moreover, National Bodies need to recognize that substantial comments tabled at meetings are counter-productive since no opportunity is available for other delegations to carry out the necessary consultations at home, without which rapid achievement of consensus will be difficult. National Bodies are encouraged to abstain if there is a lack of national consensus or Expert input on a specific ballot.
d) Cost-effectiveness
These procedures take into account the total cost of the operation. The concept of “total cost” includes direct expenditure by National Bodies, expenditure by the offices in Geneva (funded mainly by the dues of National Bodies), travel costs and the value of the time spent by Experts in working groups and committees at both national and international level.
Opportunities for virtual participation at meetings should be sought to the extent possible.
e) Terminology used in this document
NOTE 1 Wherever appropriate in this document, for the sake of brevity, the following terminology has been adopted to represent similar or identical concepts within ISO and IEC.
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Term |
ISO |
IEC |
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National Body |
Member Body (MB) |
National Committee (NC) |
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technical management |
Technical Management |
Standardization |
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Chief Executive Officer |
Secretary-General |
Secretary-General |
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Office of the CEO |
Central Secretariat (CS) |
Secretariat (Sec) |
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council board |
Council |
IEC Board |
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advisory group |
Technical Advisory Group (TAG) |
Advisory Committee |
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Secretary/Committee Manager |
Committee Manager |
Secretary |
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committee |
TCs, SCs, and PCs |
TCs, SCs, PCs, and SyCs |
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For other concepts, ISO/IEC Guide 2 applies. |
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In JTC 1, the “Office of the CEO” is the Information Technology Task Force (ITTF). JTC 1 uses the term “Committee Manager” rather than “Secretary”.
NOTE 2 In addition, the following abbreviations are used in this document.
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JPC |
Joint Project Committee |
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JTC |
Joint Technical Committee |
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JWG |
joint working group |
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TC |
technical committee |
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SyC |
Systems committee (IEC) |
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SC |
subcommittee |
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PC |
project committee |
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WG |
working group |
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PWI |
preliminary work item |
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NP |
new work item proposal |
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WD |
working draft |
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CD |
committee draft |
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DIS |
draft International Standard (ISO) |
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CDV |
committee draft for vote (IEC) |
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FDIS |
final draft International Standard |
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PAS |
Publicly Available Specification |
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TS |
Technical Specification |
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TR |
Technical Report |
f) Global relevance of ISO International Standards
It is ISO's aim and expectation that each of its International Standards represents a worldwide consensus and responds to global market needs. To achieve this aim, it has been recognized that special measures are needed in particular to ensure that the needs of developing countries are taken into account in ISO's technical work. One such measure is the inclusion of specific provisions for “twinning”, i.e. partnerships between two ISO member bodies for the purposes of capacity building, in this ISO Supplement to the ISO/IEC Directives. (See 1.7, 1.8.3, 1.9.2, 1.9.3, 1.9.4 and Annex ST.)
Whilst these provisions are necessarily limited to the technical work, “twinning” may occur at multiple levels, in particular, to assist the twinned partner in capacity building in developing countries of their standardization, conformity assessment and IT infrastructures, with the aim of the twinned partner ultimately being self-sufficient in carrying out their activities.
Significant updates since the last edition
Changes in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1
The following significant changes have been made with respect to the previous edition:
- Clause 1.5.10: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements. A sentence existing in the ISO Supplement is added to the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1 and now applies to the IEC.
- Clause 1.5.12 (removal): The removal of this clause eliminates the concept of committees in stand-by. Committees are advised to follow the standard procedure for re-initiating a committee with a new work program, allowing for the assessment of global relevance and anticipated engagement. Committees currently on stand-by will not be automatically disbanded.
- Clause 1.7.5: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements. A sentence existing in the ISO Supplement is added to the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1 and now applies to the IEC.
- Clause 1.12.2: Clarification on the participation of guests in working groups.
- Clause 1.12.3: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements. A sentence existing in the ISO Supplement is added to the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1 and now applies to the IEC.
- Clauses 1.15, 1.16, 1.17: Alignment of IEC, ISO, and JTC 1 supplements. A text existing in the JTC 1 Supplement is added to the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1 and now applies to ISO and IEC.
- Clause 2.1.6: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements. A sentence existing in the ISO Supplement is added to the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1 and now applies to the IEC.
- Clause 2.2: Clarification on good practices for utilizing Preliminary Work Items.
- Clause 2.3: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements plus modifications to enhance clarity regarding the handling of ballot results. The modification to the existing practice is the addition of the explicit step where the Secretary issues a 4-week ballot to add Experts should criteria 2.3.5 a) pass but criteria b) fail.
- Clause 2.5.2: Allows for more flexibility on the CD circulation period.
- Clause 2.6.2: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements plus modification to enhance clarity. The IEC also adopts the ISO process of dealing with “technical comments” not clearly of a technical nature.
- Clause 2.7.2: Similarly to 2.6.2, the new text explains the process of dealing with “technical comments” not clearly of a technical nature.
- Clauses 3.1.2 and 3.3.1: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements. A sentence existing in the IEC Supplement is added to the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1 and now applies to ISO.
- Clause 2.10: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements. ISO adopted the use of technical corrigendum and IEC adopted the use to corrected editions.
- Clause 3.3.2: The second Draft Technical Report ballot time was reduced to 4 weeks to expedite the development process.
- Clause 4.1: Alignment of JTC 1, IEC and ISO supplements. A sentence existing in the JTC 1 Supplement is added to the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1 and now applies to IEC and ISO.
- Clause 4.2: A series of modifications for the alignment of IEC and ISO supplements.
- Clause 4.5: The new clause clarifies the participation by correspondence to committee plenary meetings.
- Clause 5.1.1: Alignment of IEC and ISO supplements.
- Annex F, F1: Simplification of the diagram.
- Annex M: Introduces the concept of horizontal documents.
Version history
- -
Changes in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 – Consolidated ISO Supplement
The following significant changes have been made with respect to the previous edition:
- Clause 2.3.1: Clarification of the text for the cases when the proposal stage is not required.
- Foreword g) (removal): This clause was removed to encourage committees to submit proposals through the Change Request form (as per Foreword 0.6) instead of requesting “committee specific procedures”. Existing committee specific procedures remain valid.
- Annex SG, SG.3: Clarification of the text about other non-official languages for ISO Standards.
- Annex SI, SI.8: Revision to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations.
- Annex SM: Clarification of the text about global relevance.
- Annex SP, SP 5.5: The revised text allows for flexibility in the use of the definition of “risk”.
- Annex SP, SP 5.7: The revised text adds restriction in the use of the definition related to “occupational health and safety”.
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Clause 1 |
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1 Organizational structure and responsibilities for the technical work
1.1 Role of the technical management board
The technical management board of the respective organization is responsible for the overall management of the technical work and, in particular, for:
a) establishment of technical committees;
b) appointment of Chairs of technical committees;
c) allocation or re-allocation of secretariats of technical committees and, in some cases, subcommittees;
d) approval of titles, scopes and programmes of work of technical committees;
e) ratification of the establishment and dissolution of subcommittees by technical committees;
f) allocation of priorities, if necessary, to particular items of technical work;
h) monitoring the progress of the technical work with the assistance of the Office of the CEO and taking appropriate action;
i) reviewing the need for, and planning of, work in new fields of technology;
j) maintenance of the ISO/IEC Directives and other rules for technical work;
k) consideration of matters of principle raised by National Bodies and of appeals concerning decisions on new work item proposals, on committee drafts, on enquiry drafts or on final draft International Standards.
NOTE 1 Explanations of the terms “new work item proposal”, “committee draft”, “enquiry draft” and “final draft International Standard” are given in Clause 2.
NOTE 2 For detailed information about the role and responsibilities of the ISO technical management board, see the terms of reference of the ISO/TMB (available here) and of the IEC/SMB (available here).
1.2 Advisory groups to the technical management board
1.2.1 A group having advisory functions in the sense of 1.1 g) may be established
a) by one of the technical management boards;
b) jointly by the two technical management boards.
NOTE In IEC, certain such groups are designated as Advisory Committees.
Any changes proposed by the group to its terms of reference, composition or, where appropriate, working methods shall be submitted to the technical management boards for approval.
1.2.4 Any document being prepared with a view to publication shall be developed in accordance with the procedural principles given in Annex A.
1.2.5 The results of such a group shall be presented in the form of recommendations to the TMB(s). The recommendations may include proposals for the establishment of a working group (see 1.12) or a joint working group (see 1.12.7) for the preparation of publications. Such working groups shall operate within the relevant technical committee, if any.
1.2.7 Such a group shall be disbanded once its specified tasks have been completed or if it is subsequently decided that its work can be accomplished by normal liaison mechanisms (see 1.16).
1.2.8.1 Standardization Evaluation Groups are established and dissolved by the technical management board. They have a limited life, normally of 18 to 24 months and shall not have on-going tasks. They are not entitled to develop international standards or other types of documents.
A proposal for the establishment of an SEG can be made by:
- a National Body;
- the technical management board;
- the Chief Executive Officer.
A proposal for the creation of an SEG or JSEG should include information on as many of the following as relevant:
- Market needs, market relevance and business drivers;
- Regulatory demands or other restrictions in countries or regions;
- Related work or other valuable information from other organizations or Industries;
- List of already identified stakeholders, including IEC technical committees, ISO technical committees, fora and consortia outside of these organizations, which should be engaged in the work;
- Recommendation of needed expertise and administrative structure of the SEG or JSEG;
- Proposal for an appropriate name of the SEG or JSEG;
- Proposal for a Convenor.
1.2.8.2 SEG or JSEG Membership
The SEG or JSEG membership should have strong competence in all the issues within the scope of the SEG or JSEG. This may require the participation of Experts outside the normal standardization communities of IEC and ISO.
There shall be an open call for the participation of Experts from both within and outside IEC and ISO, but there is no definitive limitation on numbers. A JSEG, in its work, shall ensure that it is responsive to the needs of both organizations.
There is a need for representation from the committees concerned, as well as representation from interested technical management board members and National Bodies. Where appropriate, participation from conformity assessment bodies, and external organizations is encouraged.
Experts can register through the online portal of the organization in which the SEG or JSEG proposal originated. As part of the open call for SEG or JSEG Experts, the National Body of new Experts (i.e. Experts who are not already registered in the IEC or ISO), will be notified for information.
It is expected that all interested Experts be present and contribute constructively to the work.
A nomination for a Convenor or Co-Convenors of an SEG or JSEG should be suggested by the proposer and shall be approved by the technical management board of the organization in which the proposal for the SEG or JSEG originated. The Secretary is provided by the organization in which the proposal for the SEG or JSEG originated. On a case-by-case basis, Co-Convenors and/or co-secretaries from each organization may be decided by the corresponding technical management board.
1.2.8.3 SEG or JSEG Tasks
The principal task of an SEG or JSEG is to evaluate whether there is a need for new standardization work or other technical activities within the IEC and/or ISO. This entails the examination of the following factors:
- market needs, market relevance and business drivers;
- potential participants in the work from inside and outside IEC and/or ISO, including IEC and ISO technical bodies and, for example, ITU/SGs, fora, consortia and other groups;
- related work or other valuable information from other organizations or industries;
- environmental, energy and safety conditions considerations for the Systems work (in IEC);
- regulatory demands or other restrictions in countries or regions;
- a relevant/suitable model or reference architecture;
- an initial set of use cases which can be mapped to the reference architecture or model to prove its validity;
- a gap analysis of existing work and activities.
1.2.8.4 SEG or JSEG Deliverables
- Recommendations report to the technical management board(s), including minority views
- Pamphlet or brochure
- Web page document
- No consensus or voting is possible
An SEG or JSEG shall not develop IS, TS, PAS, TR (and SRD in IEC).
1.3 Joint technical work
1.3.1 Joint Technical Committees (JTC) and Joint Project Committees (JPC)
1.3.2.1 JTC and JPC may be established by a common decision of the ISO/TMB and IEC/SMB.
1.3.2.2 For JTCs, JTC/subcommittees and JPCs, one organization has the administrative responsibility. This shall be decided by mutual agreement between the two organizations.
1.3.2.3 Participation in JTCs, JTC/subcommittees and JPCs are based on the one member/country, one vote principle.
1.3.2.4 Where two National Bodies in the same country elect to participate in a JTC, JTC/subcommittee or JPC then one shall be identified as having the administrative responsibility and only one national delegation is allowed. The National Body with the administrative responsibility has the responsibility of coordinating activities in their country, including the circulation of documents, commenting and voting.
Otherwise, the normal procedures are followed.
1.4 Role of the Chief Executive Officer
The Chief Executive Officer of the respective organization is responsible, inter alia, for implementing the ISO/IEC Directives and other rules for the technical work. For this purpose, the Office of the CEO arranges all contacts between the technical committees, the council board and the technical management board.
Deviations from the procedures set out in the present document shall not be made without the authorization of the Chief Executive Officers of ISO or IEC or the technical management boards for deviations in the respective organizations.
1.5 Establishment of technical committees
1.5.1 Technical committees are established and dissolved by the technical management board.
1.5.3 A proposal for work in a new field of technical activity which appears to require the establishment of a new technical committee may be made in the respective organization by
- a National Body;
- a technical committee or subcommittee;
- a project committee;
- a policy-level committee;
- the technical management board;
- the Chief Executive Officer;
- a body responsible for managing a certification system operating under the auspices of the organization;
- another international organization with National Body membership.
1.5.4 The proposal shall be made using the appropriate form (see Annex SJ for ISO and the following resource area for the IEC), which covers:
a) the proposer;
b) the subject proposed;
c) the scope of the work envisaged and the proposed initial programme of work;
d) a justification for the proposal;
e) if applicable, a survey of similar work undertaken in other bodies;
f) any liaisons deemed necessary with other bodies.
For additional informational details to be included in the proposals for new work, Annex C. The form shall be submitted to the Office of the CEO.
1.5.5 The Office of the CEO shall ensure that the proposal is properly developed in accordance with ISO and IEC requirements (see Annex C) and provides sufficient information to support informed decision-making by National Bodies. The Office of the CEO shall also assess the relationship of the proposal to existing work and may consult interested parties, including the technical management board or committees conducting related existing work. If necessary, an ad hoc group may be established to examine the proposal.
Following its review, the Office of the CEO may decide to return the proposal to the proposer for further development before circulation for voting. In this case, the proposer shall make the changes suggested or provide justification for not making the changes. If the proposer does not make the changes and requests that its proposal be circulated for voting as originally presented, the technical management board will decide on appropriate action. This could include blocking the proposal until the changes are made or accepting that it be balloted as received.
In all cases, the Office of the CEO may also include comments and recommendations to the proposal form.
For details relating to the justification of the proposal, see Annex C.
Proposers are strongly encouraged to conduct informal consultations with other National Bodies in the preparation of proposals.
1.5.6 The proposal shall be circulated by the Office of the CEO to all National Bodies of the respective organization (ISO or IEC), asking whether or not they
a) support the establishment of a new technical committee providing a statement justifying their decision (“justification statement”), and
b) intend to participate actively (see 1.7.1) in the work of the new technical committee.
The proposal shall also be submitted to the other organization (IEC or ISO) for comment and for agreement (see Annex B).
The replies to the proposal shall be made using the appropriate form within 12 weeks after circulation. Regarding 1.5.6 a) above, if no such statement is provided, the positive or negative vote of a National Body will not be registered and considered.
1.5.7 The technical management board evaluates the replies and either
- decides the establishment of a new technical committee, provided that
1) a 2/3 majority of the National Bodies voting are in favour of the proposal; abstentions are excluded when the votes are counted; and
2) at least 5 National Bodies who voted in favour expressed their intention to participate actively
and allocate the secretariat (see 1.9.1), or
- assigns the work to an existing technical committee, subject to the same criteria of acceptance.
1.5.9 As soon as possible after the decision to establish a new technical committee, the necessary liaisons shall be arranged (see 1.15 to 1.17).
1.5.10 A new technical committee shall agree on its title and scope as soon as possible after its establishment, preferably by correspondence.
Agreement on the title and scope of the technical committee requires approval by a 2/3 majority of the P-members voting.
The scope is a statement precisely defining the limits of the work of a technical committee.
The definition of the scope of a technical committee shall begin with the words “Standardization of …” or “Standardization in the field of …” and shall be drafted as concisely as possible.
For recommendations on scopes, see Annex J.
The agreed title and scope shall be submitted by the Chief Executive Officer to the technical management board for approval.
Following the initial meeting of the technical committee, but no later than 18 months, the committee is required to prepare a strategic business plan for review by the TMB.
1.6 Establishment of subcommittees
1.6.2 At the time of its establishment, a subcommittee shall comprise at least 5 members of the parent technical committee having expressed their intention to participate actively (see 1.7.1) in the work of the subcommittee.
1.6.6 As soon as possible after the ratification of the decision to establish a new subcommittee, any liaisons deemed necessary with other bodies shall be arranged (see 1.15 to 1.17).
1.7 Participation in the work of technical committees and subcommittees
It is recognized that member bodies in developing countries often lack the resources to participate in all committees which may be carrying out work which is important for their national economy. Developing country member bodies are therefore invited to establish P‑member twinning arrangements with more experienced P‑members. Under such arrangements, the lead P‑member will ensure that the views of the twinned P‑member are communicated to and taken into consideration by the responsible ISO committee. The twinned P‑member shall consequently also have the status of P‑member (see note) and be registered as a twinned P‑member by the Central Secretariat.
NOTE It is left to the member bodies concerned to determine the most effective way of implementing twinning. This may include, for example, the P‑member sponsoring an Expert from the twinned member body to participate in committee meetings or to act as an Expert in a working group, or it may involve the P‑member seeking the views of the twinned member body on particular agenda items/documents and ensuring that the twinned member body provides its positions in writing to the committee secretariat.
The details of all twinning arrangements shall be notified to the secretariat and Chair of the committee concerned, with the committee members and the Office of the CEO being informed accordingly to ensure the greatest possible transparency.
A lead P‑member shall twin with only one other P‑member in any particular committee.
The twinned P‑member shall cast its own vote on all issues referred to the committee for vote by correspondence.
For more information on twinnings, see Annex ST for the Twinning Policy.
Consistent with the ISO Statutes and Rules of Procedure, correspondent and subscriber members are not eligible for P‑memberships. Correspondent members of ISO may register as observers of committees but do not have the right to submit comments.
1.7.1 All National Bodies have the right to participate in the work of committees.
To achieve maximum efficiency and the necessary discipline in the work, each National Body shall clearly indicate to the Office of the CEO, with regard to each committee, if it intends
- to participate actively in the work, with an obligation to vote on all questions formally submitted for voting within the committee, on new work item proposals, enquiry drafts and all drafts for final approval (see 1.7.4), and to contribute to meetings (P‑members), or
- to follow the work as an observer, and therefore to receive committee documents and to have the right to submit comments and to attend meetings (O‑members).
In ISO, National Bodies that choose to be P-members of a committee have the additional obligation to vote on all systematic review ballots under the responsibility of that committee.
A National Body may choose to be neither a P‑member nor an O‑member of a given committee, in which case it will have neither the rights nor the obligations indicated above with regard to the work of that committee. Nevertheless, all National Bodies, irrespective of their status within a committee, have the right to vote on enquiry drafts (see 2.6) and on the final draft International Standards (see 2.7).
National Bodies have the responsibility to organize their national input in an efficient and timely manner, taking account of all relevant interests at their national level.
Members of a parent committee shall be given the opportunity to notify their intention to become a P‑ or O‑member of a subcommittee at the time of its establishment.
Membership of a parent committee does not imply automatic membership of a subcommittee; National Bodies shall notify their intended status in each subcommittee.
1.7.3 A National Body may, at any time, begin or end membership or change its membership status in any committee in IEC by informing the Office of the CEO and the secretariat of the committee concerned, and in ISO by direct input via the Global Directory, subject to the requirements of clause 1.7.4.
Furthermore, a P-member may voluntarily downgrade to O-member if it consistently lacks expertise for votes at the committee level or to participate in working groups.
1.7.4 A committee secretariat shall notify the Office of the CEO if a P‑member of that committee has been persistently inactive or has failed to vote:
a) Persistently inactive criteria
- A P-Member is considered persistently inactive by failing to attend two successive committee meetings (in person, virtually or by correspondence) and failing to have any Expert(s) appointed to the technical work, or
b) Failing to vote criteria
Has failed to vote on any of the following document(s)
- Proposal stage ballot,
- Enquiry stage ballot,
- Approval stage ballot (for IS, TS, PAS, TR and in IEC SRD)
In ISO, National Bodies that choose to be P-members of a committee have the additional obligation to vote on all systematic review ballots under the responsibility of that committee.
NOTE Abstentions are taken into account when evaluating P-Member participation.
Upon receipt of such a notification, the Chief Executive Officer shall remind the National Body of its obligation to take an active part in the work of the committee. In the absence of a satisfactory response to this reminder within 4 weeks, the National Body shall, without exception, automatically have its status changed to that of an O‑member.
Even with the existence of a response within 4-weeks, should the member in question continue to be persistently inactive (see condition a) above) up to and including the next plenary (or a minimum 6 months), the National Body shall, without exception, automatically have its status changed to that of O‑member.
A National Body having its status so changed may, after a period of 12 months, indicate to the Office of the CEO that it wishes to regain the P‑membership of the committee, in which case this shall be granted.
NOTE This clause does not apply to the development of Guides.
In JTC 1, the ISO policy for systematic review is followed.
1.7.5 General principles for voting and decisions
For votes by correspondence or during a committee meeting, a simple majority of the P-members voting is required for approval unless otherwise specified in the ISO/IEC Directives.
For strategic matters (e.g. changing the scope of a document or the scope of a committee, change of allocation of a project), a discussion amongst committee members should first take place before a formal committee decision is taken.
When a document is out for ballot or for commenting at the CD stage formal discussion during official meetings or distribution of positions using official ISO and IEC IT tools is prohibited. This does not prohibit discussion on sections of the document that are not out for ballot or comment.
In all votes, abstentions are not counted.
A vote by correspondence should include the possibility to abstain.
Proxy voting is not permitted.
1.8 Chairs of technical committees and subcommittees
1.8.1 Appointment
Chairs of technical committees shall be nominated by the secretariat of the technical committee and approved by the technical management board for a maximum period of 6 years or for such shorter period as may be appropriate. Extensions are allowed up to a cumulative maximum of 9 years.
Chairs of subcommittees shall be nominated by the secretariat of the subcommittee and approved by the technical committee for a maximum period of 6 years or for such shorter period as may be appropriate. Extensions are allowed up to a cumulative maximum of 9 years. The approval criterion for both appointment and extension is a 2/3 majority vote of the P‑members of the technical committee.
For the nomination of a Chair, the secretariat may inform the P-members of their candidate.
Secretariats of technical committees or subcommittees may submit nominations for new Chairs up to one year before the end of the term of existing Chairs. Chairs appointed one year before shall be designated as the “Chair elect” of the committee in question. This is intended to provide the Chair elect an opportunity to learn before taking over as Chair of a committee.
Where two NSBs agree to share the leadership of an ISO committee, they may jointly identify a Chair and jointly agree on the way in which they will support that Chair. In such cases, the NSB holding the committee secretariat is encouraged to nominate a Chair from the other NSB.
For the purposes of transparency, the NSBs involved shall inform the committee members of any cooperative relationships.
The candidates for chairmanships shall have the competencies and attributes listed in Annex L Selection criteria for people leading the technical work (see L.3.1).
1.8.2 Responsibilities
The Chair of a technical committee is responsible for the overall management of that technical committee, including any subcommittees and working groups.
The Chair of a committee shall
a) act in a purely international capacity, divesting him or herself of a national position; thus, she/he cannot serve concurrently as the delegate of a National Body in his or her own committee;
b) guide the Secretary/Committee Manager of that committee in carrying out his or her duty;
c) conduct committee meetings with a view to reaching an agreement on committee drafts (see 2.5);
d) ensure at meetings that all points of view expressed are adequately summed up so that they are understood by all present;
e) ensure at meetings that all decisions are clearly formulated and made available in written form by the Secretary/Committee Manager for confirmation during the meeting;
f) take appropriate decisions at the committee stage (see 2.5) and enquiry stage (see 2.6);
g) advise the technical management board on important matters relating to that technical committee via the technical committee secretariat. For this purpose she/he shall receive reports from the Chairs of any subcommittees via the subcommittee secretariats;
h) ensure that the policy and strategic decisions of the technical management board are implemented in the committee;
i) ensure the establishment and ongoing maintenance of a strategic business plan covering the activities of the technical committee and all groups reporting to the technical committee, including all subcommittees;
j) ensure the appropriate and consistent implementation and application of the committee's strategic business plan to the activities of the technical committee’s or subcommittee’s work programme;
k) assist in the case of an appeal against a committee decision.
In case of unforeseen unavailability of the Chair at a meeting, a session Chair may be elected by the participants.
SC Chairs shall attend meetings of the parent committee as required and may participate in the discussion but do not have the right to vote. In exceptional circumstances, if a Chair is prevented from attending, she/he shall delegate the Secretary/Committee Manager (or, in ISO and IEC, another representative) to represent the subcommittee. In the case where no representative from the SC can attend, a written report shall be provided.
1.8.3 Twinned-Chairs
Committees are encouraged to establish Chair level twinning arrangements where one ISO member body acts as the lead partner and the other ISO member body as the twinned partner (with a limit of one Twinned-Chair per committee). Twinned-Chairs shall be a P‑member (i.e. any P‑member whether through a twinning arrangement or not) in the committee concerned. The same rules apply for the appointment and term of Chairs and Twinned-Chairs. The delineation of responsibilities shall be decided by mutual agreement and recorded in a twinning agreement between the two member bodies nominating the Chair and the Twinned-Chair, with the committee members and the Office of the CEO being informed accordingly.
For more information on twinnings, see Annex ST for the Twinning Policy.
1.9 Secretariats of technical committees and subcommittees
1.9.1 Allocation
The secretariat of a technical committee shall be allocated to a National Body by the technical management board.
The secretariat of a subcommittee shall be allocated to a National Body by the parent technical committee. However, if two or more National Bodies offer to undertake the secretariat of the same subcommittee, the technical management board shall decide on the allocation of the subcommittee secretariat.
For both technical committees and subcommittees, the secretariat shall be allocated to a National Body only if that National Body
a) has indicated its intention to participate actively in the work of that committee, and
b) has accepted that it will fulfil its responsibilities as secretariat and is in a position to ensure that adequate resources are available for secretariat work (see D.2).
Once the secretariat of a committee has been allocated to a National Body, the latter shall appoint a qualified individual as Secretary/Committee Manager (see D.1 and D.3).
Secretaries/Committee Managers shall have the competencies and attributes listed in Annex L Selection criteria for people leading the technical work (see L.3.2).
See Clause 1.9.5 in the case of multiple offers.
1.9.2 Responsibilities
The National Body to which the secretariat has been allocated shall ensure the provision of technical and administrative services to its respective committee.
The secretariat is responsible for monitoring, reporting, and ensuring the active progress of the work and shall use its utmost endeavour to bring this work to an early and satisfactory conclusion. These tasks shall be carried out as far as possible by correspondence.
The secretariat is responsible for ensuring that the ISO/IEC Directives and the decisions of the technical management board are followed.
A secretariat shall act in a purely international capacity, divesting itself from a national point of view.
The secretariat is responsible for the following to be executed in a timely manner:
a) Working documents:
1) Preparation of committee drafts, arranging for their distribution and the treatment of the comments received;
2) Preparation of enquiry drafts and text for the circulation of the final draft International Standards or publication of International Standards;
b) Project management
1) Assisting in the establishment of priorities and target dates for each project;
2) Notifying the names, etc., of all working group and maintenance team Convenors and Project Leaders to the Office of the CEO;
3) Proposing proactively the publication of alternative documents or cancellation of projects that are running significantly over time and/or which appear to lack sufficient support;
c) Meetings (see also Clause 4), including:
1) Establishment of the agenda and arranging for its distribution;
2) Arranging for the distribution of all documents on the agenda, including reports of working groups, and indicating all other documents which are necessary for discussion during the meeting (see E.5);
3) Regarding the decisions (also referred to as resolutions) taken in a meeting:
- ensuring that the decisions endorsing working groups recommendations contain the specific elements being endorsed;
- making the decisions available in writing for confirmation during the meeting (see E.5); and
- posting the decisions within 48 hours after the meeting in the committee's electronic folder.
4) Preparation of the minutes of meetings to be circulated within 4 weeks after the meeting;
5) Preparation of reports to the technical management board (TC secretariat) in the IEC within 4 weeks after the meeting or to the parent committee (SC secretariat);
6) In case of unforeseen unavailability of the Secretary/Committee Manager at a meeting (if the Secretariat is unable to provide a replacement), an acting Secretary/Committee Manager may be appointed by the committee for the meeting.
d) Decisions
The committee secretariat shall ensure that:
- all resolutions are clearly drafted, reviewed, and presented;
- all decisions taken by the committee, whether at a plenary meeting or by correspondence, are documented and traceable through committee resolutions or numbered documents reporting the results of a committee decision;
e) Advising
Providing advice to the Chair, Project Leaders, and Convenors on procedures associated with the progression of projects.
In all circumstances, each secretariat shall work in close liaison with the Chair of its committee. The secretariat and the Chair are jointly responsible for the effective management of the committee.
The secretariat of a technical committee shall maintain close contact with the Office of the CEO and with the members of the technical committee regarding its activities, including those of its subcommittees and working groups.
The secretariat of a subcommittee shall maintain close contact with the secretariat of the parent technical committee and, as necessary, with the Office of the CEO. It shall also maintain contact with the members of the subcommittee regarding its activities, including those of its working groups.
The secretariat of a committee shall update in conjunction with the Office of the CEO the record of the status of the membership of the committee.
Member bodies are encouraged to establish twinning arrangements between a secretariat and a twinned secretariat with a limit of one twinned secretariat per committee. The lead partner will hold the secretariat and the twinned partner, the twinned secretariat. Twinned secretariats shall be from member bodies holding P‑membership in the committee concerned (either directly or via a twinning arrangement). The same rules apply for the allocation of secretariats and twinned secretariats, as well as Secretaries/Committee Managers and twinned Secretaries/Committee Managers. The delineation of responsibilities shall be decided by mutual agreement between the member bodies concerned, and recorded in the twinning agreement, with the committee members and the Office of the CEO being informed accordingly.
For more information on twinnings, see Annex ST for the Twinning Policy.
1.9.3 Change of secretariat of a technical committee
If a National Body wishes to relinquish the secretariat of a technical committee, the National Body concerned shall immediately inform the Chief Executive Officer, giving a minimum of 12 months' notice. The technical management board decides on the transfer of the secretariat to another National Body.
If the secretariat of a technical committee persistently fails to fulfil its responsibilities as set out in these procedures, the Chief Executive Officer or a National Body may have the matter placed before the technical management board, which may review the allocation of the secretariat with a view to its possible transfer to another National Body.
Concerning the procedure to follow when the lead partner in a twinning arrangement for a technical committee secretariat wishes to relinquish the secretariat, see clause ST.5.7 Terminating a twinning arrangement of Annex ST on the Twinning Policy.
1.9.4 Change of secretariat of a subcommittee
If a National Body wishes to relinquish the secretariat of a subcommittee, the National Body concerned shall immediately inform the secretariat of the parent technical committee, giving a minimum of 12 months' notice.
If the secretariat of a subcommittee persistently fails to fulfil its responsibilities as set out in these procedures, the Chief Executive Officer or a National Body may have the matter placed before the parent technical committee, which may decide, by a majority vote of the P‑members, that the secretariat of the subcommittee should be re-allocated.
In either of the above cases an enquiry shall be made by the secretariat of the technical committee to obtain offers from other P‑members of the subcommittee for undertaking the secretariat.
If two or more National Bodies offer to undertake the secretariat of the same subcommittee or if, because of the structure of the technical committee, the re-allocation of the secretariat is linked with the re‑allocation of the technical committee secretariat, the technical management board decides on the re‑allocation of the subcommittee secretariat. If only one offer is received, the parent technical committee itself proceeds with the appointment.
Concerning the procedure to follow when the lead partner in a twinning arrangement for a subcommittee secretariat wishes to relinquish the secretariat, see ST.5.7 Terminating a twinning arrangement of Annex ST on the Twinning Policy.
1.10 Project committees
Project committees are established by the technical management board to prepare individual standards not falling within the scope of an existing technical committee.
NOTE Such standards carry one reference number but may be subdivided into parts.
Procedures for project committees are given in Annex K.
Project committees wishing to be transformed into a technical committee shall follow the process for the establishment of a new technical committee (see 1.5).
1.11 Editing groups
It is recommended that committees establish one or more editing groups for the purpose of updating and editing committee drafts, enquiry drafts and final draft International Standards and for ensuring their conformity to the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see also 2.6.6).
Such groups should comprise at least
– one technical Expert fluent in English and having adequate knowledge of French;
– one technical Expert fluent in French and having adequate knowledge of English;
– the Project Leader (see 2.1.8).
The Project Leader and/or Secretary/Committee Manager may take direct responsibility for one of the language versions concerned.
Editing groups shall meet when required by the respective committee secretariat for the purpose of updating and editing drafts which have been accepted by correspondence for further processing.
Editing groups shall be equipped with means of processing and providing texts electronically (see also 2.6.6).
1.12 Working groups
1.12.1 Committees may establish, by decision of the committee, working groups for specific tasks (see 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6). A new WG or JWG shall not be established for preliminary work items. A working group operates by consensus, reports and gives recommendations, if any, to its parent committee through a Convenor appointed by the parent committee. The Working Group Convenor shall act in a purely international capacity.
Working group Convenors shall be appointed by the committee for up to three-year terms. Such appointments shall be confirmed by the National Body (or liaison). The Convenor may be reappointed for additional terms of up to three years. There is no limit to the number of terms.
Responsibility for any changes of Convenors rests with the committee and not with the National Body (or liaison). In the case a WG Convenor resigns, the Secretary/Committee Manager shall launch a call to identify new candidates.
The Convenor may be supported by a working group Secretary as needed.
The nomination of the working group Secretary shall be confirmed by their National Body.
Committees are encouraged to establish arrangements between a Convenor and a twinned Convenor, with a limit of one twinned Convenor per working group. The lead partner (Convenor) and twinned partner (twinned Convenor) will be decided by mutual agreement. Convenors and twinned Convenors shall be from the P‑members in the committee concerned. The same rules apply to the appointment of Convenors and twinned Convenors.
Note that twinned Convenors are only possible through twinning arrangements.
Co-Convenors are only possible in Joint Working Groups (JWG) — see 1.12.7.
For more information on twinnings, see Annex ST for the Twinning Policy.
A working group comprises a restricted number of Experts individually appointed by the P‑members, committees in liaison (see 1.15.4), A‑liaisons of the parent committee and C‑liaisons, brought together to deal with the specific task allocated to the working group. The Experts act in a personal capacity and not as the official representative of the P‑member, committees in liaison, or A‑liaison (see 1.17) by which they have been appointed, with the exception of those appointed by a C‑liaison (see 1.17). However, it is recommended that they keep close contact with that P‑member or liaison to inform them about the progress of the work and of the various opinions in the working group at the earliest possible stage.
It is recommended that working groups be reasonably limited in size. The committee may therefore decide upon the maximum number of Experts appointed by each P‑member and liaison organization.
Once the decision to set up a working group has been taken, P‑members and A- and C‑liaison shall be officially informed to appoint Expert(s). Working groups shall be numbered in sequence in the order in which they are established.
When a committee has decided to set up a working group, it shall ensure that a Convenor or an acting Convenor is appointed at the same time the WG is set up. The Convenor shall arrange for the first meeting of the working group to be held within 12 weeks. This information shall be communicated immediately after the committee’s decision to the P‑members of the committee and A- and C‑liaisons, with an invitation to appoint Experts within 6 weeks. Additional projects may be assigned, where appropriate, to existing working groups.
Working groups may establish subgroups.
If the ongoing participation of a guest is necessary, such participation shall be as a working group Expert via the appropriate National Body or a liaison.
In case of lack of Experts from the required number of P-members in the working group to meet the minimum number (as defined in clause 2.3.5), the Convenor shall inform the committee secretariat, who shall launch another call for Experts.
If the subsequent call for Experts from the required number of P-members fails, the Convenor shall consult with the committee secretariat to decide if the project can or should continue.
If the decision is to continue with Experts from fewer than the required number of P-members, the committee secretariat shall request permission from the Technical Management Board to proceed.
1.12.4 On completion of its task(s) — normally at the end of the enquiry stage (see 2.6) of its last project — the working group shall be disbanded by decision of the committee, the Project Leader remaining with consultant status until completion of the publication stage (see 2.8).
1.12.7 Joint Working Groups: In special cases, a joint working group (JWG) may be established to undertake a specific task (see 2.4, 2.5, 2.6 and 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3) in which more than one committee is interested. A JWG can be established between ISO committees, between IEC committees or between ISO and IEC committees. The task can include the development of any document. Committees who receive requests to establish JWG shall reply to such requests in a timely manner.
NOTE For specific rules concerning JWGs between ISO committees and IEC committees, see Annex B in addition to the following.
The decision to establish a joint working group shall be accompanied by mutual agreement between the committees on the following:
- the committee/organization having the administrative responsibility for the JWG or for project(s) assigned to the JWG;
- whether the JWG will commence its work with a single Convenor or Co-Convenors appointed from each committee. Co-Convenors from each committee may be appointed at any time.
- The appointed (Co-)Convenor(s) shall seek consensus from all Experts involved to organize the work and schedule meetings;
- the membership of the joint working group (membership is open to P‑members, representatives appointed by liaison committees as per 1.15.4, category A liaisons of the respective committees, and C liaisons that wish to participate. The number of representatives may be limited to an equal number from each committee if agreed upon by concerned committees).
The committee with the administrative responsibility for the project shall:
- record the project in their programme of work;
- prepare drafts for the committee, enquiry, and approval stages;
- be responsible for addressing comments (usually referred back to the JWG) and ensure that the comments and votes at all stages of the project are compiled and handled appropriately (see 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 and 3.1.2, 3.2.2 and 3.3.2) — all comments are made available to the leadership of the committees;
- to make available all relevant documents (for example minutes, working drafts, drafts for the committee, enquiry and approval stages) to the secretariat of the other committee(s) for circulation in their respective committee and/or action;
- be responsible for the maintenance of the publication.
Subsequent major changes to a jointly developed project, such as the change of scope, document, etc., shall be decided by all committees involved in the JWG.
- For JWGs where all involved committees are administered by the same organization there shall be only one NP ballot. If an NP has already been launched or approved in one committee, it cannot be balloted again in another committee.
- For JWGs where the involved committees are administered by different organizations, there shall be an NP ballot in each organization (or a Resolution, as appropriate, in each committee for a PAS or TR).
- It is possible to establish a JWG at a later stage, in which case its administrative responsibility will be confirmed by the committees concerned. In the case of an ISO/IEC JWG, the committee that is yet to join the work will still need to launch an NP ballot.
- Once the joint work is agreed upon, the committee with the administrative responsibility informs ISO/CS or IEC/SEC, respectively, of its administrative responsibility and of the committees participating in the work.
- The other committees launch a call for Experts for participation in the JWG.
For the preparatory stage (WD)
- The JWG functions like any other WG: JWG consensus is required to advance to CD.
For the committee stage (CD)
- The CD is circulated for review and comment by each committee.
- After the CD consultation, the (Co-)Convenor(s) and the JWG shall address all the input received.
- The final CD requires consensus by all committees, as defined in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1.
For enquiry and approval ballots
- National Bodies are requested to consult all national mirror committees involved to define one position. A statement is included on the cover page to draw the attention of National Bodies.
- For an ISO/IEC JWG, two enquiry/approval ballots are launched, i.e. one in each organization.
- For a JWG where all involved committees are administered by the same organization a single enquiry / approval ballot is launched in the committee having the administrative responsibility only.
- After the enquiry ballot or the final approval, the (Co-)Convenor(s) and the JWG shall address all the input received
The Foreword identifies all committees involved in the development of the document.
In cases when the ballot fails in one or both of the organizations, the committees shall attempt to reach an agreement on the next steps according to clause 2.6. and 2.7. If an agreement cannot be reached, each committee shall decide how it will proceed with the project
1.13 Groups having advisory functions within a committee
For advisory groups, consideration shall be given to the provision of equitable participation.
1.13.4 The results of such a group shall be presented in the form of recommendations to the body that established the group. The recommendations may include proposals for the establishment of a working group (see 1.12) or a joint working group (see 1.12.7) for the preparation of publications.
1.14 Ad hoc groups
Committees may establish ad hoc groups, the purpose of which is to study a precisely defined problem on which the group reports to its parent committee.
Members of ad hoc groups may include committee officers, individuals nominated by National Bodies (as appropriate, either individuals representing their own Expert opinion or individuals representing the interests of their National Body) and representatives of liaisons. The committee shall approve the appointment of the Convenor, type of membership, terms of reference and target date for completion of the work prior to the establishment of the ad hoc group and nominations to it.
The committee shall disband the ad hoc group when it has completed its work.
1.15 Liaison between committees
Committees shall take an official decision on the establishment or removal of an internal liaison. Following such a decision, the committee secretariat will inform the target committee of the request for liaison establishment and the Liaison Representative(s). Committees receiving requests for internal liaisons shall automatically accept such requests. A notification of this acceptance shall be forwarded to the Office of the CEO and the requesting committee.
1.15.5 Committees may establish liaisons with the IEC Conformity Assessment systems or ISO Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO) when appropriate. These Liaisons shall be handled as described in clauses 1.15.1 and 1.15.4.
1.15.6 Liaisons shall be reviewed at least annually, or at each plenary meeting for committees that meet less than once per year. The review includes determining that the liaison is still viable and the Liaison Representative role is fulfilled.
1.16 Liaison between ISO and IEC
1.16.1 Arrangements for adequate liaison between ISO and IEC technical committees and subcommittees are essential. The channel of correspondence for the establishment of liaison between ISO and IEC technical committees and subcommittees is through the Office of the CEO. As far as the study of new subjects by either organization is concerned, the Office of the CEO seeks agreement between the two organizations whenever a new or revised programme of work is contemplated in the one organization which may be of interest to the other so that the work will go forward without overlap or duplication of effort. (See also Annex B.)
Secretariats are responsible for the establishment and termination of liaisons between their committees and other committees of ISO and IEC but shall also inform the committee leadership.
They may also attend meetings of working groups of the committee, but only to contribute the viewpoint of their own technical committee on matters within its competence.
1.17 Liaison with other organizations
1.17.1 General requirements applicable to all liaisons with other organizations
To be effective, liaison shall operate in both directions, with suitable reciprocal arrangements.
The desirability of liaison shall be taken into account at an early stage of the work.
The liaison organization shall accept the policy based on the ISO/IEC Directives concerning copyright (see 2.13), whether owned by the liaison organization or by other parties. The statement on copyright policy will be provided to the liaison organization with an invitation to make an explicit statement as to its acceptability. The liaison organization is not entitled to charge a fee for documents submitted.
A liaison organization shall be willing to make a contribution to the technical work of ISO or IEC as appropriate. A liaison organization shall have a sufficient degree of representativity within its defined area of competence within a sector or subsector of the relevant technical or industrial field.
A liaison organization shall agree to ISO/IEC procedures, including IPR (see 2.13).
Liaison organizations shall accept the requirements of 2.14 on patent rights.
Technical committees and subcommittees shall review all their liaison arrangements on a regular basis, at least every 2 years, or at every committee meeting.
1.17.2 Different categories of liaisons (Category A, B and C)
The categories of liaisons are:
- Category A: Organizations that make an effective contribution to the work of the committee for questions dealt with by this committee . Such organizations are given access to all relevant documentation and are invited to meetings. They may nominate Experts to participate in a WG (see 1.12.1).
- Category B: Organizations that have indicated a wish to be kept informed of the work of the committee. Such organizations are given access to the committee documents .
NOTE Category B is reserved for inter-governmental organizations.
- Category C: Organizations that make a technical contribution to and participate actively only in a specific working group.
The procedure for the establishment of liaisons is as follows:
- The organization wishing to create a liaison shall send an application liaison form to the Office of the CEO with copies to the committee officers and IEC SEC Technical Officer or ISO CS Technical Programme Manager.
- The ISO application liaison form is available here.
- The IEC application liaison form is available here.
NOTE Invariably, the organization will have been in contact with the committee officers prior to submitting its application, and in these cases, the committee officers should ensure that the organization is aware of their obligations as given in clauses 1.17.1 i.e. copyright, agreeing to ISO/IEC procedures including IPR, and patent rights.
- The Office of the CEO will confirm that the eligibility criteria have been fulfilled and then consult with the National Body where the organization making the application has its headquarters;
- In case of objection from the National Body where the organization making the application has its headquarters, the matter will be referred to the technical management board for decision;
- If there is no objection from the National Body where the organization making the application has its headquarters, the application will be sent to the committee Secretary/Committee Manager with a request to circulate it for the vote.
1.17.3 Acceptance (Category A, B and C liaisons)
Agreement to establish category A, B and C liaisons requires approval of the application by two-thirds of the P‑members voting. When deciding to establish an External Liaison, JTCs or JTC subgroups should also nominate the Liaison Representative(s).
Committees are urged to seek out the participation of all parties at the beginning of the development of a work item. Where a request for category C liaison is submitted late in the development stage of a particular work item, the P‑members will consider the value that can be added by the organization in question despite its late involvement in the working group.
1.17.4 Rights and obligations
1.17.4.1 At the technical committee/subcommittee level (Category A and B liaisons)
Technical committees and subcommittees shall seek the full and, if possible, formal backing of the organizations having liaison status for each document in which the latter is interested.
Any comments from liaison organizations should be given the same treatment as comments from member bodies. It should not be assumed that refusal by a liaison organization to provide its full backing is a sustained opposition. Where such objections are considered sustained oppositions, committees are invited to refer to clause 2.5.6 for further guidance.
1.17.4.2 At the working group level (Category C liaisons)
Category C liaison organizations have the right to participate as full members in a working group, maintenance team or project team (see 1.12.1) but not as Project Leaders or Convenors.
Category C liaison Experts act as the official representative of the organization by which they are appointed. They may only attend committee plenary meetings if expressly invited by the committee to attend. If they are invited by the committee to attend, they may only attend as observers.
1.17.5 Carrying over liaisons when a project committee is converted into a technical committee or a subcommittee.
When a project committee is converted to a technical committee or a subcommittee, the new committee shall pass a resolution confirming which category A and B liaisons are carried over. Approval of the resolution requires a 2/3 majority of P‑members voting.
Table 1 — Liaison categories
|
Category |
A |
B |
C |
|
Purpose |
To make an effective contribution to the work of the committee. |
To be kept informed of the work of the committee. |
To make a technical contribution to drafting standards in a Working Group. |
|
Eligibility |
- Not for profit - Legal entity -
Membership-based - Relevant competence and expertise -
Process for stakeholder
engagement and (See clause 1.17.6.1 for full |
Intergovernmental Organizations only - Not for profit - Legal entity -
Membership-based
(worldwide or over - Relevant competence and expertise - Process for stakeholder engagement and consensus decision-making (See clause 1.17.6.1 for full |
- Not for profit - Relevant competence and expertise - Process for stakeholder engagement and consensus decision-making (See clause 1.17.6.2 for full |
|
Level |
Committee |
Committee |
Working Group |
|
Participation |
Participate in committee meetings,
access documents, may |
To have access to committee documents and be able to observe committee meetings. |
Full participation as a member of the WG
(but cannot be |
|
Rights and obligations |
No voting rights, but can Can propose new work items (see clause 2.3.2). |
No voting rights, but can Cannot propose new work items. |
Experts can attend committee meetings if
expressly invited by the committee, but only Cannot propose new work items. |
1.17.6 Eligibility
1.17.6.1 At the technical committee/subcommittee level (Category A and B liaisons)
When an organization applies for a liaison with a technical committee/subcommittee, the Office of the CEO will check with the member body in the country in which the organization is located. If the member body does not agree that the eligibility criteria have been met, the matter will be referred to the TMB to define the eligibility.
The Office of the CEO will also ensure that the organization meets the following eligibility criteria:
- it is not-for-profit;
- is a legal entity — the Office of the CEO will request a copy of its statutes;
- it is membership-based and open to members worldwide or over a broad region;
- through its activities and membership demonstrates that it has the competence and expertise to contribute to the development of International Standards or the authority to promote their implementation; and
- has a process for stakeholder engagement and consensus decision-making to develop the input it provides (in ISO, see Guidance for ISO liaison organizations — Engaging stakeholders and building consensus http://www.iso.org/iso/guidance_liaison-organizations.pdf).
1.17.6.2 At the working group level (Category C liaisons)
When an organization applies for a liaison with a working group, the Office of the CEO will check with the member body in the country in which the organization is located and will ensure that the organization meets the following eligibility criteria:
- it is not-for-profit;
- through its activities and membership demonstrates that it has the competence and expertise to contribute to the development of International Standards or the authority to promote their implementation; and
- has a process for stakeholder engagement and consensus decision-making to develop the input it provides (in ISO, see Guidance for ISO liaison organizations — Engaging stakeholders and building consensus http://www.iso.org/iso/guidance_liaison-organizations.pdf).
This can include, for example, manufacturer associations, commercial associations, industrial consortia, user groups and professional and scientific societies. Liaison organizations shall be multinational (in their objectives and standards development activities) with individual, company or country membership and may be permanent or transient in nature.
1.17.7 Periodic confirmation
External Liaisons shall be reviewed at least annually, or at each plenary meeting for committees that meet less than once per year. The review includes determining that the liaison is still viable and the Liaison Representative role is fulfilled.
1.17.8 Termination
In the event that either organization (committee, committee subgroup, or the external organization) feels that the External Liaison should be terminated, this situation shall be immediately discussed with the other organization. If a satisfactory solution cannot be obtained, the committee, committee subgroup or the external organization may terminate the liaison unilaterally.
|
Clause 2 |
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2 Development of International Standards
2.1 The project approach
2.1.1 General
The primary duty of a committee is the development and maintenance of International Standards. However, committees are also strongly encouraged to consider the publication of intermediate documents as described in Clause 3.
International Standards shall be developed on the basis of a project approach as described below.
2.1.2 Strategic business plan
Annex SC describes the objectives of strategic business plans and the procedure that applies to their development and approval.
Each technical committee shall prepare a strategic business plan for its own specific field of activity,
a) taking into account the business environment in which it is developing its work programme;
b) indicating those areas of the work programme which are expanding, those which have been completed, those nearing completion or in steady progress, and those which have not progressed and should be cancelled (see also 2.1.9);
c) evaluating revision work needed (see also the respective Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives);
d) giving a prospective view on emerging needs.
The strategic business plan shall be formally agreed upon by the technical committee and be included in its report for review and approval by the technical management board on a regular basis.
NOTE In ISO, the TMB approves the first strategic business plan only, and committees are responsible for ensuring regular updates and revisions.
2.1.3 Project stages
Table 2 shows the sequence of project stages through which the technical work is developed and gives the name of the document associated with each project stage. The development of Technical Specifications, Technical Reports and Publicly Available Specifications is described in Clause 3.
Table 2 — Project stages and associated documents
|
Project stage |
Associated document |
|
|
Name |
Abbreviation |
|
|
Preliminary stage |
Preliminary work item a |
PWI |
|
Proposal stage |
New work item proposal a |
NP |
|
Preparatory stage |
Working draft a |
WD |
|
Committee stage |
Committee draft a |
CD |
|
Enquiry stage |
Enquiry draft b |
ISO/DIS |
|
Approval stage |
final draft International Standard c |
FDIS |
|
Publication stage |
International Standard |
ISO, IEC or ISO/IEC |
F.1 illustrates the steps leading to the publication of an International Standard.
The ISO and IEC Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives give a matrix presentation of the project stages, with a numerical designation of associated sub-stages.
To facilitate the monitoring of project development, ISO has adopted a systematic approach to project management based the on subdivision of projects into stages and substages.
The project management system is associated with a detailed project tracking system that is a subset of the Harmonized Stage Code system ISO Guide 69:1999 Harmonized Stage Code system (Edition 2) — Principles and guidelines for use. Annex SD gives a matrix presentation of this project tracking system, with the numerical designation of associated sub-stages. A project is registered in the ISO Central Secretariat database as having reached each particular step when the action or decision indicated at that point has been taken, and ISO Central Secretariat has been duly informed.
2.1.4 Project description and acceptance
A project is any work intended to lead to the issue of a new, amended or revised International Standard. A project may subsequently be subdivided (see also 2.1.5.4).
A project shall be undertaken only if a proposal has been accepted in accordance with the relevant procedures (see 2.3 for proposals for new work items and the respective Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives for review and maintenance of existing International Standards).
2.1.5 Programme of work
2.1.5.1 The programme of work of a committee comprises all projects allocated to that committee, including the maintenance of published documents.
2.1.5.2 In establishing its programme of work, each committee shall consider sectoral planning requirements and requests for International Standards initiated by sources outside the technical committee, i.e. other technical committees, advisory groups of the technical management board, policy-level committees and organizations outside ISO and IEC. (See also 2.1.2.)
2.1.5.3 Projects shall be within the agreed scope of the technical committee. Their selection shall be subject to close scrutiny in accordance with the policy objectives and resources of ISO and IEC. (See also Annex C.)
2.1.5.4 Each project in the programme of work shall be given a number (see IEC Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives for document numbering at the IEC) and shall be retained in the programme of work under that number until the work on that project is completed or its cancellation has been agreed upon. During the development of the project, the committee may decide to subdivide its number if it is subsequently found necessary to subdivide the project itself. The subdivisions of the work shall lie fully within the scope of the original project; otherwise, a new work item proposal shall be made. The original project shall be cancelled after subdivision.
2.1.5.5 The programme of work shall indicate, if appropriate, the subcommittee and/or working group to which each project is allocated.
2.1.5.6 The agreed programme of work of a new technical committee shall be submitted to the technical management board for approval.
2.1.6 Target dates
The committee shall establish, for each project on its programme of work, target dates for the completion of each of the following steps:
- circulation of the first working draft (in the event that only an outline of a working document has been provided by the proposer of the new work item proposal — see 2.3);
- circulation of the committee draft (if any);
- submission of the enquiry draft;
- submission of the final draft International Standard;
- publication (in agreement with the Office of the CEO).
NOTE Committees may decide to skip the committee draft (CD) stage in accordance with Annex SS. The final draft International Standard (FDIS) shall be skipped if no technical changes are to be included in accordance with 2.6.4.
These target dates shall correspond to the shortest possible development times to produce International Standards rapidly and shall be reported to the Office of the CEO, which distributes the information to all National Bodies. For the establishment of target dates, see the respective Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives.
In establishing target dates, the relationships between projects shall be taken into account. Priority shall be given to those projects intended to lead to International Standards upon which other International Standards will depend for their implementation. The highest priority shall be given to those projects having a significant effect on international trade and recognized as such by the technical management board.
The technical management board may also instruct the secretariat of the committee concerned to submit the latest available draft to the Office of the CEO for publication as a Technical Specification (see 3.1).
All target dates shall be kept under continuous review and amended as necessary and shall be clearly indicated in the programme of work. Revised target dates shall be notified to the technical management board. The technical management board will cancel all work items which have been on the work programme for more than 5 years and have not reached the approval stage (see 2.7).
Time spent on interlaboratory testing during the development of a document shall not be counted in the overall development time. The project is given the status “on hold” on request from the committee Secretary/Committee Manager. The status of round robin interlaboratory testing shall be reviewed at each Plenary of the committee.
2.1.6.1 Development tracks
When a proposed new project is approved (whether for a new document or for the revision of an existing document), when submitting the results to the ISO Central Secretariat, the committee secretariat shall also indicate the selected standards development track, as follows:
SDT 18 standards development track — 18 months to the publication
SDT 24 standards development track — 24 months to the publication
SDT 36 standards development track — 36 months to the publication
The following limit dates are automatically assigned to all new projects:
- DIS registered limit date (stage 40.00): 12 months before the end of the selected standards development track.
- Publication limit date (stage 60.60): Maximum timeframe of the selected standards development track.
NOTE Standards projects using the 18-month development track shall be eligible for ‘a priority treatment process’ offered by ISO/CS if they are submitted to ISO/CS for publication within 16 months of the project’s registration. This process reduces publication processing time by approximately one-third.
Committee secretariats are reminded to perform risk assessments during project planning to identify potential problems in advance and set the target dates accordingly. The target dates shall be kept under continuous review by committee secretariats which shall ensure that they are reviewed and either confirmed or revised at each committee meeting. Such reviews shall also seek to confirm that projects are still market relevant and in cases in which they are found to be no longer required or if the likely completion date is going to be too late, thus causing market players to adopt an alternative solution, the projects shall be cancelled or transformed into another document (see 2.1.6.2).
2.1.6.2 Automatic cancellation of projects
Before reaching the DIS registered limit date (stage 40.00) or publication limit date (stage 60.60), the committee shall decide on one of the following actions:
a) for projects at the preparatory or committee stages: submission of a DIS — if the technical content is acceptable and mature;
b) for projects at the enquiry stage: submission of a second DIS or FDIS — if the technical content is acceptable and mature;
c) publication of a TS — if the technical content is acceptable but unlikely sufficiently mature for a future International Standard;
d) publication of a PAS — if the technical content is acceptable but unlikely sufficiently mature for a future International Standard or a TS;
e) submission of a request for an extension to the Office of the CEO — if no consensus can be reached but there is strong interest from stakeholders to continue — a committee may be granted one extension of up to 9 months for the total project duration but the publication of intermediary documents (such as PAS and TS) is recommended;
f) cancellation of the work item — if the committee is unable to find a solution.
If none of the above actions has been taken after the limit dates, the project shall automatically be cancelled by the ISO Central Secretariat.
2.1.7 Project management
The secretariat of the committee is responsible for the management of all projects in the programme of work of that committee, including monitoring their progress against the agreed target dates.
If target dates (see 2.1.6) are not met, and there is insufficient support for the work (that is, the acceptance requirements for new work given in 2.3.5 are no longer met), the committee responsible shall cancel the work item.
2.1.8 Project Leader
For the development of each project, a Project Leader (the WG Convenor, a designated Expert or, if appropriate, the Secretary/Committee Manager) shall be appointed by the committee, taking into account the Project Leader nomination made by the proposer of the new work item proposal (see 2.3.4). A change of Project Leader for an active project shall be approved by the committee as soon as possible. The Project Leader shall act in a purely international capacity, divesting him- or herself of a national point of view.
The secretariat shall inform the Office of the CEO of the contact information of the Project Leader with identification of the project concerned.
2.1.9 Progress control
Periodical progress reports to the technical committee shall be made by its subcommittees and working groups (see also ISO and IEC Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives). Meetings between their secretariats will assist in controlling the progress.
The Office of the CEO shall monitor the progress of all work and shall report periodically to the technical management board. For this purpose, the Office of the CEO shall receive copies of documents as indicated in the ISO and IEC Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives.
2.1.10 Responsibility for keeping records
The responsibility for keeping records concerning committee work and the background to the publication of International Standards and other ISO documents is divided between committee secretariats and the ISO Central Secretariat. The maintenance of such records is of particular importance in the context of changes of secretariat responsibility from one member body to another. It is also important that information on key decisions and important correspondence pertaining to the preparation of International Standards and other ISO documents should be readily retrievable in the event of any dispute arising out of the provenance of the technical content of the publications.
The secretariats of committees shall establish and maintain records of all official transactions concerning their committees, in particular, reference copies of approved minutes of meetings and resolutions. Copies of working documents, results of ballots etc. shall be kept at least until such time as the publications to which they refer have been revised or have completed their next systematic review, but in any case, for a minimum of five years after the publication of the related International Standards or other ISO document.
The ISO Central Secretariat shall keep reference copies of all International Standards and other ISO documents, including withdrawn editions, and shall keep up-to-date records of member body votes in respect of these publications. Copies of draft International Standards (DIS) and of final draft International Standards (FDIS), including associated reports of voting, and final proofs shall be kept at least until such time as the publications to which they refer have been revised or their next systematic review have been completed, but in any case for a minimum of five years after publication.
2.2 Preliminary stage
2.2.1 This optional stage may be used for the elaboration of a new work item proposal (see 2.3) and the development of an outline or initial draft. Preliminary Work Items (PWI) may also study for example subjects dealing with emerging technologies which are not yet sufficiently mature for processing to further stages and for which no target dates can be established. Such subjects may include, for example, those listed in the strategic business plan, particularly as given under 2.1.2 d) giving a prospective view on emerging needs. A PWI stage may not always result in a new project.
2.2.2 Committees may introduce a PWI into their work programmes, by a committee decision, whether at the plenary meeting or by correspondence. The committee decision shall capture the following information items: title, scope, information on the justification for the proposed PWI, assignment of a PWI to a subgroup of the committee, and any other committee information that may be relevant.
2.2.3 Approved preliminary work items shall be registered into the programme of work.
2.2.4 All preliminary work items shall be subject to regular review by the committee. The committee shall evaluate the market relevance and resources required for all such items.
All preliminary work items that have not progressed to the proposal stage in the IEC by the expiration date given by the committee and in ISO within 3 years will be automatically cancelled from the programme of work.
2.2.5 Before progressing to the preparatory stage, all such items shall be subject to approval in accordance with the procedures described in clause 2 or 3 depending on the appropriate document.
2.3 Proposal stage
In the case of proposals to prepare management system standards, see Annex SL.
2.3.1 A new work item proposal (NP) is a proposal for:
- a new International Standard;
- a new Technical Specification (see 3.1).
An NP shall be circulated for a new International Standard or Technical Specification either individually or as part of an existing series.
The proposal stage (clause 2.3) is not required for the:
- revision or amendment of an existing International Standard,
- revision of an existing TS,
- conversion of a TS or PAS to an IS,
- conversion of a PAS to a TS,
- development of a PAS or TR.
However, the committee shall pass a resolution containing the following elements: 1) target dates, 2) the Convenor or Project Leader and 3) UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, www.iso.org/SDGs), and 4) for the revision, amendment and conversion of IS,TS and PAS: statement about the confirmation or expansion of the scope. The committee shall also launch a call for Experts (Form 4 is not required).
A two-thirds majority resolution is required for:
- the conversion of a TS or a PAS to an IS,
- the conversion of a PAS to a TS,
- a revision or an amendment that results in an expanded scope.
The Secretary/Committee Manager shall ensure that the appropriate group that will develop the project with the newly approved scope shall comply with the requirement for at minimum 4 or 5 P-members actively participating as specified in item b) of clause 2.3.5.
2.3.2 A new work item proposal within the scope of an existing committee may be made in the respective organization by
- a National Body;
- the secretariat of that committee ;
- another committee ;
- an organization in category A liaison;
- the technical management board or one of its advisory groups;
- the Chief Executive Officer.
2.3.3 Where both an ISO and an IEC technical committee are concerned, the Chief Executive Officers shall arrange for the necessary coordination. (See also Annex B.)
2.3.4 Each new work item proposal shall be presented using the appropriate form and shall be fully justified and properly documented (see Annex C).
The proposers of the new work item proposal shall
- make every effort to provide a first working draft for discussion, or shall at least provide an outline of such a working draft;
- nominate a Project Leader;
- discuss the proposal with the committee leadership prior to submitting the appropriate form to decide on an appropriate development track (based on market needs) and draft a project plan including key milestones and the proposed date of the first meeting.
The form shall be submitted to the Office of the CEO or to the secretariat of the relevant committee for proposals within the scope of an existing committee.
The Office of the CEO or the relevant committee Chair and secretariat shall ensure that the proposal is properly developed in accordance with ISO and IEC requirements (see Annex C) and provides sufficient information to support informed decision-making by National Bodies.
The Office of the CEO or the relevant committee Chair and secretariat shall also assess the relationship of the proposal to the scope of the committee, existing work and may consult interested parties, including the technical management board, its advisory groups or committees conducting related existing work. If necessary, an ad hoc group may be established to examine the proposal. Any review of proposals should not exceed 2 weeks.
In all cases, the Office of the CEO or the relevant committee Chair and secretariat may also add comments and recommendations to the proposal form.
See Annex K. for new work item proposals for project committees.
Copies of the completed form shall be circulated to the members of the committee for the P‑member ballot and to the O‑members and liaison members for information.
The proposed date of availability of the publication shall be indicated on the form.
A decision upon a new work item proposal shall be taken by correspondence.
Votes shall be returned within 12 weeks.
The committee may decide on a case-by-case basis by way of a resolution to shorten the voting period for new work item proposals to 8 weeks.
When responding to the NP ballot, National Bodies shall provide a statement justifying their decision for negative votes (“justification statement”). If no such statement is provided, the negative vote of a National Body will not be counted.
2.3.5 Acceptance of a new work item requires both a) and b) below to be met.
a) approval of the work item by a 2/3 majority of the P-members of the committees voting. Abstentions are excluded when the votes are counted as well as negative votes not accompanied by a justification statement. The secretariat shall not make any judgements about the validity of the justification statement.
b) a commitment to participate actively in development of the project by nominating Experts in order to make an effective contribution from at least 4 P-members in committees with 16 or fewer P-members, and at least 5 P-members in committees with 17 or more P-members.
Individual committees may increase this minimum requirement of nominated Experts.
In cases where it can be documented that the industry and/or technical knowledge exists only with a very small number of P‑members, the committee may request permission from the technical management board that the work item be accepted with fewer than 4 or 5 participations.
The commitment to an active participation expressed in b) is counted only when the P-member has approved the work item in a).
In the event that a ballot has met criterion a) but has failed because it has not met criterion b), the proposer may ask the Secretary/Committee Manager, within 2 weeks after the close of the NP ballot, to issue a 4-week ballot to gather additional commitments to participate. If the required number of commitments, as per clause 2.3.5 b), from the P-members who voted approval on criterion a) is met, the NP is considered as approved.
2.3.6 Once a new work item proposal is accepted, it is registered in the programme of work of the relevant committee as a new project with the appropriate priority. The agreed target dates (see 2.1.6) are indicated on the appropriate form.
The voting results will be reported to the ISO Central Secretariat (using Form 6) or the IEC Secretariat (using Form RVN) within 6 weeks after the close of the ballot.
2.3.7 The inclusion of the project in the programme of work concludes the proposal stage.
2.4 Preparatory stage
2.4.1 The preparatory stage covers the preparation of a working draft (WD) conforming to the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
2.4.2 When a new project is accepted, the Project Leader shall work with the Experts nominated by the P‑members during the approval [see 2.3.5 a)].
2.4.3 The secretariat may propose to the committee, either at a meeting or by correspondence, to create a working group, the Convenor of which will normally be the Project Leader.
Such a working group shall be set up by the committee, which shall define the task(s) and set the target date(s) for submission of the draft(s) to the committee (see also 1.12). The working group Convenor shall ensure that the work undertaken remains within the scope of the balloted work item.
If there is consensus that a scope requires expansion or significant technical changes, this shall be confirmed by committee decision with a 2/3rd majority.
2.4.4 In responding to the proposal to set up a working group, those P‑members having agreed to participate actively [see 2.3.5 a)] shall each confirm their technical Expert(s). Other P‑members or A- or C- liaisons may also nominate Expert(s).
2.4.5 The Project Leader is responsible for the development of the project and will normally convene and chair any meetings of the working group related to the project. For projects registered directly under the committee, the Project Leader reports to the committee officers. For projects registered under a WG, the Project Leader reports to the Convenor of the WG. Work continues until a consensus is reached on the proposed text. The Project Leader may invite a member of the working group to act as its Secretary.
2.4.6 Every possible effort shall be made to prepare both a French and an English version of the text to avoid delays in the later stages of the development of the project.
If a trilingual (English — French — Russian) document is to be prepared, this provision should include the Russian version.
2.4.7 For time limits relating to this stage, see 2.1.6.
2.4.8 The preparatory stage ends when a working draft is available for circulation to the members of the committee as a first committee draft (CD) and is registered by the Office of the CEO. The committee may also decide to publish the final working draft as a TS (see 3.1) or as a PAS (see 3.2) to respond to particular market needs.
2.5 Committee stage
2.5.1 The committee stage is the principal stage at which comments from National Bodies are taken into consideration, with a view to reaching a consensus on the technical content. National Bodies shall, therefore, carefully study the texts of committee drafts and submit all pertinent comments at this stage.
Committees may decide to skip the CD stage in accordance with Annex SS.
Any graphical symbol shall be submitted to the relevant ISO committee responsible for the registration of graphical symbols (see Annex SH).
2.5.2 As soon as it is available, a committee draft shall be circulated to all P‑members and O‑members of the committee for consideration, with a clear indication of the latest date for submission of replies.
The minimum and default period for CD circulation is 8 weeks. However, if necessary, the CD circulation may be increased to a maximum of 16 weeks as decided by the committee Chair in consultation with appropriate committee leadership.
Comments shall be sent for preparation of the compilation of comments in accordance with the instructions given.
2.5.3 No more than 4 weeks after the closing date for submission of replies for each committee draft, the secretariat shall prepare the compilation of comments and arrange for its circulation to all P‑members and O‑members of the committee. When preparing this compilation, the secretariat shall indicate its proposal, made in consultation with the Chair of the committee and the Project Leader, for proceeding with the project, either
a) to discuss the committee draft and comments at the next meeting of the appropriate group, which would typically be the working group to which the project is assigned, as determined by the committee for this purpose, or
b) to circulate a revised committee draft for consideration, or
c) to register the committee draft or revised committee draft for the enquiry stage (see 2.6). In the case of Technical Specification, Publicly Available Specification or Technical Report, there is no enquiry stage (See clauses 3.1.2, 3.2.2 and 3.3.2 for the approval and publication).
In the case of b) and c), the secretariat shall indicate in the compilation of comments the action taken on each of the comments received. This shall be made available to all P‑members, if necessary, by the circulation of a revised compilation of comments no later than in parallel with the submission of a revised CD for consideration by the committee (case b) or simultaneously with the submission of the finalized version of the draft (either the committee draft or revised committee draft prepared by the secretariat) to the Office of the CEO for registration for the enquiry stage (case c).
Committees are required to respond to all comments received.
If, within 8 weeks from the date of dispatch, 2 or more P‑members disagree with proposal b) or c) of the secretariat, the committee draft shall be discussed at a meeting.
2.5.4 If a committee draft is considered at a meeting either
- as per case a) in clause 2.5.3 or,
- in case of disagreement with the secretariat’s proposal as per case b) or c) in clause 2.5.3 by at least two P-members,
but agreement on it is not reached on that occasion, then a further committee draft incorporating decisions taken at the meeting shall be distributed within 12 weeks as per 2.5.2.
2.5.5 Consideration of successive drafts shall continue until a consensus of the P‑members of the committee as judged by the Chair has been obtained, or a decision to abandon or defer the project has been made.
Consideration of successive committee drafts should be focused on resolving the comments raised by National Bodies and liaisons for the purpose of achieving consensus among the P-members of the committee (see 2.5.2).
2.5.6 The decision to circulate an enquiry draft (see 2.6.1) shall be taken by the Chair of the committee on the basis of the consensus among the P-members.
It is the responsibility of the Chair of the committee, in consultation with the Secretary/Committee Manager of the committee and, if necessary, the Project Leader, to judge whether there is consensus bearing in mind the definition of consensus given in ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004.
“consensus: General agreement, characterized by the absence of sustained opposition to substantial issues by any important part of the concerned interests and by a process that involves seeking to take into account the views of all parties concerned and to reconcile any conflicting arguments.
NOTE Consensus need not imply unanimity.”
The following applies to the definition of consensus:
Those expressing sustained opposition have a right to be heard, and the following approach is recommended when a sustained opposition is declared:
- The leadership shall first assess whether the opposition can be considered a “sustained opposition”, i.e. whether it has been sustained by an important part of the concerned interest. If this is not the case, the leadership will register the opposition (i.e. in the minutes, records, etc.) and continue to lead the work on the document.
- If the leadership determines that there is a sustained opposition, it is required to try and resolve it in good faith. However, a sustained opposition is not akin to a right to veto. The obligation to address the sustained oppositions does not imply an obligation to resolve them successfully.
The responsibility for assessing whether or not a consensus has been reached rests entirely with the leadership. This includes assessing whether there is sustained opposition or whether any sustained opposition can be resolved without compromising the existing level of consensus on the rest of the document. In such cases, the leadership will register the opposition and continue the work.
Those parties with sustained oppositions may avail themselves of appeals mechanisms as detailed in Clause 5.
In case of doubt concerning consensus on a revised committee draft, approval by a two-thirds majority of the P‑members of the committee voting may be deemed to be sufficient for the revised committee draft to be accepted for registration as an enquiry draft; however, every attempt shall be made to resolve negative votes. In the case of Technical Specification, Publicly Available Specification or Technical Report, there is no enquiry stage (See clauses 3.1.2, 3.2.2 and 3.3.2 for the approval and publication).
Abstentions are excluded when the votes are counted, as well as negative votes not accompanied by technical reasons.
The secretariat of the committee responsible for the committee draft shall ensure that the enquiry draft fully embodies decisions taken either at meetings or by correspondence.
2.5.7 When consensus has been reached, the committee secretariat shall submit the finalized version of the draft in electronic form suitable for distribution to the national members for enquiry (2.6.1), to the Office of the CEO (with a copy to the parent committee secretariat in the case of a subcommittee) within a maximum of 16 weeks.
2.5.8 For time limits relating to this stage, see 2.1.6.
2.5.9 The committee stage ends when all technical issues have been resolved, and a committee draft is accepted for circulation as an enquiry draft and is registered by the Office of the CEO. Texts that do not conform to the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 shall be returned to the secretariat with a request for correction before they are registered.
2.5.10 If the technical issues with an international standard project cannot all be resolved within the appropriate time limits, committees may consider publishing an intermediate document in the form of a Technical Specification (see 3.1) pending agreement on an International Standard.
2.6 Enquiry stage
2.6.1 At the enquiry stage, the enquiry draft (DIS in ISO, CDV in IEC) shall be circulated by the Office of the CEO to all National Bodies for a 12-week vote.
For policy on the use of languages, see Annex E.
National Bodies shall be advised of the date by which completed ballots are to be received by the Office of the CEO.
At the end of the voting period, the Chair and secretariat of the committee will have access to the results of the voting, together with any comments received for further speedy action.
2.6.2 Votes submitted by National Bodies shall be explicit: positive, negative, or abstention.
There are no constraints on the types of comments that national bodies may submit with their votes.
A positive vote may be accompanied by editorial or technical comments on the understanding that the Secretary/Committee Manager, in consultation with the Chair of the committee and Project Leader, will decide how to deal with them. A National Body shall not cast a positive vote which is conditional on the acceptance of modifications.
If a National Body finds an enquiry draft unacceptable, it shall vote negatively and state the reasons by submitting comments of a technical nature.
In the case where a National Body has voted negatively and has submitted technical comments that are not clearly of a technical nature, the Secretary/Committee Manager shall contact the National Body within 2 weeks of the ballot closure. If the committee leadership and the National Body do not find an agreement, the matter is escalated to the technical management board via the Office of the CEO.
Abstentions are excluded when the votes are counted, as well as negative votes not accompanied by any technical comments.
2.6.3 An enquiry draft is approved if
a) a two-thirds majority of the votes cast by the P‑members of the committee are in favour and
b) not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative.
Abstentions are excluded when the votes are counted, as well as negative votes not accompanied by technical reasons.
Comments received after the normal voting period are submitted to the committee secretariat for consideration at the time of the next review of the International Standard.
2.6.4 On receipt of the results of the voting and any comments, an appropriate group of the committee, which would typically be the working group to which the project is assigned, will, at a meeting, address any comments received and prepare, as needed, a revised version. The group will advise the Chair on the possible courses of action. The Chair of the committee, in cooperation with its secretariat and the Project Leader or working group Convenor, and in consultation with the Office of the CEO, shall take one of the following courses of action:
a) when the approval criteria of 2.6.3 are met, and no technical changes are to be included, to proceed directly to publication (see 2.8);
b) when the approval criteria of 2.6.3 are met, but technical changes are to be included:
1) to register the revised enquiry draft, as modified, as a final draft international standard, or
2) to circulate the revised enquiry draft for voting (see 2.6.1). The revised enquiry draft will be circulated for a voting period of 8 weeks. Committees are limited to only one revised enquiry draft where the approval criteria are met in this case.
c) when the approval criteria of 2.6.3 are not met:
1) to circulate the revised enquiry draft for 8 weeks voting (see 2.6.1), or
2) to circulate the revised committee draft for comments, or
3) to circulate a revised draft as a DTS or DPAS, or
4) to cancel the project, subject to a decision by the committee.
NOTE: in case 3), the project shall start at the approval stage (i.e., DTS or DPAS).
2.6.5 Not later than 12 weeks after the end of the voting period, a full report shall be prepared by the secretariat of the committee and circulated by the Office of the CEO to the National Bodies. The report shall
a) show the result of the voting;
b) state the decision of the Chair of the committee;
c) reproduce the text of the comments received, and
d) include the observations of the secretariat of the committee on each of the comments submitted.
Every attempt shall be made to resolve negative votes.
If, within 8 weeks from the date of dispatch, two or more P‑members disagree with the decision of the Chair, the draft shall be discussed at a meeting (see 4.2.1.3).
Committees are required to respond to all comments received.
2.6.6 When the Chair has taken the decision to proceed to the approval stage (see 2.7) or publication stage (see 2.8), the secretariat of the committee shall prepare, within a maximum of 16 weeks after the end of the voting period and with the assistance of its editing group, a final text and send it to the Office of the CEO for preparation and circulation of the final draft International Standard.
The secretariat shall provide the Office of the CEO with the text in a revisable electronic format and also in a format which permits validation of the revisable form.
Texts that do not conform to the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 shall be returned to the secretariat with a request for correction before they are registered.
2.6.7 For time limits relating to this stage, see 2.1.6.
2.6.8 The enquiry stage ends with the registration, by the Office of the CEO, of the text for circulation as a final draft International Standard or publication as an International Standard, in the case of 2.6.4 a) and b).
2.7 Approval stage
2.7.1 At the approval stage, the final draft International Standard (FDIS) shall be distributed by the Office of the CEO within 12 weeks to all National Bodies for an 8-week vote (6 weeks in IEC).
National Bodies shall be advised of the date by which ballots are to be received by the Office of the CEO.
2.7.2 Votes submitted by National Bodies shall be explicit: positive, negative, or abstention.
A National Body may submit comments on any FDIS vote.
If a National Body finds a final draft International Standard unacceptable, it shall vote negatively and state the reasons by submitting comments of a technical nature. It shall not cast a positive vote that is conditional on the acceptance of modifications.
In the case where a National Body has voted negatively and has submitted technical comments that are not clearly of a technical nature, the Secretary/Committee Manager shall contact the National Body within 2 weeks of the ballot closure. If the committee leadership and the National Body do not find an agreement, the matter is escalated to the technical management board via the Office of the CEO.
2.7.3 A final draft International Standard having been circulated for voting, is approved if
a) a two-thirds majority of the votes cast by the P‑members of the committee are positive, and
b) not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative.
Abstentions are excluded when the votes are counted, as well as negative votes not accompanied by any technical comments.
2.7.4 The Secretary/Committee Manager has the responsibility of bringing any errors that may have been introduced in the preparation of the draft to the attention of the Office of the CEO by the end of the voting period; further editorial or technical changes are not accepted at this stage.
2.7.5 All comments received will be retained for the next review and will be recorded on the voting form as “noted for future consideration”. The Office of the CEO shall electronically archive these comments. However, the Secretary/Committee Manager, along with the Office of the CEO, may seek to resolve obvious editorial errors. Technical changes to an approved FDIS are not allowed.
At the end of the voting period, the result of voting, indicating either the formal approval by National Bodies to issue the International Standard or formal rejection of the final draft International Standard, is available to all National Bodies.
2.7.6 If the final draft International Standard has been approved in accordance with the conditions of 2.7.3, it shall proceed to the publication stage (see 2.8).
2.7.7 If the final draft International Standard is not approved in accordance with the conditions in 2.7.3, the document shall be referred back to the committee concerned for reconsideration in light of the technical reasons submitted in support of the negative votes.
The committee shall decide to:
- resubmit a modified draft as a committee draft, enquiry draft or final draft International Standard; or
- publish a Technical Specification or a Publicly Available Specification (see 3.1 and 3.2); or
- cancel the project.
2.7.8 The approval stage ends with the circulation of the voting report (see 2.7.5) stating that the FDIS has been approved for publication as an International Standard, with the publication of a Technical Specification (see 3.1.2), or with the document being referred back to the committee.
2.8 Publication stage
2.8.1 Within 6 weeks, the Office of the CEO shall correct any errors indicated and validated by the secretariat of the committee and publish and distribute the International Standard.
Before publication the document is sent to the Secretary/Committee Manager and Project Leader for final review.
2.8.2 The publication stage ends with the publication of the International Standard.
2.9 Maintenance of documents
The procedures for the maintenance of documents are given in the respective Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives.
2.9.1 Introduction
Every International Standard and other document published by ISO or jointly with IEC shall be subject to a systematic review to determine whether it should be confirmed, revised, amended (for International Standard), converted to another form of document, or withdrawn, according to Table S1.
A committee may, at any time between systematic reviews, pass a resolution initiating a revision of a document.
See clause 2.3.1 for the process for initiating a revision of an existing document (or amendment of an existing International Standard).
For minor changes to International Standards, e.g. updating and editorial changes, that do not impact the technical content, a shortened procedure called “minor revision” may be applied. The procedure only includes the proposal, the approval (see 2.7) and the publication stages (see 2.8). The proposal can be introduced by the committee either via Form 21 after a systematic review or through a resolution and completion of ISO Form 8B. Subsequent to the decision by the responsible committee (resolution or approved Form 21) and consultation of the responsible ISO Technical Programme Manager, a final draft of the revised document shall be submitted to ISO/CS within a maximum of 16 weeks, for an 8-week FDIS vote, or 12 weeks in the case of Vienna Agreement documents. The Foreword of the next edition of the document shall indicate that it is a minor revision and list the updates and editorial changes made.
Table S1 — Timing of systematic reviews
|
Document |
Max. elapsed time |
Max. number of |
Max. life |
|
International Standard |
5 years |
Not limited |
Not limited |
|
Technical Specification |
3 years |
Once recommended |
6 years recommended |
|
Publicly Available Specification (see 3.2.3) |
3 years |
Once |
6 years |
|
Technical Report (see 3.3.3) |
Not specified |
Not specified |
Not limited |
A systematic review will typically be initiated in the following circumstances:
- (all documents) on the initiative and as a responsibility of the secretariat of the responsible committee, typically as the result of the elapse of the specified period since publication or the last confirmation of the document, or
- (for International Standards and Technical Specifications) a default action by ISO Central Secretariat if a systematic review of the International Standard or Technical Specification concerned has not been initiated by the secretariat of the responsible committee, or
- (all documents) at the request of one or more National Bodies, or
- (all documents) at the request of the CEO.
The timing of a systematic review is normally based either on the year of publication or, where a document has already been confirmed, on the year in which it was last confirmed. However, it is not necessary to wait for the maximum period to elapse before a document is reviewed.
In case a revision project is abandoned by the committee before reaching publication, the stage of the published standard is reverted to the previous stage, and the next systematic review ballot will be based on the date the previous stage had been reached.
2.9.2 Review
The review period is 20 weeks.
Before the systematic review ballot, the committee may prepare a recommendation, to be approved by its P-members, on the future of the document. This recommendation will be made available with the SR ballot.
NOTE Systematic reviews are administered electronically by the ISO Central Secretariat, and all ISO member bodies are invited to respond to such reviews. P-members of a given committee have an obligation to vote on all systematic review ballots for documents under the responsibility of that committee. The purpose of the reviews has been extended to include obtaining information when member bodies have needed to make modifications to make ISO standards suitable for national adoption. Such modifications need to be considered by committees to determine whether they need to be taken into account to improve the global relevance of a standard. The final decision to revise, confirm or withdraw a document, remains with the P‑members of the responsible committee.
After the closing of the vote, the secretariat's proposal reflecting the voting results shall be circulated to the members of the committee using Form 21. The action proposed in the Form 21 shall be considered as the committee decision unless objections are received within 8 weeks of circulation of the Form 21. If objections are received, no more than 6 months after the closing of the vote, the committee shall take a final decision as to whether to revise, confirm or withdraw the document. In both cases, the secretariat shall submit the committee's final decision to the ISO Central Secretariat.
2.9.3 Interpretation of ballot results
2.9.3.1 General
Typically, a decision as to the appropriate action to take following a systematic review shall be based on a simple majority of P‑members voting for a specific action. However, in some cases, a more detailed analysis of the results may indicate that another interpretation may be more appropriate.
NOTE It is not feasible to provide concrete rules for all cases when interpreting the ballot results due to the variety of possible responses, degrees of implementation, and the relative importance of comments, etc.
Where voting results are not definitive and/or a decision is based on the interpretation of responses, the secretariat shall invite approval of a proposed course of action within a specified time delay, for example, within two months.
In proposing future action, due account shall be taken of the maximum possible number of confirmations and specified maximum life of the document concerned (see Table S1).
2.9.3.2 Interpretation of ballot results for International Standards
Option 1: Confirmation (retention without technical change)
Where it has been verified that a document is used, that it should continue to be made available, and that no technical changes are needed, a document may be confirmed. The criteria are as follows:
- the document has been adopted with or without change or is used in at least five countries (when this criterion is not met, the document should be withdrawn), and
- a simple majority of the P‑members of the committee voting propose confirmation.
Option 2: Amendment or revision (Retention, with change/s)
Where it has been verified that an International Standard is used, that it should continue to be made available, but that technical changes are needed, it may be proposed for amendment or revision. The criteria are as follows:
- the International Standard has been adopted with or without change or is used in at least five countries (when this criterion is not met, the document should be withdrawn); and
- a simple majority of the P‑members of the committee voting considers there is a need for amendment or revision.
In that case, an item may be registered as an approved work item (stage 10.99).
A call for Experts shall be launched. However, there is no minimum number of active P‑members required.
Where an amendment or revision is not immediately started following approval by the committee, it is recommended that the project is first registered as a preliminary work item and that the International Standard is registered as confirmed. When it is eventually proposed for registration at stage 10.99, reference shall be made to the results of the preceding systematic review, and the committee shall pass a resolution (see clause 2.3.1 for the process for initiating a revision or amendment of an existing International Standard).
Where it is decided that the International Standard needs to be revised or amended, it becomes a new project and shall be added to the programme of work of the committee. The steps for revision or amendment are the same as those for preparation of a new International Standard (see ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, clauses 2.3 to 2.8), and include the establishment of target dates for the completion of the relevant stages.
Option 3: Withdrawal
When the document has not been adopted with or without change or is not used in at least five countries, the document should be withdrawn (see Options 1 and 2 above).
In the case of the proposed withdrawal of an International Standard, the National Bodies shall be informed by the CEO of the decision of the committee, with an invitation to inform the Office of the CEO within 8 weeks if they object to that decision.
Any objection received shall be referred to the ISO Technical Management Board for consideration and decision.
2.9.3.3 Conversion to an International Standard (Technical Specifications and Publicly Available Specifications only)
In addition to the three basic options of confirmation, revision, or withdrawal, in the cases of the systematic review of Technical Specifications and Publicly Available Specifications, a fourth option is their conversion to an International Standard.
To initiate conversion to an International Standard, a text, updated as appropriate, is submitted to the normal development procedures as specified for an International Standard (see clause 2.3.1).
The conversion procedure will typically start with a DIS vote. Where changes considered to be required are judged as being so significant as to require a full review in the committee prior to DIS ballot, a revised version of the document shall be submitted for CD consultation.
2.9.4 Reinstatement of withdrawn standards
If, following the withdrawal of an International Standard, a committee determines that it is still needed, it may propose that the document be reinstated. The document shall be issued either as a draft International Standard or as a final draft International Standard, as decided by the committee, for voting by the member bodies. The usual approval criteria shall apply. If approved, the document shall be published as a new edition with a new date of publication. The foreword shall explain that the document results from the reinstatement of the previous edition.
2.10 Corrections and amendments
2.10.1 General
A published International Standard may subsequently be modified by the publication of
- a technical corrigendum;
- a corrected version;
- an amendment; or
- a revision (as part of the maintenance procedure in 2.9).
NOTE In case of revision, a new edition of the International Standard will be issued.
2.10.2 Corrections
A correction is only issued to correct an error or ambiguity inadvertently introduced either in drafting or in publishing and which could lead to the incorrect or unsafe application of the publication.
Corrections are not issued to update information that has become outdated since publication.
Suspected errors shall be brought to the attention of the secretariat of the committee concerned. After confirmation by the secretariat and Chair, if necessary in consultation with the Project Leader and P‑members of the committee, the secretariat shall submit to the Office of the CEO a proposal for correction, with an explanation of the need to do so.
The Office of the CEO shall decide, in consultation with the secretariat of the committee, and bearing in mind both the financial consequences to the organization and the interests of users of the publication, whether to publish a technical corrigendum and/or a corrected version of the existing edition of the publication (see also 2.10.3). The secretariat of the committee will then inform the members of the committee of the outcome.
The corrections are mentioned in the Foreword of the corrected version.
2.10.3 Amendments
An amendment alters and/or adds to previously agreed technical provisions in an existing International Standard and its prior amendment, if any. An amendment is considered a partial revision: the rest of the International Standard is not open for comments.
An amendment is normally published as a separate document, the edition of the International Standard affected remaining in use.
The procedure for developing and publishing an amendment shall be as described in 2.3 (ISO and JTC 1) or the review and maintenance procedures (see IEC Supplement) and 2.4, 2.5, 2.6 (draft amendment, DAM), 2.7 (final draft amendment, FDAM), and 2.8.
Before the approval stage (2.7), the committee may decide, in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer, bearing in mind both the financial consequences and the interests of users of the International Standard, to ballot (2.7) and publish a new edition of the International Standard, incorporating the amendment.
NOTE Where it is foreseen that there will be frequent additions to the provisions of an International Standard, the possibility should be borne in mind at the outset of developing these additions as a series of parts (see ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2).
No more than 2 separate amendments shall be published modifying a current International Standard. The development of a third such document shall result in the publication of a new edition of the International Standard.
2.11 Maintenance agencies
When a committee has developed a document that will require frequent modification, it may decide that a maintenance agency is required. Rules concerning the designation of maintenance agencies are given in Annex G.
2.12 Registration authorities
When a committee has developed a document that includes registration provisions, a registration authority is required. Rules concerning the designation of registration authorities are given in Annex H.
2.13 Copyright
The copyright for all drafts and International Standards and other publications belongs to ISO, IEC or ISO and IEC, respectively as represented by the Office of the CEO.
The content of, for example, an International Standard may originate from a number of sources, including existing national standards, articles published in scientific or trade journals, original research and development work, descriptions of commercialized products, etc. These sources may be subject to one or more rights.
In ISO and IEC, there is an understanding that original material contributed to becoming a part of an ISO, IEC or ISO/IEC publication can be copied and distributed within the ISO and/or IEC systems (as relevant) as part of the consensus building process, this being without prejudice to the rights of the original copyright owner to exploit the original text elsewhere. Where the material is already subject to copyright, the right should be granted to ISO and/or IEC to reproduce and circulate the material. This is frequently done without recourse to a written agreement or, at most, to a simple written statement of acceptance. Where contributors wish a formal signed agreement concerning the copyright of any submissions they make to ISO and/or IEC, such requests shall be addressed to ISO Central Secretariat or the IEC Secretariat, respectively.
Attention is drawn to the fact that the respective members of ISO and IEC have the right to adopt and re-publish any respective ISO and/or IEC document as their national standard. Similar forms of endorsement do or may exist (for example, with regional standardization organizations).
2.14 Reference to patented items (see also Annex I.)
2.14.1 If, in exceptional situations, technical reasons justify such a step, there is no objection in principle to preparing a document in terms which include the use of items covered by patent rights — defined as patents, utility models and other statutory rights based on inventions, including any published applications for any of the foregoing — even if the terms of the document are such that there are no alternative means of compliance. The rules given below shall be applied.
2.14.2 If technical reasons justify the preparation of a document in terms which include the use of items covered by patent rights, the following procedures shall be complied with:
a) The proposer of a proposal for a document shall draw the attention of the committee to any patent rights of which the proposer is aware and considers to cover any item of the proposal. Any party involved in the preparation of a document shall draw the attention of the committee to any patent rights of which it becomes aware during any stage in the development of the document.
b) If the proposal is accepted on technical grounds, the proposer shall ask any holder of such identified patent rights for a statement that the holder would be willing to negotiate worldwide licences under his/her rights with applicants throughout the world on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions. Such negotiations are left to the parties concerned and are performed outside ISO and/or IEC. A record of the right holder's statement shall be placed in the registry of the ISO Central Secretariat or IEC Secretariat as appropriate. If the right holder does not provide such a statement, the committee concerned shall not proceed with the inclusion of an item covered by a patent right in the document without authorization from the council board as appropriate.
c) A document shall not be published until the statements of the holders of all identified patent rights have been received unless the council board concerned gives authorization.
2.14.3 Should it be revealed after the publication of a document that licences under patent rights, which appear to cover items included in the document, cannot be obtained under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, the document shall be referred back to the relevant committee for further consideration.
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Clause 3 |
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3 Development of other documents
3.1 Technical Specifications (TS)
3.1.1 A committee may decide to prepare and publish a Technical Specification when:
- The subject in question is still under development, or
- The committee has developed a document it wishes to publish as per 2.6.4 and 2.7.7 (following a failed enquiry or approval ballot)
A Technical Specification may contain normative provisions.
3.1.2 The committee may decide for new projects to follow the procedure set out in 2.3 to initiate the development of a Technical Specification. The required stages for the preparation of a Technical Specification shall be the preparatory stage as set out in 2.4 and the approval stage for publication (8 weeks DTS ballot). Committees may also choose to use an optional committee stage as set out in 2.5. The decision to publish the resulting document as a Technical Specification shall require a two-thirds majority vote of the committee P-members voting. If technical changes are required following the ballot, a subsequent ballot shall be required to approve the revised draft.
In the case where a member body has voted negatively without submitting a justification, the vote will not be counted.
3.1.3 When the P‑members of a committee have agreed upon the publication of a Technical Specification, the draft specification shall be submitted electronically by the secretariat of the committee to the Office of the CEO within 16 weeks for publication. Competing Technical Specifications offering different technical solutions are possible, provided that they do not conflict with existing International Standards.
3.1.4 Technical Specifications shall be subject to review by the committee not later than 3 years after their publication. The aim of such review shall be to re-examine the situation which resulted in the publication of a Technical Specification and, if possible, to achieve the agreement necessary for the publication of an International Standard to replace the Technical Specification. In IEC, the date for this review is based on the stability date which shall be agreed upon in advance of the publication of the Technical Specification (review date). Withdrawal of a Technical Specification is decided by the committee.
3.2 Publicly Available Specifications (PAS)
3.2.1 A committee may decide to publish a Publicly Available Specification when there is an urgent market need. It may be:
a) a preliminary document to be prepared by the committee prior to the development of a full International Standard, or
b) the adoption of an existing published document from an external organization, which in the IEC may result in a dual logo publication with the external organization, or
c) an existing committee document it wishes to publish as per 2.6.4 and 2.7.7 (following a failed enquiry or approval ballot)
A Publicly Available Specification may contain normative provisions. A Publicly Available Specification is not allowed to conflict with an existing International Standard. Competing Publicly Available Specifications on the same subject are permitted.
3.2.2 For 3.2.1 a), a committee decision to initiate the development of the preliminary document as per 3.2.1 a) is required by a simple majority approval of the P-members voting. The Secretary/Committee Manager shall ensure that the working group that will develop the document shall comply with the same requirement for P-member active participation specified in 2.3.5 b). The NP form may provide useful information for the committee P-members to consider when deciding to initiate a Publicly Available Specification.
For 3.2.1 b), the DPAS ballot can be initiated by a Chair’s decision.
3.2.3 The mandatory stage for a Publicly Available Specification is the approval stage for publication (8 weeks DPAS ballot). Committees may also choose to use an optional preparatory stage as set out in 2.4 or an optional committee stage as set out in 2.5. The decision to publish the document as a Publicly Available Specification shall require a simple majority vote of the committee P-members voting. If changes other than editorial changes are required following the ballot, a subsequent ballot shall be required to approve the revised draft.
3.2.4 A PAS shall remain valid for an initial maximum period of 3 years in ISO and 2 years in IEC. The validity may be extended for a single period up to a maximum of 3 years in ISO and 2 years in IEC. During the validity period, the withdrawal of a PAS is decided by the committee. At the end of the validity period, the PAS shall be transformed with or without change into another type of normative document or shall be automatically withdrawn.
3.3 Technical Reports (TR)
3.3.1 A committee may decide to publish a Technical Report when it wishes:
- to publish information that is not normally published as an International Standard (this may include, for example, information obtained from a survey carried out among the National Bodies, information on work in other international organizations or information on the “state of the art” in relation to standards of National Bodies on a particular subject).
- to provide a rationale for specific requirements in a related International Standard.
The document shall be entirely informative in nature containing no requirements, recommendations or permissions and shall not contain matter implying that it is normative. It shall clearly explain its relationship to normative aspects of the subject, which are or will be, dealt with in International Standards related to the subject.
In the case where a member body has voted negatively without submitting a justification, the vote will not be counted.
3.3.2 The committee may initiate the development of a Technical Report by the simple majority decision of the P-members. The required stages for the preparation of a Technical Report shall be the preparatory stage as set out in 2.4 and the approval stage for publication (8 weeks DTR ballot). Committees may also choose to use an optional committee stage as set out in 2.5. The decision to publish the resulting document as a Technical Report shall require a simple majority vote of the P-members voting of the committee. If changes other than editorial changes are required following the ballot, a subsequent 4-week ballot shall be required to approve the revised draft.
When the P-members of a committee have agreed upon the publication of a Technical Report, the draft report shall be submitted electronically by the secretariat of the committee to the Office of the CEO within 16 weeks for publication.
3.3.3 It is recommended that Technical Reports are regularly reviewed by the committee responsible to ensure that they remain valid. Withdrawal of a Technical Report is decided by the committee responsible.
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Clause 4 |
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4 Meetings
4.1 General
4.1.1 National Bodies are reminded that they are not permitted to charge delegates/Experts any sort of participation fee, nor require accommodations at specific hotels or hotel rates for any meetings of technical committees, subcommittees, working groups, maintenance and project teams. The basic meeting facilities shall be funded entirely by resources from a National Body and/or voluntary sponsors. For more information in IEC, see Meeting Guide (https://www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs/iec/IEC_Meeting_Guide_2012.pdf) and for ISO, see Annex SF for further details.
4.1.2 Technical committees and subcommittees shall use current electronic means to carry out their work (for example, e-mail, groupware and teleconferencing) wherever possible. A meeting of a committee should be convened only when it is necessary to discuss committee drafts (CD) or other matters of substance which cannot be settled by other means.
4.1.3 The technical committee secretariat should look ahead with a view to drawing up, in consultation with the Office of the CEO, a 2-year programme of meetings of the technical committee and its subcommittees, taking account of the programme of work.
Committee meetings shall be convened by the committee secretariat at intervals determined necessary by the committee to manage and advance its work, and such meetings shall be of adequate duration to resolve all agenda items.
4.1.4 In planning meetings, account should be taken of the possible advantage of grouping meetings of technical committees and subcommittees dealing with related subjects to improve communication and to limit the burden of attendance at meetings by delegates who participate in several technical committees or subcommittees. The possible advantage of grouping meetings applies also to working groups.
4.1.5 In planning meetings, account should also be taken of the advantages for the speedy preparation of drafts of holding a meeting of the editing group immediately after the meeting of the committee and at the same place.
4.2 Procedure for calling a meeting
For information relating to hosting meetings, refer to Annex SF.
4.2.1 Committee meetings
4.2.1.1 The date and place of a meeting shall be subject to an agreement between the Chair and the secretariat of the committee concerned, the Chief Executive Officer and the National Body acting as host. In the case of a subcommittee meeting, the subcommittee secretariat shall first consult with the secretariat of the parent technical committee to ensure coordination of meetings (see also 4.1.4).
4.2.1.2 A National Body wishing to act as host for a particular meeting shall contact the Chief Executive Officer and the committee secretariat concerned.
The National Body shall first ascertain that there are no restrictions imposed by its country to the entry of representatives of any P‑member of the committee for the purpose of attending the meeting.
In accrediting delegates to attend meetings, P-and O-members shall register them in the ISO Meetings application or the IEC Meeting Registration System (MRS), as appropriate.
It is the responsibility of the hosting National Body to provide participants with invitation letters upon request from the participant.
The hosting organizations are advised to verify and provide information on access means to meeting facilities. As per clause 4.2.1.3, a document describing the logistics for the meeting shall be circulated. As well as location and transport information, it should provide details of the accessibility of meeting facilities.
During the planning process, there should be a request for notification of specific accessibility requirements. The hosting body should make its best efforts to satisfy these requirements.
4.2.1.3 The secretariat shall ensure that arrangements are made for the agenda and logistical information to be circulated by the Office of the CEO (in the IEC) or by the secretariat with a copy to the Office of the CEO (in ISO) at the latest 16 weeks before the date of the meeting.
NOTE All new work item proposals must be approved by correspondence (in ISO: committee internal ballot – CIB) see 2.3.4.
Only those committee drafts for which the compilation of comments will be available at least 6 weeks before the meeting shall be included on the agenda and be eligible for discussion at the meeting.
Any other working documents, including compilations of comments on drafts to be discussed at the meeting, shall be distributed not less than 6 weeks in advance of the meeting.
The agenda shall clearly state the starting and estimated finishing times.
In the event of meetings over-running the estimated finishing time, the committee has two options:
1) Extend the meeting by an unanimous approval of the P-members attending the meeting.
2) Continue the meeting but any further decisions after the estimated finishing time shall be confirmed by correspondence.
4.2.2 Working group meetings
4.2.2.1 A working group may meet in either virtual, hybrid or face-to-face mode. For a virtual meeting, the advance notice shall be made available a minimum of 4 weeks in advance of the meeting.
When a face-to-face or hybrid meeting needs to be held, notification by the Convenor of the meetings of a working group shall be sent to its members and to the secretariat of the parent committee at least 6 weeks in advance of the meeting.
The Working Group leadership should ensure that everything reasonable is done to enable Experts to actively participate.
Arrangements for meetings shall be made between the Convenor and the member of the working group in whose country the meeting is to be held. The latter member shall be responsible for all practical working arrangements.
In registering Experts to WG meetings, P-members shall register them in the ISO Meetings application or the IEC Meeting Registration System (MRS), as appropriate.
It is the responsibility of the hosting National Body to provide Experts with invitation letters upon request from the Expert.
4.2.2.2 If a working group meeting is to be held in conjunction with a meeting of the parent committee, the Convenor shall coordinate arrangements with the secretariat of the parent committee. In particular, it shall be ensured that the working group members receive all general information for the meeting, which is sent to delegates to the meeting of the parent committee.
4.2.2.3 Either the WG (or PT/MT/AC in IEC) leader or the Secretary/Committee Manager of the relevant committee shall notify National Body Secretariats of any WG (or PT/MT/AC in IEC) meeting held in their country.
4.3 Languages at meetings
While the official languages are English, French and Russian, meetings are conducted in English by default.
The National Body for the Russian Federation provides all interpretation and translation into or from the Russian language.
The Chair and secretariat are responsible for dealing with the question of language at a meeting in a manner acceptable to the participants, following the general rules of ISO or IEC, as appropriate. (See also Annex E.)
4.4 Cancellation of meetings
Every possible effort shall be made to avoid cancellation or postponement of a meeting once it has been convened. Nevertheless, if the agenda and basic documents are not available within the time required by 4.2.1.3, then the Chief Executive Officer has the right to cancel the meeting.
4.5 National Bodies participating by correspondence at plenary meetings
Participation by correspondence is allowed only when virtual participation is not offered at a meeting. Participation by correspondence at committee meetings is counted as meeting National Body obligation to maintain P-member status.
National Bodies wishing to participate by correspondence shall formally register to the meeting and indicate the fact that they will participate by correspondence.
National Bodies participating by correspondence shall provide written comments only about items of the agenda but not indicate voting positions and at the latest 2 weeks before the meeting. Such comments shall not be circulated before the meeting. Instead, such comments shall be introduced at the meeting by the meeting Officers (Chair, Secretary/Committee Officer, representative from the Office of the CEO).
Any member participating by correspondence shall not be counted in any decision during the meeting.
The number of national bodies participating by correspondence to a meeting is not limited.
Participation by correspondence shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
4.6 Distribution of documents
For requirements relating to document distribution, refer to Annex SB. A copy of the agenda and calling notice for a committee meeting shall be made available to the ISO Central Secretariat for information.
4.7 Virtual participation at committee meetings
Virtual participation at committee meetings is supported in ISO to enable the goals of increasing stakeholder engagement and better coordination of the committee work. Virtual participation is allowed for all ISO meetings and ISO committees, provided that:
- The Secretary/Committee Manager checks with the host prior to the meeting and follows the ‘Guidelines on virtual participation at committee meetings’.
- The host agrees and can provide the necessary technology and support.
- The same registration and accreditation rules apply to virtual and face-to-face participants.
- The ‘Guidelines on virtual participation at committee meetings’ are provided to all participants in advance of the meeting.
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Clause 5 |
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5 Appeals
5.1 General
5.1.1 National Bodies have the right of appeal
a) to the parent technical committee on a decision of a subcommittee;
b) to the technical management board on a decision of a technical committee;
c) to the council board on a decision of the technical management board,
within 8 weeks of the decision in question.
The decision of the council board on any case of appeal is final.
5.1.2 A P‑member of a committee may appeal against any action, or inaction, on the part of the committee, when the P‑member considers that such action or inaction is
a) not in accordance with
- the Statutes and Rules of Procedure;
- the ISO/IEC Directives; or
b) not in the best interests of international trade and commerce, or such public factors as safety, health or environment.
5.1.3 Matters under appeal may be either technical or administrative in nature.
Appeals on decisions concerning new work item proposals, committee drafts, enquiry drafts and final drafts International Standards are only eligible for consideration if
- questions of principle are involved, or
- the contents of a draft may be detrimental to the reputation of ISO or IEC.
5.1.4 All appeals shall be fully documented to support the P‑member's concern.
5.2 Appeal against a subcommittee decision
5.2.1 The documented appeal shall be submitted by the P‑member to the secretariat of the parent technical committee, with a copy to the Chief Executive Officer.
5.2.2 Upon receipt, the secretariat of the parent technical committee shall advise all its P‑members of the appeal and take immediate action, by correspondence or at a meeting, to consider and decide on the appeal, consulting the Chief Executive Officer in the process.
5.2.3 If the technical committee supports its subcommittee, then the P‑member which initiated the appeal may either
- accept the technical committee’s decision, or
- appeal against it.
5.3 Appeal against a technical committee decision
5.3.1 Appeals against a technical committee decision may be of 2 kinds:
- an appeal arising out of 5.2.3 above, or
- an appeal against an original decision of a technical committee.
5.3.2 The documented appeal shall, in all cases, be submitted to the Chief Executive Officer, with a copy to the Chair and secretariat of the technical committee.
5.3.3 The Chief Executive Officer shall, following whatever consultations she/he deems appropriate, refer the appeal together with his/her comments to the technical management board within 4 weeks after receipt of the appeal.
5.3.4 The technical management board shall decide whether an appeal shall be further processed or not. If the decision is in favour of proceeding, the Chair of the technical management board shall form a conciliation panel.
The conciliation panel shall hear the appeal within 12 weeks and attempt to resolve the difference of opinion as soon as practicable. The conciliation panel shall give a final report within 12 weeks. If the conciliation panel is unsuccessful in resolving the difference of opinion, this shall be reported to the Chief Executive Officer, together with recommendations on how the matter should be settled.
5.3.5 The Chief Executive Officer, on receipt of the report of the conciliation panel, shall inform the technical management board, which will make its decision.
5.4 Appeal against a technical management board decision
An appeal against a decision of the technical management board shall be submitted to the Chief Executive Officer with full documentation on all stages of the case.
The Chief Executive Officer shall refer the appeal together with his/her comments to the members of the council board within 4 weeks after receipt of the appeal.
The council board shall make its decision within 12 weeks.
5.5 Progress of work during an appeal process
When an appeal is against a decision respecting work in progress, the work shall be continued up to and including the approval stage (see 2.7).
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Annexes |
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ANNEXES COMMON TO ISO AND IEC
Annex A
(normative)
Guides
In addition to International Standards, Technical Specifications, Publicly Available Specifications and Technical Reports prepared by technical committees, ISO and IEC publish Guides on matters related to international standardization. Guides shall be drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
Guides shall not be prepared by technical committees and subcommittees. They may be prepared by an ISO Policy Development Committee, an IEC Advisory Committee or Strategic Group, an ISO group reporting to the ISO technical management board, or an ISO/IEC Joint Coordination Group. These bodies are referred to below as the “committee or group responsible for the project”.
The procedure for the preparation and publication of a Guide is described below.
The ISO and/or IEC technical management board will approve proposals for new Guides or revisions of Guides and decide on the secretariat and composition of the committee or group responsible for the project.
Once a project is approved by the ISO and/or IEC technical management board, the secretariat of the committee or group responsible for the project shall ensure that the appropriate interests of ISO and IEC are informed.
The committee or group responsible for the project shall ensure that the appropriate interests in ISO and IEC have the opportunity to be represented during the preparation of the working draft.
Once a working draft is available for circulation as a committee draft, the secretariat of the committee or group responsible for the project shall send it to the parent committee or ISO and/or IEC technical management board for a vote, comments and to approve its advancement to the Enquiry stage.
In the case of ISO/IEC Guides, the draft shall be submitted for approval to the National Bodies of both ISO and IEC. The National Bodies of both organizations need to approve the document if it is to be published as an ISO/IEC Guide.
If this condition is satisfied for only one of the organizations, ISO or IEC, the Guide may be published under the name of the approving organization only unless the committee or group responsible for the project decides to apply the procedure set out in A.5.3.
A.5.3 If a draft Guide is not approved, or if it is approved with comments the acceptance of which would improve consensus, the Chair of the committee or group responsible for the project may decide to submit an amended draft for a 8-week vote. The conditions for acceptance of the amended draft are the same as in A.5.2.
The publication stage shall be the responsibility of the Office of the CEO of the organization to which the committee or group responsible for the project belongs.
In the case of a Joint ISO/IEC group, the responsibility shall be decided by agreement between the Chief Executive Officers.
The committee or group responsible for the Guide shall be responsible for deciding if the Guide shall be withdrawn. The formal withdrawal shall be ratified by the technical management board (TMB) in accordance with its normal procedures.
A.8 Procedure for transforming a guide into an ISO International Standard
A.8.1 Submission of a proposal for the transformation of a Guide into an International Standard
Any member body, organization in liaison or group reporting to the TMB (“Authorized bodies”), or the ISO CEO, can propose that an approved Guide be transformed into an ISO International Standard. All proposals shall be accompanied by a justification for the transformation into an International Standard.
A.8.2. Circulation of the proposal
The offices of the CEO's circulate the proposal to all member bodies for approval.
A.8.3. Member body ballot
The ballot will ask the question: Do you approve the transformation of Guide XX into an ISO International Standard?
Members will have the option of responding yes or no, and the reasons for their negative vote should be provided.
Because the Guide in question has been developed and approved according to the consensus-building procedures of ISO and/or IEC, technical or editorial comments will not be considered. Consideration of such comments will be held over to the next revision of the International Standard if the transformation of the Guide is approved.
The voting period and voting rules are the same as for the normal DIS vote.
A.8.4. Approval criteria
If more than one-quarter of all votes received are negative, the transformation into an International Standard is not approved, and the approval process ends.
If the transformation of a Guide into an International Standard is approved, the International Standard will be published, and the original Guide will be withdrawn.
A.8.5. Maintenance of the International Standard resulting from a transformed guide
The ISO technical management board will decide on a case-by-case basis how to handle the maintenance of the transformed Guide. Preference will be given to assigning the maintenance responsibility to an appropriate TC, but in the absence of an appropriate TC, the TMB will decide where to assign maintenance responsibility, including through the establishment of a new TC or PC.
Annex B
(normative)
ISO/IEC procedures for liaison and work allocation
By the ISO/IEC Agreement of 1976 [1], ISO and IEC together form a system for international standardization as a whole. For this system to operate efficiently, the following procedures are agreed upon for coordination and allocation of work between the technical committees and subcommittees of both organizations.
The allocation of work between ISO and IEC is based on the agreed principle that all questions relating to international standardization in the electrical and electronic engineering fields are reserved for IEC, the other fields being reserved for ISO and that allocation of responsibility for matters of international standardization where the relative contribution of electrical and non-electrical technologies is not immediately evident will be settled by mutual agreement between the organizations.
Questions of coordination and work allocation may arise when establishing a new ISO or IEC technical committee or as a result of the activities of an existing technical committee.
The following levels of coordination and work allocation agreement are available. Matters should be raised to the next higher level only after all attempts to resolve them at the lower levels have failed.
a) Formal liaisons between ISO and IEC committees for normal inter-committee cooperation.
b) Organizational consultations, including technical Experts and representatives of the Chief Executive Officers, for cases where technical coordination may have an effect on the future activities of the organizations in a larger sense than the point under consideration.
c) Decisions on work allocation by the technical management boards.
B.3 Establishing new technical committees
Whenever a proposal to establish a new technical committee is made to the National Bodies of ISO or IEC, respectively, the proposal shall also be submitted to the other organization requesting comment and/or agreement. As a result of these consultations, two cases may arise:
a) the opinion is unanimous that the work should be carried out in one of the organizations;
b) opinions are divided.
In case of a), formal action may then be taken to establish the new technical committee according to the unanimous opinion.
In case of b), a meeting of Experts in the field concerned shall be arranged with representatives of the Chief Executive Officers with a view to reaching a satisfactory agreement for the allocation of the work (i.e., organizational level). If an agreement is reached at this level, formal action may be taken by the appropriate organization to implement the agreement.
In the case of disagreement after these consultations, the matter may be referred by either organization to the ISO and IEC Technical Management Boards.
B.4 Coordinating and allocating work between ISO and IEC technical committees
B.4.1 Formal liaison at the committee level
Most coordination needs arising between individual ISO and IEC committees are successfully dealt with through formal technical liaison arrangements. These arrangements, when requested by either organization, shall be honoured by the other organization. Requests for formal liaison arrangements are controlled by the Office of the CEO. The requesting organization shall specify the Mode of cooperation (see B.4.2.2).
B.4.2.1 Continual efforts shall be made to minimize the overlap areas between IEC and ISO by entrusting areas of work to one of the two organizations.
For areas of work so entrusted, IEC and ISO shall agree through their Technical Management Boards on how the views and interests of the other organization are to be fully taken into account.
B.4.2.2 Five working modes of cooperation have been established, as follows:
Mode 1 — Informative relation
One organization is fully entrusted with a specific work area and keeps the other fully informed of all progress.
Mode 2 — Contributive relation
One organization should take the lead of the work, and the other should make written contributions where considered appropriate during the progress of this work. This relation also includes the exchange of full information.
Mode 3 — Subcontracting relation
One organization is fully entrusted with the realization of the work on an identified item, but due to the specialization of the other, a part of the work is subcontracted and that part is prepared under the responsibility of the second organization. Necessary arrangements shall be made to guarantee the correct integration of the resulting subcontracted work into the main part of the programme. The enquiry and approval stages are handled by the organization being the main contractor for the standardization task.
Mode 4 — Collaborative relation
One organization takes the lead in the activities, but the work sessions and meetings receive liaison representatives from the other. Such liaison representatives should have the right to intervene in the debate but have no right to vote. The full flow of information is oriented through this liaison.
Mode 5 — Integrated liaison
Joint Working Groups and Joint Technical Committees ensure integrated meetings for handling together the realization of standards under a principle of total equality of participation.
Joint Working Groups between technical committees of the two organizations shall operate in accordance with 1.12.7.
For all the modes listed above, any change to the mode of cooperation shall be by mutual agreement.
B.4.2.3 The allocation of work between IEC and ISO for potentially overlapping areas will be set out as required in schedules or programmes, which, when agreed by the relevant parties, will form addenda to this agreement.
A consequence of this agreement is that the parties agree to cross-refer to the relevant standards of the other in the respective competent fields of interest.
When the document being referred to is updated, it is the responsibility of the body making the reference to take care of the updating of the reference where appropriate.
B.4.2.4 For work for which one organization has assumed the responsibility and for which there will be subcontracting of work to the other, the fullest account shall be taken of the interests participating in the subcontracted work in defining the objectives of that work.
B.4.2.5 The necessary procedures for enquiry and approval shall be realized by the organization entrusted with a particular standardization task, except as otherwise agreed by the two technical management boards.
B.4.2.6 For standards developed under Mode 5 — Integrated liaison, the committee, enquiry and approval stages shall be carried out in parallel in both ISO and IEC in accordance with the rules of the organization with the administrative responsibility. The committee/organization with the administrative responsibility for the project shall submit drafts for the committee, enquiry and approval stages to the other organization two weeks prior to the circulation date.
B.4.2.7 When the enquiry draft has not fulfilled the approval criteria (see 2.6.3) in one of the organizations, then:
- the officers of the committees involved in the joint working group may select one of the options given in 2.6.4 c) or
- in exceptional circumstances, if agreed between the officers of the ISO and IEC committees involved in the joint working group and the offices of the CEO, the project may proceed as a single logo document of the organization in which the enquiry draft was approved. The joint working group is automatically disbanded.
B.4.2.8 If the final draft International Standard is not approved in accordance with the conditions in 2.7.3 then:
- the committees involved in the joint working group may select one of the options given in 2.7.7 or
- in exceptional circumstances, if agreed between the officers of the ISO and IEC committees involved in the joint working group and the offices of the CEO, the document may be published as a single logo document of the organization in which the final draft International Standard was approved. The joint working group is automatically disbanded.
B.4.2.9 Standards developed under Mode 5 — Integrated liaison via a joint working group between ISO and IEC are published by the organization of the committee having administrative responsibility. That organization assigns the reference number of the document and owns the copyright of the document. The document carries the logo of both organizations and may be sold by both organizations. The foreword of the International Standard will identify all the committees responsible for the development. For those standards where the committee with the administrative responsibility is in the IEC, then the foreword will also give the ISO voting results. ISO-lead documents are assigned numbers from 1 to 59999. IEC-lead documents are assigned numbers from 60000 to 79999. In the case of multi-part standards, some parts being under ISO responsibility and some being under IEC responsibility, a number in the 80000 series is assigned (e.g. ISO 80000-1, IEC 80000-6).
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IEC lead |
ISO lead |
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Publisher |
IEC |
ISO |
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Numbering range |
60000 to 79999 |
1 to 59999 |
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Numbering range series standards with either IEC or ISO lead |
80000 |
80000 |
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Copyright |
IEC |
ISO |
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Logo(s) |
IEC and ISO |
ISO and IEC |
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Sold by |
IEC and ISO |
ISO and IEC |
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Foreword |
Includes ISO voting results |
N/A |
B.4.2.10 The maintenance procedures to be used for standards developed under Mode 5 — Integrated liaison will be those currently applied in the organization, which has the committee with the administrative responsibility.
B.4.2.11 If there is a reason, during the development of the project, to change from one mode of operation to another, a recommendation shall be made by both technical committees concerned and submitted to the two technical management boards for information.
B.4.3 Cooperation of secretariats
The secretariats of the technical committees/subcommittees from the two organizations concerned shall cooperate on the implementation of this agreement. There shall be a complete information flow on on-going work and availability on demand to each other of working documents, in accordance with normal procedures.
Annex C
(normative)
Justification of proposals for the establishment of
standards
C.1.1 Because of the large financial resources and manpower involved and the necessity to allocate these according to the needs, it is important that any standardization activity begins by identifying the needs, determining the aims of the standard(s) to be prepared and the interests that may be affected. This will, moreover, help to ensure that the standards produced will cover appropriately the aspects required and be market relevant for the affected sectors. Any new activity shall therefore be reasonably justified before it is begun.
C.1.2 It is understood that, whatever conclusions may be drawn on the basis of the annex, a prerequisite of any new work to be commenced would be a clear indication of the readiness of a sufficient number of relevant interested parties to allocate necessary manpower, funds, and to take an active part in the work.
C.1.3 This annex sets out rules for proposing and justifying new work so that proposals will offer to others the clearest possible idea of the purposes and extent of the work to ensure that standardization resources are really allocated by the parties concerned and are used to the best effect.
C.1.4 This annex does not contain rules of procedure for implementing and monitoring the guidelines contained in it, nor does it deal with the administrative mechanism which should be established to this effect.
C.1.5 This annex is addressed primarily to the proposer of any kind of new work to be started but may serve as a tool for those who will analyse such a proposal or comment on it, as well as for the body responsible for taking a decision on the proposal.
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C.2.1 |
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C.2.2 |
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C.2.3 |
NOTE For example, the objects of ISO are laid down in its Statutes and of IEC in Article 2 of its Statutes.
C.3.4 Within the ISO and IEC systems, the onus is considered to be placed on the proposer to provide the proper documentation to support principles C.3.2 and C.3.3 stated above.
C.4 Elements to be clarified when proposing a new field of technical activity or a new work item
C.4.1 Proposals for new fields of technical activity and new work items shall include the following fields of information (C.4.2 to Annex C C.4.13).
The title shall indicate clearly yet concisely the new field of technical activity or the new work item that the proposal is intended to cover.
EXAMPLE 1 (proposal for a new technical activity) “Machine tools”.
EXAMPLE 2 (proposal for a new work item) “Electrotechnical products — Basic environmental testing procedures”.
C.4.3.1 For new fields of technical activity
The scope shall precisely define the limits of the field of activity. Scopes shall not repeat general aims and principles governing the work of the organization but shall indicate the specific area concerned.
EXAMPLE “Standardization of all machine tools for the working of metal, wood and plastics, operating by removal of material or by pressure”.
The scope shall give a clear indication of the coverage of the proposed new work item and if necessary for clarity, exclusions shall be stated.
EXAMPLE 1
This standard lists a series of environmental test procedures, and their severities, designed to assess the ability of electrotechnical products to perform under expected conditions of service.
Although primarily intended for such applications, this standard may be used in other fields where desired.
Other environmental tests, specific to the individual types of specimen, may be included in the relevant specifications.
EXAMPLE 2
Standardization in the field of fisheries and aquaculture, including, but not limited to, terminology, technical specifications for equipment and for their operation, characterization of aquaculture sites and maintenance of appropriate physical, chemical and biological conditions, environmental monitoring, data reporting, traceability and waste disposal.
Excluded:
— methods of analysis of food products (covered by ISO/TC 34);
— personal protective clothing (covered by ISO/TC 94);
— environmental monitoring (covered by ISO/TC 207).
C.4.4 Proposed initial programme of work (for proposals for new fields of technical activity only)
C.4.4.1 The proposed programme of work shall correspond to and clearly reflect the aims of the standardization activities and shall, therefore, show the relationship between the subjects proposed.
C.4.4.2 Each item on the programme of work shall be defined by both the subject and aspect(s) to be standardized (for products, for example, the items would be the types of products, characteristics, other requirements, data to be supplied, test methods, etc.).
C.4.4.3 Supplementary justification may be combined with particular items in the programme of work.
C.4.4.4 The proposed programme of work shall also suggest priorities and target dates for new work items (when a series of standards is proposed, priorities shall be suggested).
C.4.5 Indication(s) of the preferred type or types of document(s) to be produced
In the case of proposals for new fields of technical activity, this may be provided under C.4.4.
C.4.6 A listing of relevant existing documents at the international, regional and national levels
Any known relevant documents (such as standards and regulations) shall be listed, regardless of their source and should be accompanied by an indication of their significance.
C.4.7 Relation to and impact on existing work
C.4.7.1 A statement shall be provided regarding any relation or impact the proposed work may have on existing work, especially existing ISO and IEC documents. The proposer should explain how the work differs from apparently similar work or explain how duplication and conflict will be minimized.
C.4.7.2 If seemingly similar or related work is already in the scope of other committees of the organization or in other organizations, the proposed scope shall distinguish between the proposed work and the other work.
C.4.7.3 The proposer shall indicate whether his or her proposal could be dealt with by widening the scope of an existing committee or by establishing a new committee.
C.4.8 Relevant country participation
C.4.8.1 For proposals for new fields of technical activity, a listing of relevant countries should be provided where the subject of the proposal is important to their national commercial interests.
C.4.8.2 For proposals for new work items within existing committees, a listing of relevant countries should be provided which are not already P‑members of the committee, but for whom the subject of the proposal is important to their national commercial interests.
C.4.9.1 A list of relevant external international organizations or internal parties (other than ISO and/or IEC committees) to be engaged as liaisons in the development of the document(s) shall be provided.
C.4.9.2 To avoid conflict with, or duplication of efforts of, other bodies, it is important to indicate all points of possible conflict or overlap.
C.4.9.3 The result of any communication with other interested bodies shall also be included.
A simple and concise statement shall be provided identifying and describing relevant affected stakeholder categories (including small and medium-sized enterprises) and how they will each benefit from or be impacted by the proposed document(s).
C.4.11 Base document (for proposals for new work items only)
C.4.11.1 When the proposer considers that an existing well-established document may be acceptable as an International Standard (with or without amendments) this shall be indicated with appropriate justification and a copy attached to the proposal.
C.4.11.2 All proposals for new work items shall include an attached existing document to serve as an initial basis for the ISO or IEC document or a proposed outline or table of contents.
C.4.11.3 If an existing document is attached that is copyrighted or includes copyrighted content, the proposer shall ensure that appropriate permissions have been granted in writing for ISO or IEC to use that copyrighted content.
C.4.12.1 In the case of a proposal for a new field of technical activity, the proposer shall indicate whether his/her organization is prepared to undertake the secretariat work required.
C.4.12.2 In the case of a proposal for a new work item, the proposer shall also nominate a Project Leader.
C.4.13 Purpose and justification
C.4.13.1 The purpose and justification of the document to be prepared shall be made clear, and the need for standardization of each aspect (such as characteristics) to be included in the document shall be justified.
C.4.13.2 If a series of new work items is proposed, the purpose and the justification of which is common, a common proposal may be drafted, including all elements to be clarified and enumerating the titles and scopes of each individual item.
C.4.13.3 Please note that the items listed in the bullet points below represent a menu of suggestions or ideas for possible documentation to support the purpose and justification of proposals. Proposers should consider these suggestions, but they are not limited to them, nor are they required to comply strictly with them. What is most important is that proposers develop and provide purpose and justification information that is most relevant to their proposals and that makes a substantial business case for the market relevance and need of their proposals. Thorough, well-developed and robust purpose and justification documentation will lead to more informed consideration of proposals and, ultimately, their possible success in the ISO and IEC systems.
- A simple and concise statement describing the business, technological, societal or environmental issue that the proposal seeks to address, preferably linked to the Strategic Business Plan of the concerned ISO or IEC committee.
- Documentation on relevant global metrics that demonstrate the extent or magnitude of the economic, technological, societal or environmental issue, or the new market. This may include an estimate of the potential sales of the resulting standard(s) as an indicator of potential usage and global relevance.
- Technological benefit — a simple and concise statement describing the technological impact of the proposal to support coherence in systems and emerging technologies, the convergence of merging technologies, interoperability, resolution of competing technologies, future innovation, etc.
- Economic benefit — a simple and concise statement describing the potential of the proposal to remove barriers to trade, improve international market access, support public procurement, improve business efficiency for a broad range of enterprises, including small and medium-sized ones, and/or result in a flexible, cost-effective means of complying with international and regional rules/conventions, etc. A simple cost/benefit analysis relating the cost of producing the document(s) to the expected economic benefit to businesses worldwide may also be helpful.
- Societal benefit(s) — a simple and concise statement describing any societal benefits expected from the proposed document(s).
One example of a societal benefit is how the new technical area or standards may support greater use by persons with accessibility limitations. Proposers of new technical areas or standards are recommended to consider and document in their purpose and justification statements how the proposed standards may be developed to improve accessibility. Further guidance for proposers as they consider this aspect can be found in ISO/IEC Guide 71 (Guide for addressing accessibility in standards).
- Environmental benefit(s) — a simple and concise statement describing any environmental or wider sustainability benefits expected from the proposed document(s).
One example of such a benefit is the potential contribution that the new technical area or standards may make to sustainability. Proposers of new technical areas or standards are recommended to consider and document in their purpose and justification statements the relationship of their proposals to the concept of sustainability. In ISO, further guidance can be found in ISO Guide 82 (Guidelines for addressing sustainability in standards). In IEC, further guidance can be found at https://www.iec.ch/sdgs
Note:
For ISO, the ISO/TMB confirmed the following recommendations: 1) When a committee (in any sector) develops a standard dealing with sustainability/sustainable development, the standard must remain within the context of the committee's scope of work; 2) The committee should also notify the TMB with the title and scope as early as possible; 3) The committee undertaking such work should clarify its intentions in the Introduction of the specific standard(s); 4) The most widely used definition of sustainable development is the one from the UN Brundtland committee on sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
One key environmental benefit to consider is how the new technical area or standards address the issue of climate change- In ISO, further guidance can be found in ISO Guide 84 (Guideline for addressing climate change in standards). In IEC, further information can be found at https://www.iec.ch/basecamp/iec-and-climate-change.
- A simple and concise statement clearly describing the intended use(s) of the proposed document(s), for example, whether the document is intended as requirements to support conformity assessment or only as guidance or recommended best practices; whether the document is a management system standard; whether the document is intended for use or reference in technical regulation; whether the document is intended to be used to support legal cases in relation to international treaties and agreements.
- A simple and concise statement of metrics for the committee to track in order to assess the impact of the published document over time to achieve the benefits to stakeholders is documented under C.4.10 above.
- A statement assessing the prospect of the resulting document(s) being compliant with, for the IEC, the IEC Global Relevance Toolbox web page: www.iec.ch/grt
For ISO, ISO's Global Relevance Policy https://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards_development/governance_of_technical_work.htm and the ISO/TMB recommendations (see NOTE below) regarding sustainable development and sustainability, where relevant.
NOTE For ISO, the ISO/TMB confirmed the following recommendations: 1) When a committee (in any sector) develops a document dealing with sustainability/sustainable development, the document must remain within the context of the committee's scope of work; 2) The committee should also notify the TMB with the title and scope as early as possible; 3) The committee undertaking such work should clarify its intentions in the Introduction of the specific standard(s); 4) The most widely used definition of sustainable development is the one from the UN Brundtland committee on sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
- A statement assessing the proposal’s compliance with the Principles for developing ISO and IEC Standards related to or supporting public policy initiatives (for ISO, see Annex SO in the Consolidated ISO Supplement and for IEC and ISO, see Using and referencing ISO and IEC standards to support public policy https://www.iso.org/sites/policy/) and the possible relation of the resulting document(s) to public policy, including a statement regarding the potential for easier market access due to conformity with appropriate legislation.
Annex D
(normative)
Resources of secretariats and qualifications of
Secretaries/Committee Managers
D.2 Resources of a secretariat
A National Body to which a secretariat has been assigned shall recognize that, no matter what arrangements it makes in its country to provide the required services, it is the National Body itself that is ultimately responsible for the proper functioning of the secretariat. National Bodies undertaking secretariat functions shall become party to the ISO Service Agreement or IEC Basic Agreement, as appropriate.
The secretariat shall therefore have adequate administrative and financial means or backing to ensure:
a) facilities for word-processing in English and/or French, for providing texts electronically, and for any necessary reproduction of documents;
b) preparation of adequate technical illustrations;
c) identification and use, with translation where necessary, of documents received in the official languages;
d) updating and continuous supervision of the structure of the committee and its subsidiary bodies, if any;
e) reception and prompt dispatch of correspondence and documents;
f) adequate communication facilities by telephone, telefax and electronic mail;
g) access to the Internet;
h) arrangements and facilities for translation, interpretation and services during meetings, in collaboration with the host National Body, as required;
i) attendance of the Secretary/Committee Manager at any meetings requiring his/her presence, including technical committee and/or subcommittee meetings, editing group meetings, working group meetings, and consultations with the Chair when necessary;
j) access by the Secretary/Committee Manager to basic International Standards (see the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 on “Reference Documents and sources for drafting”) and to International Standards, national standards and/or related documents in the field under consideration;
k) access by the Secretary/Committee Manager, when necessary, to Experts capable of advising on technical issues in the field of the committee.
Whilst the Chief Executive Officer endeavours to send his/her representative to the first meeting of a technical committee, to meetings of technical committees with new secretariats, and to any committee meeting where such presence is desirable for solving problems, the Office of the CEO cannot undertake to carry out the work for a secretariat, on a permanent or temporary basis.
D.3 Requirements of a Secretary/Committee Manager
The individual appointed as Secretary/Committee Manager shall
a) have sufficient knowledge of English and/or French;
b) be familiar with the Statutes and rules of procedure, as appropriate, and with the ISO/IEC Directives (see the respective Supplements to the ISO/IEC Directives);
c) be in a position to advise the committee and any subsidiary bodies on any point of procedure or drafting, after consultation with the Office of the CEO if necessary;
d) be aware of any council board or technical management board decision regarding the activities of the technical committees in general and of the committee for which she/he is responsible in particular;
e) be a good organizer and have training in and the ability for technical and administrative work, to organize and conduct the work of the committee and to promote active participation on the part of committee members and subsidiary bodies, if any;
It is recommended that newly appointed Secretaries/Committee Managers of technical committees should make an early visit to the Office of the CEO in Geneva to discuss procedures and working methods with the staff concerned.
D.4 Requirements of an Assistant Secretary/Assistant Committee Manager
The individual(s) appointed as Assistant Secretary/Assistant Committee Manager shall
a) have a defined role in supporting the Secretary/Committee Manager, and this role shall be defined by the secretariat;
b) possess the knowledge and skills necessary for this defined role, ideally equal to those identified in D.3, but may be a subset of these requirements depending upon the role assigned;
c) have the equivalent authority as the Secretary/Committee Manager in the performance of the duties associated with the defined role;
d) be appointed, taking into consideration increasing the gender and geographic diversity of the management team.
Annex E
(normative)
General policy on the use of languages
E.1 Expressing and communicating ideas in an international environment
At the international level, it is common practice to publish documents in at least two languages. There are a number of reasons why it is advantageous to use two languages, for example:
- greater clarity and accuracy of meaning can be achieved by expressing a given concept in two languages which have different grammar and syntax;
- if consensus is reached on the basis of a text drafted in only one language, difficulties may arise when it comes to putting that text into another language. Some questions may have to be rediscussed, and this can cause a delay if the text originally agreed upon has to be altered. Subsequent drafting into a second language of a text already approved in the first language often brings to light difficulties of expression that could have been avoided if both versions had been prepared at the same time and then amended together;
- to ensure that international meetings will be as productive as possible, it is important for the agreements reached to be utterly devoid of ambiguity, and there has to be no risk that these agreements can be called back into question because of misunderstandings of a linguistic nature;
- the use of two languages chosen from two linguistic groups widens the number of prospective delegates who might be appointed to attend the meetings;
- it becomes easier to express a concept properly in other languages if there are already two perfectly harmonized versions.
E.2 The use of languages in the technical work
The official languages are English, French and Russian.
The work of the technical committees and the correspondence are in English by default.
For the purposes of the above, the National Body of the Russian Federation provides all interpretation and translation into and from the Russian language.
In IEC, a definitive language of development for each document shall be designated in the Foreword. Specific exceptions apply to the IEV and/or database standards.
In JTC 1, texts are only required to be prepared in English, except in exceptional instances.
International Standards are published by the ISO and IEC in English and in French (and sometimes in multilingual editions also including Russian and other languages, especially in cases of terminology). These versions of a given International Standard are equivalent, and each is regarded as being an original-language version.
It is advantageous for the technical content of a document to be expressed in both English and French from the outset of the drafting procedure, so that these two versions will be studied, amended and adopted at the same time, and their linguistic equivalence will be ensured at all times. (See also the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, clause on “Language versions”).
This may be done
- by the secretariat or, under the latter's responsibility, with outside assistance, or
- by the editing group of the responsible committee, or
- by National Bodies whose national language is English or French and under an agreement concluded between those National Bodies and the secretariat concerned.
When it is decided to publish a multilingual International Standard (a vocabulary, for example), the National Body for the Russian Federation takes charge of the Russian portion of the text; similarly, when it is decided to publish an International Standard containing terms or material in languages other than the official languages, the National Bodies whose national languages are involved are responsible for selecting the terms or for drafting the portions of text which are to be in those languages.
E.4 Other publications developed by technical committees
Other publications may be issued in one official language only.
E.5 Documents for technical committee and subcommittee meetings
E.5.1 Drafts and documents referred to the agenda
The documents prepared and circulated prior to a meeting are the following.
a) Draft agendas
Draft agendas are prepared and distributed in the language(s) of the meeting (English by default) by the responsible secretariats.
b) Committee drafts referred to in the agenda
It is desirable that versions of the committee drafts referred to in the agenda will be available for the meeting in the language(s) of the meeting (English by default).
Enquiry drafts shall be available in English and French. The ISO Council or IEC Standardization Management Board guidelines shall be applied where one of the language versions is not available in due time.
Other documents (sundry proposals, comments, etc.) relating to agenda items may be prepared in only one language (English or French).
E.5.2 Documents prepared and circulated during a meeting
The documents prepared and circulated during a meeting are the following.
a) Resolutions adopted during the meeting
An ad hoc drafting committee may be formed at the beginning of each meeting to support the Secretary/Committee Manager in the drafting and/or reviewing of resolutions and, whenever possible, should include one or more delegates fluent in English and/or French.
b) Brief minutes, if any, prepared after each session
If such minutes are prepared, they shall be drafted in English or French and preferably in both with, if necessary, the assistance of the ad hoc drafting committee.
E.5.3 Documents prepared and circulated after a meeting
After each committee meeting, the secretariat concerned shall draft a report of the meeting, which may be in only one language (English or French) and which includes, as annex, the full text of the resolutions adopted, preferably in both English and French.
E.6 Documents prepared in languages other than English or French
National Bodies whose national language is neither English nor French may translate any documents circulated by secretariats into their own national language to facilitate the study of those documents by the Experts of their country or to assist the delegates they have appointed to attend the meetings of the technical committees and subcommittees.
If one language is common to two or more National Bodies, one of them may at any time take the initiative of translating technical documents into that language and providing copies to other National Bodies in the same linguistic group.
The terms of the above two paragraphs may be applied by the secretariats for their own needs.
The purpose of technical meetings is to achieve as full agreement as possible on the various agenda items, and every effort shall be made to ensure that all delegates understand one another.
E.7.2 Interpretation of debates into English and French
Although the basic documents may be available in both English and French, it has to be determined according to the case whether the interpretation of statements expressed in one language should be given in the other language
- by a volunteer delegate,
- by a staff member from the secretariat or host National Body, or
- by an adequately qualified interpreter.
Care should also be taken that delegates who are not fluent in English or French can follow the meeting to a sufficient extent.
It is impractical to specify rules concerning the necessity of interpreting the debates at technical meetings. It is essential, of course that all delegates should be able to follow the discussions, but it may not be altogether essential to have a word-for-word interpretation of each statement made.
In view of the foregoing, and except in special cases where interpretation may not be necessary, the following practice is considered appropriate:
a) for meetings where procedural decisions are expected to be taken, brief interpretation may be provided by a member of the secretariat or a volunteer delegate;
b) at working group meetings, the members should, whenever possible, arrange between themselves for any necessary interpretation of the initiative and under the authority of the Convenor of the working group.
To enable the secretariat responsible for a meeting to make any necessary arrangements for interpretation, the secretariat should be informed, at the same time as it is notified of attendance at the meeting, of the languages in which the delegates are able to express themselves and of any aid which delegates might be able to provide in the matter of interpretation.
In those cases where a meeting is conducted mainly in one language, the following practice should be adopted as far as is practicable to assist delegates having the other language:
a) the decision taken on one subject should be announced in both languages before passing to the next subject;
b) whenever a change to an existing text is approved in one language, time should be allowed for delegates to consider the effect of this change on the other language version;
c) a summary of what has been said should be provided in the other language if a delegate so requests.
E.7.3 Interpretation into English and French of statements made in other languages
When at a meeting of a technical committee or a subcommittee, a participant wishes, in view of exceptional circumstances, to speak in any language other than English or French, the Chair of the session shall be entitled to authorize this, for the session in question, provided that a means of interpretation has been secured.
To give all Experts an equal opportunity to express their views at meetings of technical committees and subcommittees, a very flexible application of this provision is recommended.
Annex F
(normative)
Options for development of a project
F.1 Simplified diagram of options
The following diagram is informative and summarizes the options available for the development of projects. For detailed requirements, please refer to the referenced clauses.
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F.2.1 Proposals to apply the fast-track procedure may be made as follows.
F.2.1.1 The Committee Secretariat, any P‑member or category A liaison organization of a concerned committee may propose that an existing document from any source be submitted for the vote as an enquiry draft. The proposer shall obtain the agreement of the originating organization before making a proposal. The criteria for proposing an existing document for the fast-track procedure are a matter for each proposer to decide.
F.2.1.2 An international standardizing body recognized by the council board may propose that a document developed by that body be submitted for a vote as a final draft International Standard.
F.2.1.3 An organization having entered into a formal technical agreement with ISO or IEC may propose, in agreement with the appropriate committee, that a draft document developed by that organization be submitted for vote as an enquiry draft within that committee.
a) settle the copyright and/or trademark situation with the organization having originated the proposed document, so that it can be freely copied and distributed to National Bodies without restriction, and advise the organization that the ISO/IEC intellectual property policies shall apply to the proposed document, see in particular 2.13 and 2.14;
b) for cases F.2.1.1 and F.2.1.3, assess in consultation with the relevant secretariats which technical committee/subcommittee is competent for the subject covered by the proposed document. In cases where a relevant committee is identified, the proposal, with rationale for using the Fast Track route, shall be circulated for awareness to the committee prior to the enquiry vote. Where no technical committee exists competent to deal with the subject of the document in question, the Chief Executive Officer shall refer the proposal to the technical management board, which may request the Chief Executive Officer to submit the document to the enquiry stage and to establish an ad hoc group to deal with matters subsequently arising;
c) ascertain that there is no evident contradiction with other International Standards;
d) distribute the proposed document as an enquiry draft (F.2.1.1 and F.2.1.3) in accordance with 2.6.1, or as a final draft International Standard (case F.2.1.2) in accordance with 2.7.1, indicating (in cases F.2.1.1 and F.2.1.3) the technical committee/subcommittee to the domain of which the proposed document belongs.
F.2.3 The period for voting and the conditions for approval shall be as specified in 2.6 for an enquiry draft and 2.7 for a final draft International Standard. In the case where no technical committee is involved, the condition for approval of a final draft International Standard is that not more than one-quarter of the total number of votes cast are negative.
In ISO, the voting period on a proposal submitted as a final draft International Standard shall be 20 weeks.
F.2.4 If, for an enquiry draft, the conditions of approval are met, the draft document shall progress in accordance with 2.6.4. If not, the proposal has failed and any further action shall be decided upon by the technical committee/subcommittee to which the document was attributed in accordance with F.2.2 b).
The committee leadership can decide whether or not to skip the FDIS vote, and go straight to publication — see 2.6.4.
If, for a final draft International Standard, the conditions of approval are met, the document shall progress to the publication stage (2.8). If not, the proposal has failed and any further action shall be decided upon by the technical committee/subcommittee to which the FDIS was attributed in accordance with F.2.2 b), or by discussion between the originating organization and the Office of the CEO if no technical committee was involved.
If the document is published, its maintenance shall be handled by the technical committee/subcommittee to which the document was attributed in accordance with F.2.2 b), or, if no technical committee was involved, the approval procedure set out above shall be repeated if the originating organization decides that changes to the document are required.
Annex G
(normative)
Maintenance agencies
G.1 A committee developing an International Standard that will require a maintenance agency shall inform the Chief Executive Officer at an early stage in order that an ISO/TMB or IEC/SMB decision may be taken in advance of the publication of the International Standard.
G.2 The ISO/TMB or IEC Board designates maintenance agencies in connection with International Standards, including the appointment of their members, on the proposal of the technical committee concerned.
G.3 The secretariat of a maintenance agency should be attributed wherever possible to the secretariat of the committee that has prepared the International Standard.
G.4 The Chief Executive Officer shall be responsible for contacts with external organizations associated with the work of a maintenance agency.
G.5 The rules of procedure of maintenance agencies shall be subject to ISO/TMB or IEC Board approval, and any requested delegation of authority in connection with the updating of the International Standard or the issuing of amendments shall be specifically authorized by the ISO/TMB or IEC Board.
G.6 Any charges for services provided by a maintenance agency shall be authorized by the council board.
Annex H
(normative)
Registration Authority (“RA”) Policy
H.1.1 A number of International Standards developed by ISO and IEC technical committees require the assignment of unique Registration Elements and describe the methodology for the assignment of these Elements. The Registration Elements themselves are not part of the document but are assigned by an appointed RA, who also maintains an accurate register of the Registration Elements that have been assigned. The RA is a competent body with the requisite infrastructure that ensures the effective allocation of these Registration Elements and any other RA responsibilities that are described in the RA Standard. These bodies are designated by ISO or IEC to serve as the sole RA for particular standards, which creates a de facto monopoly situation.
H.1.2 A technical committee or subcommittee developing an International Standard that will require a registration authority shall inform the Chief Executive Officer at an early stage, to permit any necessary negotiations and to allow the technical management board to take a decision in advance of the publication of the International Standard.
H.1.3 The technical management board designates registration authorities in connection with International Standards on the proposal of the technical committee concerned.
H.1.4 Registration authorities should be qualified and internationally acceptable bodies; if there is no such organization available, such tasks may be conferred upon the Office of the CEO by the decision of the technical management board.
H.1.5 Registration authorities should be required to indicate clearly in their operations that they have been designated by ISO or IEC (for example, by including appropriate wording on the letterhead of the designated body).
H.1.6 Registration functions undertaken by the registration authority under the provisions of the relevant International Standard shall require no financial contribution from ISO or IEC or their members. This would not preclude, however, the charging for services provided by the registration authority if duly authorized by the council board.
Where the Office of the CEO becomes aware of an RA Standard under development or under revision that has not followed this Policy, it shall stop the publication process to allow time to implement this Policy before the RA Standard is published. For this reason, committees are encouraged to make the ISO Technical Program Manager (TPM) or the IEC Technical Officer aware of a project requiring an RA as early in the development process as possible to avoid delays in publication.
H.3.1 RA Standard: A standard for which an RA is providing the Registration Services.
H.3.2 Registration Services or RA Services: Services provided by the RA in the implementation of the RA Standard and which shall be described in the RA Standard.
H.3.3 Registration Authority (“RA”): Entity appointed by ISO or IEC to fulfil the Registration Services in an RA Standard.
H.3.4 Registration Agencies: Third parties (e.g. national or regional sub-entities) to which the RA may delegate some aspects of the Registration Services. Even when delegated to Registration Agencies, the Registration Services remain under the overall responsibility of the RA.
H.3.5 Registration Authority Agreement (“RAA”): Agreement based on the RAA template signed by the RA and the ISO Secretary-General on behalf of ISO or the IEC Secretary-General on behalf of IEC, which details the functions, roles and legal obligations of the parties involved.
H.3.6 Registration Elements: Unique identifiers or identifier code components, the methodology for which is described in the RA Standard but which themselves are not part of the RA Standard.
H.3.7 Technical Programme Managers (TPM): Individuals within ISO/CS assigned to work with a given committee.
H.3.8 Technical Officer (TO): Individual within IEC/SEC assigned to work with a given committee.
This Policy addresses the various aspects of an RA in the order of the life cycle of a typical RA, noting that some stages may be done in parallel. Each stage is addressed as follows:
- Declaring the need for an RA (H.4.2)
- Drafting an RA Standard (H.4.3)
- Selecting an RA (H.4.4)
- Appointing an RA (H.4.5)
- Signing an RAA (H.4.6)
- Implementing an RA Standard (H.4.7)
- Role of the RA (H.4.7.1)
- Role of the Committee (H.4.7.2)
- Role of the Office of the CEO (H.4.7.3)
- Terminating an RA (H.4.8)
H.4.2 Declaring the need for an RA
A committee shall determine that an RA is required for a document as soon as the draft is sufficiently mature to make this decision, whether this is during the creation of a new document or the revision of an existing document involving material changes to its implementation. The committee confirms its decision that a document needs an RA for its implementation by way of a resolution.
The committee secretariat completes the RA Confirmation (“RAC”) Form (See Annex SJ of ISO Supplement) and submits it to the TPM or TO as soon as the resolution is approved.
The following shall be included in all RA Standards:
- A description of the identification scheme or the mechanism for generating unique Registration Elements.
- A description of the Registration Services, and the responsibilities of the RA.
- The link to the page on iso.org or iec.ch where ISO and IEC publish the name and contact information of the RA for a given RA Standard. The page on iso.org or iec.ch shall provide a link to the RA's website, which will contain more information on the Registration Services available.
The following shall not be included in RA Standards:
- In accordance with clause 4 of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, contractual or other legal aspects.
- Procedures concerning the provision of the Registration Services (e.g. a Handbook made available by the RA).
- The name of the RA. Instead, a link to the ISO or IEC website shall be provided (see above).
- References to the selection or reappointment process for the RA.
- Details about any Registration Agencies. In case of delegation of Registration Services by the RA to third parties (e.g. Registration Agencies) as agreed under the RAA, the RA Standard may mention the fact that some aspects of the Registration Services have been delegated.
The TPM or TO is responsible for coordinating with the committee to ensure that the appropriate text is included in the RA Standard. Any questions about what should be included in the RA Standard are to be addressed to the TPM or TO.
The selection process of the RA applies to new RA Standards and existing RA Standards.
In the case of revisions, the committee shall review and decide whether the existing RA should continue or if a selection process should be launched to select additional RA candidates. In their review, the committee shall consider the changes being made to the RA Standard, particularly with regard to the responsibilities of the RA, and the goal of optimizing the implementation of the RA Standards. The decision to launch a selection process should be supported by a rationale. The committee shall confirm its decision by resolution.
The committee shall establish a process so that an RA can be appointed or re-appointed before the publication of the RA Standard. It is important that each draft of the RA Standard contains details about the nature of the Registration Services needed and that these are shared with any current or prospective RA candidates.
The committee establishes the criteria for the application process and selection of the RA and confirms these by resolution. The minimum criteria for the selection process shall be:
- Selection criteria – these must be clearly explained and with sufficient details for possible RA candidates to assess their ability to meet the criteria and apply on this basis. Included in the selection criteria shall be the requirement that the prospective RA candidates provide the following information in writing:
- Proof (e.g. Statutes) that it is a legal entity which means that is an organization formed under the laws of a jurisdiction and that it is, therefore, subject to governance-related rules.
- Expression of willingness to take responsibility for the Registration Services.
- Confirmation that the RA is technically and financially able to carry out the RA Services described in the RA Standard and the RAA on an international level, including, for example, a financial plan for funding the expected volume of registrations, a list of employees or third parties and their applicable background and skills, and description of the physical facilities available to the RA to accomplish the work, demonstrated financial capacity to meet liability exposure for performing the services.
- Documentation and examples, where relevant, of the candidate RA’s experience in the respective community of practice.
- Confirmation of whether it intends to delegate part of the Registration Services to Registration Agencies.
- Confirmation of whether it will charge fees for the RA Services and, if it charges fees, confirmation that any such fees will be on a cost recovery basis.
- Expression of willingness to sign and execute an RAA, the ISO-IEC RAA template for which shall be shared with RA candidates.
- Public call for RA candidates – committees shall take the appropriate steps needed to post the call for competent RA applicants to as broad a market as possible, also targeting possible organizations by inviting them to apply. The relative weighting of each evaluation criterion shall be published in the public call. Details of the Registration Services shall be made available to any current RA and any prospective RA candidates.
- Evaluation – Prospective RA candidates shall provide their responses in writing. The committee (or a subset thereof) shall determine the relative weight to be given to each selection criterion and shall evaluate the prospective RA candidates accordingly.
- Record-keeping – the committee secretariat shall keep records of all documents in the selection process, including the call for candidates, applications, evaluation, decision, etc.
- Professionalism – the selection process should be conducted in a professional manner, adhering to the principle of discretion amongst those involved.
The committee shall then confirm to the TMB its recommendation for the appointment of the organization selected to be the RA via a resolution.
The information that is provided by the committee in the RAC (see H.4.2 above) is needed to launch the TMB ballot appointing the RA, as well as the council board ballot if the RA intends to charge fees. RA may charge fees for the Registration Services if authorized by the council board, and as long as the basis of charging fees is strictly on a cost recovery basis. In the case of revisions, approval from the TMB or council board is not needed if the committee decides that the same RA should continue (see H.4.4) and the required authorization to charge fees has already been given.
In the case of JTC 1 RA Standards, a copy of the RAC Form shall also be provided to the IEC since RA appointments must all be confirmed by the IEC/SMB (and Council Board), where fees are charged.
A signed RAA must have been executed using the latest RAA template before an RA Standard is published (including revisions). In the case of revisions, the process to sign the RAA should begin at the time of the launch of the review process or the committee’s decision to launch a revision to ensure the timely signature of the RAA and to avoid delays in publication.
Only after the TMB (and Council if fees are charged) has appointed the RA (and in the case of JTC 1 RA Standards, involving the IEC) can the RAA be signed. Signing an RAA based on the ISO/IEC template is mandatory for all RAs. The RAA shall be signed before the publication of a new or revised RA Standard. If an RAA is not signed, the new or revised RA Standard shall not be published.
In cases where there is a high market need, the TMB can exceptionally approve the publication of a revised ISO RA standard to be published while an RAA is being negotiated. The committee responsible for the RA standard needs to submit a formal request to the TMB with a market need justification through the TPM or TO of the committee. The concurrence of the IEC will need to be sought in the case of JTC 1 standards. To ensure consistency and equality of treatment between the different RAs, any requested deviations from the RAA template which ISO/IEC considers to be significant in nature shall be submitted to the TMB for approval.
H.4.7 Implementing an RA Standard
The RA provides the Registration Services by:
- providing the Registration Services described in the RA Standard, and
- respecting the provisions of the RAA.
Although RAAs are signed by the RA and by the Office of the CEO, the signature of an RAA by the Office of the CEO binds all components in the ISO or IEC systems, including ISO or IEC members and ISO or IEC committees. The central role is played by committees. In addition to declaring the need for an RA Standard (4.2), drafting the RA Standard (4.3) and selecting an RA (4.4) for both new and revised RA Standards, the committee has the main responsibility for oversight of the RA as follows:
- Answering questions: The committee must be available to the RA to answer questions about the RA Standard and clarify any expectations regarding its role in implementing the RA Standard.
- Assessing RA’s annual reports: The RAA requires the RA to provide the committee with annual reports by the date specified by the committee. The committee shall ensure that these annual reports are provided on time and read them.
The RA’s annual report is to be divided into two parts:
The first part addresses the operational aspects of the RA as directly related to the RA Services. The committee, ISO or IEC may request information about the activities of the RA that are not related to the RA Services if there is reason to believe that these are interfering with the RA Services. At a minimum, this first part of the RA report shall confirm:
- That the RA is fulfilling the RA Services described in the RA Standard.
- Compliance with the signed RAA by the Registration Agencies designated by the RA.
- That the RA is meeting user needs and providing users with guidance as needed.
The second part of the RA report provides information about any complaints received from users of the RA Standard regarding, for example: fees, access to and use of data and/or information produced during the implementation of the RA Standard, as well as the accuracy of the data and/or information. This part shall indicate whether the complaints remain outstanding at the time of the RA report and the efforts underway to resolve them.
- Monitoring: In addition to the annual RA report, the committee shall also analyse any feedback it receives from industry and users of the RA Standard. Based on all of these elements (RA report and other feedback), the committee shall report to the Office of the CEO (see below).
- Reporting to the Office of the CEO: At least once per year and based on the information collected under Monitoring above, the committee shall provide a report to the responsible TPM or TO using the Annual Committee Report to TPM (“ACR”) Form (See Annex SJ). The purpose of such reports is to confirm that the RA operates in accordance with the RAA or to raise any concerns (concerns can include: RA not meeting industry or user needs, complaints about the quality of the Registration Services, etc.). Such reports shall be provided at least annually to the responsible TPM or more frequently if the committee deems it necessary. The TPM may also ask for ad hoc reports. If the report identifies concerns, it shall include the planned Corrective measures (see below) needed to address these concerns.
- Dispute resolution: The obligations of RAs to address complaints are contained in the RAA template. The role of the committee (and the Office of the CEO) is limited to advising the RA of any complaints it receives about the RA Services and supporting the RA in its addressing of the dispute. The committee shall not assume responsibility for the dispute or become the appellate body for disputes between the RA and users of the RA Standard, as this may inadvertently give the impression that ISO or IEC is responsible for the Registration Services.
- Corrective measures:
- By the RA: the RA is responsible for implementing any corrective measures that are within its area of responsibility, which would include the Registration Services and the provisions described in the RAA.
- By the committee: the committee is responsible for recommending possible corrective measures such as: revising the RA Standard, providing advice and guidance to the RA, carrying out audits or recommending the termination of the RAA to the Office of the CEO in severe cases.
- By the Office of the CEO: the corrective measures that fall within the responsibility of the Office of the CEO (e.g. updating or overseeing the RAA) will be coordinated by the TPM or TO. The TPM or the TO may also recommend corrective measures.
- Maintenance of records: The committee shall maintain and archive all key communications and documentation (e.g. correspondence between the RA and the committee regarding complaints) until at least five years after either termination of the RAA or withdrawal of the RA Standard. The committee secretariat is responsible for ensuring that these are maintained in a separate folder on e‑committees.
The committee may create an advisory subgroup, with the appropriate terms of reference, [often referred to as a Registration Management Group (“RMG”)] to help them with the above. Committees (either directly or through the RMG) shall not participate or get involved in providing the Registration Services except in the supervisory roles specified in this subclause.
H.4.7.3 Role of the Office of the CEO
The committee’s interface with the Office of the CEO is through the responsible TPM or TO. The role of the TPM or the TO includes:
- Identification of RA Standards during the development process if not done by the committee.
- Providing guidance and advice for the drafting of RA Standards.
- Training committees on this RA Policy.
- Coordination with committees to ensure compliance with the RA Policies, quality of RA Services, appropriate handling of complaints, addressing industry and users’ needs, including addressing the concerns raised in the annual reports provided by committees (using the ACR Form) and recommending and assisting in the implementation of any corrective measures (see H.4.7.2).
- Maintenance of records in relation to his or her involvement.
Termination of RAs could occur when 1) an RAA has expired, and the RA or ISO or IEC has given the required notice of its intent not to renew it, or 2) the RAA is terminated for cause, or 3) the RAA was terminated by mutual consent, or 4) the RA Standard is withdrawn, or 5) the RAA goes into bankruptcy, liquidation or dissolution.
When an RA has been given notice of non-renewal or termination, the committee should exercise particular oversight to ensure that RA Services are maintained during the notice period and change-over phase.
Unless the RA Standard is withdrawn, the process detailed in H.4.4 above should be followed in the selection of a replacement RA unless the committee has identified an alternative RA candidate that meets the selection criteria in 4.4 and going through the selection process for additional RA candidates would cause unacceptable disruption in the RA Services.
Annex I
(normative)
Guideline for Implementation of the Common Patent
Policy for
ITU‑T/ITU‑R/ISO/IEC
The latest edition of the Guidelines for Implementation of the Common Patent Policy for ITU‑T/ITU‑R/ISO/IEC is available on the ISO website through the following link (including the forms in Word or Excel formats):
https://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards_development/governance_of_technical_work/patents.htm
They are also available on the IEC website through the following link:
https://www.iec.ch/members_experts/tools/patents/patent_policy.htm
Annex J
(normative)
Formulating scopes of committees
The scope of a committee is a statement precisely defining the limits of the work of that committee. As such it has a number of functions:
- it assists those with queries and proposals relating to a field of work to locate the appropriate committee;
- it prevents overlapping the work programmes of two or more ISO and/or IEC committees;
- it can also help guard against moving outside the field of activities authorized by the TMB or the parent committee.
Basic rules for the formulation of scopes of committees are given in 1.5.10, 1.6.4 and K.3
The order of the elements of a scope shall be:
- basic scope;
- in the ISO, horizontal functions, where applicable;
- in the IEC, horizontal and/or group safety functions where applicable;
- exclusions (if any);
- notes (if any).
Scopes of committees shall not refer to the general aims of international standardization or repeat the principles that govern the work of all technical committees.
In exceptional cases, explanatory material may be included if considered important to the understanding of the scope of the committee. Such material shall be in the form of “Notes”.
Should it be necessary to specify that certain topics are outside the scope of the committee, these shall be listed and be introduced by the words “Excluded …”
Exclusions shall be clearly specified.
Where the exclusions are within the scope of one or more other existing ISO or IEC technical committees, these committees shall also be identified.
EXAMPLE 1 “Excluded: Those … covered by ISO/TC …”.
EXAMPLE 2 “Excluded: Standardization for specific items in the field of … (ISO/TC …), … (IEC/TC …), etc.”.
It is not necessary to mention self-evident exclusions.
EXAMPLE 3 “Excluded: Products covered by other ISO or IEC technical committees”.
EXAMPLE 4 “Excluded: … Specifications for electrical equipment and apparatus, which fall within the scope of IEC committees”.
J.5 Scopes of committees related to products
Scopes of committees related to products shall clearly indicate the field, application area or market sector which they intend to cover, to easily ascertain whether a particular product is, or is not, within that field, application area or market sector.
EXAMPLE 1 “Standardization of … and … used in …”.
EXAMPLE 2 “Standardization of materials, components and equipment for construction and operation of … and … as well as equipment used in the servicing and maintenance of …”.
The limits of the scope can be defined by indicating the purpose of the products, or by characterizing the products.
The scope should not enumerate the types of products covered by the committee since to do so might suggest that other types can be, or are, standardized by other committees. However, if this is the intention, then it is preferable to list those items which are excluded from the scope.
The enumeration of aspects such as terminology, technical requirements, methods of sampling, test methods, designation, marking, packaging, dimensions, etc., suggests a restriction in the scope to those particular aspects, and that other aspects may be standardized by other committees. The aspects of the products to be standardized should, therefore, not be included in the scope unless it is intended that the scope is limited to those particular aspects.
If the scope makes no mention of any aspect, this means that the subject in its entirety is covered by the committee.
NOTE The coverage does not necessarily mean the need to prepare a document. It only means that standards on any aspect, if needed, will be prepared by that committee and no other.
An example of unnecessary enumeration of aspects is as follows:
EXAMPLE 3 “Standardization of classification, terminology, sampling, physical, chemical or other test methods, specifications, etc.”.
Mention of priorities, whether referring to type of product or aspect, shall not appear in the scope since these will be indicated in the programme of work.
J.6 Scopes of committees not related to products
If the scope of a committee is intended to be limited to certain aspects which are unrelated, or only indirectly related to products, the scope shall only indicate the aspect to be covered (e.g. safety colours and signs, non-destructive testing, water quality).
The term terminology as a possible aspect of standardization should not be mentioned unless this aspect is the only task to be dealt with by the committee. If this is not the case, the mention of terminology is superfluous since this aspect is a logical part of any standardization activity.
Annex K
(normative)
Project committees
A new work item proposal not falling within the scope of an existing technical committee shall be presented using the appropriate form and fully justified (see 2.3.4) by one of the bodies authorized to make new work item proposals (see 2.3.2).
The Office of the CEO may decide to return the proposal to the proposer for further development before circulation for voting. In this case, the proposer shall make the changes suggested or provide justification for not making the changes. If the proposer does not make the changes and requests that its proposal be circulated for voting as originally presented, the technical management board will decide on appropriate action. This could include blocking the proposal until the changes are made or accepting that it be balloted as received.
In all cases, the Office of the CEO may also include comments and recommendations in the proposal form.
For details relating to the justification of the proposal, see Annex C.
In the case of a proposal to establish a project committee to prepare management system standards, see Annex SL.
It shall be submitted to the secretariat of the technical management board, which shall arrange for it to be submitted to all National Bodies for voting.
Proposers are also encouraged to indicate the date of the first meeting of the project committee (see K.3).
If the proposal was not submitted by a National Body, the submission to the National Bodies shall include a call for offers to assume the secretariat of a project committee.
Votes shall be returned within 12 weeks.
Acceptance requires:
- approval by a 2/3 majority of the National Bodies voting;
- a commitment to participate actively by at least five National Bodies that approved the new work item proposal and nominated technical Experts.
K.2 Establishment of a project committee
The technical management board shall review the results of voting on the new work item proposal and, if the approval criteria are met, shall establish a project committee (the reference number shall be the next available number in the technical committee/project committee sequence).
The secretariat of the project committee shall be allocated to the National Body that submitted the proposal, or the technical management board shall decide on the allocation amongst the offers received if the proposal did not originate from a National Body.
National Bodies that approved the new work item proposal and nominated (a) technical Expert(s) shall be registered as P‑members of the project committee. National Bodies that approved the new work item proposal but did not make a commitment to participate actively shall be registered as O‑members. National Bodies that voted negatively, but nevertheless indicated that they would participate actively if the new work item was approved, shall be registered as P‑members. National Bodies voting negatively without indicating a wish to participate shall be registered as O‑members.
The Office of the CEO shall announce to the National Bodies the establishment of the project committee and its membership.
National Bodies will be invited to confirm/change their membership status by informing the Office of the CEO.
The secretariat will contact any potential liaison organizations identified in the new work item proposal or in National Body comments thereon and will invite them to indicate whether they have an interest in the work and, if so, which category of liaison they would be interested in. Requests for liaison will be processed according to the existing procedures.
K.3 First meeting of a project committee
The procedure for calling a project committee meeting shall be carried out in accordance with Clause 4, with the exception that a six weeks notice period may be used if the date of the first meeting was communicated at the time of submission of the proposal.
The Chair of the project committee shall be the Project Leader nominated in the new work item proposal or shall be nominated by the secretariat if no Project Leader was nominated in the new work item proposal.
The first meeting shall confirm the scope of the new work item. In case revision is necessary (for purposes of clarification but not an extension of the scope), the revised scope shall be submitted to the technical management board for approval. It shall also confirm the project plan and, in ISO, the development track and decide on any substructures needed to carry out the work.
If it is determined that the project needs to be subdivided to produce two or more publications, this is possible provided that the subdivisions of the work lie fully within the scope of the original new work item proposal. If not, a new work item will need to be prepared for consideration by the technical management board.
NOTE Project committees are exempted from the requirement to establish a strategic business plan.
The preparatory stage shall be carried out in accordance with 2.4.
K.5 Committee, enquiry, approval and publication stages
The committee, enquiry, approval and publication stages shall be carried out in accordance with 2.5 to 2.8.
K.6 Disbanding of a project committee
Once the standard(s) is/are published, the project committee shall be disbanded.
K.7 Maintenance of document(s) prepared by a project committee
The National Body which held the secretariat shall assume responsibility for the maintenance of the standard(s) according to the procedures given in 2.9 unless the project committee has been transformed into a technical committee (see 1.10) in which case the technical committee shall be given the responsibility for the maintenance of the document.
In principle, the technical management board shall assign the maintenance of documents to existing committees with appropriate scopes.
If the project is not assigned to an existing committee, the National Body, which held the secretariat of the former project committee, is expected to assume responsibility for the maintenance of the document(s) according to the procedures given in 2.9.
One year prior to the start of the systematic review, the Office of the CEO shall confirm with the secretariat of the former project committee their plans for revision or systematic review.
Annex L
(normative)
Selection criteria for people leading the technical
work
L.1 Obligations of member bodies
Member bodies are responsible for ensuring that candidates for leadership positions (i.e. Chairs, Convenors, and Secretaries/Committee Managers) meet the requirements contained in L.3. Member bodies are also responsible for ensuring that any gaps in skills or knowledge of the selected leaders, as well as Experts, are identified and filled through ongoing training.
L.2 Resources available to fill gaps in skills or knowledge
A number of resources are available to help member bodies fill any identified gaps in skills or knowledge:
- Training and other materials are available from the ISO Central Secretariat or IEC Secretariat to ensure the effectiveness of the various roles in conducting/attending meetings, including understanding key concepts.
- To help train Experts, it may be useful to schedule committee pre-sessions and information on existing resources before or in conjunction with committee plenaries.
- The support of the Technical Programme Manager or Technical Officer, particularly in the case of new committees, is available to train leaders and Experts. In the case of new committees, the Technical Programme Manager or Technical Officer should attend the first meeting to provide an overall introduction of ISO or IEC and its processes.
- In ISO, Exchange programmes could also be organized between member bodies or with the ISO Central Secretariat. Member bodies may also wish to consider twinnings.
- The services of an external facilitator for coaching and training could be considered as one of the options to assist the committee leadership to develop specific skills, such as the skills needed to run effective meetings, general leadership skills, etc.
L.3 Selection Criteria for people leading the technical work
The success of any committee or working group is dependent on its leadership. This selection criteria applies to committee Chairs, working group Convenors and Secretaries/Committee Managers. Members bodies are therefore required to apply this criteria when nominating people to these roles to ensure that the new ISO Code of Ethics and Conduct or IEC Code of Conduct for technical work is upheld and that the ISO/IEC Directives are correctly applied.
L.3.1.1 Competencies and attributes of good Chairs and Convenors:
- existing role and good reputation in the sector
- relevant professional experience in chairing committees and other groups
- lead and inspire delegates and Experts from the sector towards consensus
- understand the international nature of standardization work and its resulting benefits
- commit time and resources to their role
- develop solutions through innovative and creative thinking in a consensus environment
- act proactively and communicate diplomatically
- foster and value cooperation with other ISO and IEC committees and partners, including those from regulatory bodies
- act in a purely international capacity
L.3.1.2 Job specification for Chairs and Convenors:
- lead meetings effectively with a view to reaching an agreement and to ensure that positions and decisions are clearly understood
- ensure that all positions and views (at meetings and by correspondence) are given equal treatment
- manage projects according to agreed target dates in accordance with the project plan from preparation to completion
- work to ensure that a full range of technical competence is available to the group
- be fully knowledgeable of the subject and market needs
- propose decisions to progress or to stop work on the basis of its market or global relevance
- have basic knowledge of ISO or IEC and its procedures
L.3.1.3 Additionally — Chairs of committees are required to:
- take responsibility for the overall management of the committee, including any subcommittees and working groups
- advise the Technical Management Board on important matters relating to the committee
- ensure that the policy and strategic decisions of the Technical Management Board are implemented by the committee
- think strategically to promote ISO's and IEC’s work in the sector
L.3.1.4 Additionally — Convenors of working groups are required to:
- have appropriate knowledge and capabilities in using MS Word-based drafting tools and the ISO or IEC web-based applications, including the required use of ISO or IEC applications for communications and document sharing, to support the working group’s work
L.3.1.5 Supporting information
The following information should be considered by the member bodies in the nominations for Chairs and Convenors:
- current role in the sector
- education
- professional career
- leadership experience
- similar activities
- language skills
L.3.2 Secretaries/Committee Managers and secretariats
L.3.2.1 Selection of Secretaries/Committee Managers and secretariats
The success of an ISO committee or working group is dependent on its secretariat and Secretary (or Convenor of a WG in case there is no Secretary). The following list is based on the ISO/IEC Directives and shows the tasks expected to be performed in these roles. Member Bodies should use this list when appointing organizations and professionals as secretariats and Secretaries.
Preparing drafts for the committee or working group, arranging for their distribution and treatment of the comments received. In the case of Secretaries/Committee Managers, preparing drafts, text and figures for circulation by ISO Central Secretariat (ISO/CS) or IEC Secretariat (IEC/SEC) for enquiry and final draft International Standards or for publication. Fulfilling the ISO/CS or IEC/SEC submission requirements of such documents when sending them.
L.3.2.3 Excellent project management
Assisting in the establishment of priorities and target dates for each project. Notifying the names of all working group Convenors and Project Leaders to the ISO/CS or IEC/SEC. Initiating ballots. Proposing proactive solutions for projects that are running significantly overtime, and/or which appear to lack sufficient support.
L.3.2.4 Well prepared meetings
Establishing the agenda and arranging for its distribution as well as the distribution of all documents on the agenda, including reports of working groups, and indicating all other documents which are necessary for discussion during the meeting. Recording the decisions taken in a meeting and making these decisions available in writing for confirmation in the meeting. Preparing the minutes of meetings to be circulated within 4 weeks after the meeting.
L.3.2.5 Good advice on ISO and IEC processes
Providing advice to the Chair, Project Leaders, and Convenors on the ISO/IEC Directives and, in particular, the procedures associated with the progression of projects. Contacting any subcommittees and working groups regarding their activities.
L.3.2.6 Connecting and networking
Working in close liaison with the Chair of the committee or Convenor of the working group. Maintaining close contact with the ISO/CS or IEC/SEC and with the members of the committee or working group regarding its activities. Maintaining close contact with the Secretary/Committee Manager of any parent committee.
L.3.2.7 Proactive follow-up of actions
Ensuring that all actions agreed upon at meetings or by correspondence are completed on time and in a transparent manner.
Have appropriate knowledge and capabilities in using MS Word based drafting tools and the ISO or IEC web-based applications, including the required use of ISO or IEC applications for communications and document sharing, to support the committee’s work.
L.3.2.9 Supporting Information
The following information should be considered by the member body when appointing Secretaries/Committee Managers:
- education
- professional career
- experience in standardization work
- participation in training programmes on standardization
- experience with ISO’s or IEC’s IT tools and IT infrastructure
- language skills
Annex M
(normative)
Horizontal Documents
M.1 Horizontal documents purpose
A Horizontal document is an ISO/IEC document which other committees are required to take into account when developing their own (product/solution) documents. It is an important document that other committees utilise when they develop their documents, however it also requires the input of the impacted committees to ensure the Horizontal document is still valid and fit for purpose.
M.2 Horizontal document definition
Document dealing with a subject relevant to a number of committees and of crucial importance to ensure the coherence amongst documents.
NOTE Horizontal documents may provide fundamental principles, concepts, graphical symbols, terminology or general characteristics.
M.3 Types of horizontal documents
Horizontal documents shall only be an International Standard or a Technical Report.
M.4 Criteria when considering Horizontal documents in ISO and IEC
A consistent approach shall be used when considering the Horizontal documents. The request for horizontal status shall be made for the development of a new project or for the revision of an existing document.
- For a request related to a new document or an existing document, the assessment by the approver bodies is based on the rationale provided by the requester.
- In the case of an existing document, the assessment by the approver bodies is based on the number of other committees referencing the document.
M.5 Horizontal Approval in both ISO and IEC
For the cases of joint approval of both ISO and IEC, a consistent approach to the assessment needs to be managed and coordinated. In the case where an ISO or IEC committee requests Horizontal status recognition in both ISO and IEC, it requires both TMB and SMB approval. In the case when only ISO or IEC approve the Horizontal status, only the following options are possible:
- A proposed IEC Horizontal document, which is only valid for IEC documents, shall be approved by the IEC SMB.
- A proposed ISO Horizontal document, which is only valid for ISO documents, shall be approved by ISO TMB.
In the case of IEC document or ISO document being requested for horizontal recognition from both ISO and IEC, the approval approach should be made in series, starting with the originating organization (ISO or IEC). This will remove the second organization making a request that has already failed.
M.6 Oversight of horizontal documents in ISO and IEC
An essential element to ensure consistency and awareness of horizontal documents to those impacted committees is oversight. Oversight is the supervision required to cover the full life cycle of the document, from proposal, development, publication and subsequent maintenance.
The following two areas of oversight are highlighted:
- The development of a new horizontal document
- The revision of an established horizontal document
In both cases, the host committee of the horizontal document is responsible for ensuring communication and coordination of the work with those identified impacted committees.
In ISO, oversight is provided by the ISO TPM with intervention of the ISO/TMB as necessary. In IEC, oversight is provided mainly by the advisory committees and by IEC/SMB in some cases.
M.7 Handling of joint Horizontal requests for a Joint Technical Committee or an ISO/IEC Joint Working Group under Mode 5
A JTC is a Joint Technical Committee of both ISO and IEC and therefore both ISO and IEC have to approve the horizontal document for the JTC to declare that it is a horizontal document.
An ISO/IEC Joint Working Group under mode 5 has its project approved by both ISO and IEC committees and therefore both ISO and IEC shall approve the horizontal document for that document to be declared a horizontal document.
In both cases, it is recommended that the approval process is carried out in parallel with disclosure of the same input material for approval by both SMB and TMB. Approval is therefore made per document for joint horizontal requests. Nevertheless, it is preferred that applications group the requests for horizontal documents where possible.
M.8 Horizontal oversight in a JTC or an ISO/IEC Joint Working Group under Mode 5
Consideration on the horizontal nature is also required for revisions of documents with a horizontal status. In the JTC/ISO/IEC JWG in Mode 5, this oversight is carried out by the technical committee officers and reported back to the management boards (SMB and TMB) from their plenary meeting reports.
Assistance to identify possible impacted committees could be provided using the existing IEC and/or ISO tools.
ANNEXES APPLICABLE TO ISO ONLY
Annex SA
(normative)
ISO Code of Ethics and Conduct
The ISO Code of Ethics and Conduct is available at the following location: https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB100011.html
International Standards benefit the international community over and above the interests of any individual or organization. This is why ISO’s work is carried out in an international, multi-stakeholder, multi-sector environment and it is imperative that its activities are conducted in an ethical manner that warrants the confidence of all parties involved in standardization and that of the general public. Therefore, persons acting for or on behalf of ISO are accountable to the organization and must act in compliance with applicable laws and regulations and adhere to a set of values, principles, and policies which may go beyond legal requirements.
This Code sets out principles for the conduct of persons acting for or on behalf of ISO, i.e. individuals representing ISO members, ISO governance groups and their members, the ISO standards development community including liaison organizations, and the Central Secretariat. At the standards development level in ISO, it applies to all people who choose to participate in an ISO committee, working group or other consensus group. The Code is an obligation for participation in the above groups that work in the framework of the ISO/IEC Directives. The principles contained herein contain non-negotiable minimum standards of behaviour. This Code is not meant to be exhaustive and cover all situations that may occur: it provides a framework and a foundation for expected conduct.
Tips for implementing the ISO Code of Ethics and Conduct at the standards development level: https://www.iso.org/sd/fetch/_mds-y6VPU0A7COMNQRqox2FOAIAc0M-SEMkKbSdXt5UYKBSE-2y-wOm1VXRrjj_
Guidance and the process for addressing misconduct and breaches of the ISO Code of Ethics and Conduct at the standards development level: https://www.iso.org/sd/fetch/HNx71Y344QBo1dZzmthKIV6wM4_DyjxnU9o6JrDgfeYjoTmdGmQayF8NXXx3_FE8
Annex SB
(normative)
Document distribution
Details showing document distribution are shown in the table.
SB.2 Electronic notifications of document delivery
The information included in electronic notifications of document availability shall comprise
- Subject line: committee reference
- Content (the precise format may vary):
1) N-number (automatically generated)
2) Official ISO reference number (e.g. CD 1234 for a committee draft, NP 2345 for a new work item proposal)
3) Title of the document
4) Expected action
5) Due date for expected action
6) Type of document (information, ballot, comment, notice of meeting, etc.)
7) Date and location, if it is a meeting document
8) Note field, for special information related to a particular document
9) Hyperlink to the document
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Annex SC
(normative)
Strategic business plans
SC.1 Objectives of a strategic business plan (SBP)
a) To demonstrate in an objective manner the specific benefits which result from, or are expected from, the work of this technical committee.
NOTE 1 These benefits can vary significantly between different fields in which committees are involved: they can be economical (cost savings, reduced time to market, easier access to certain regional markets, lower sales prices), they can be social (improvement of safety for workers, measured in the reduction of accidents) or they can be the improvement of the environmental impact, for example.
b) To support prioritization and to improve the management of the technical work in a committee.
NOTE 2 This includes the definition of target dates and the planning of resources for the work of the technical committee (and its SCs) in relation to the development of new and the maintenance of existing documents.
c) To increase the transparency in relation to the market forces and the percentage of market share represented within a committee.
All current SBP may be viewed online at https://www.iso.org/bp.
SC.2 Development tools and additional guidance
To facilitate the preparation of SBP, ISO Central Secretariat has developed a document template. This template and additional guidance may be downloaded from the ISOTC server at www.iso.org/forms.
SC.3 Procedure for the development of a strategic business plan
SC.3.1 The Secretary/Committee Manager, in cooperation with committee members and/or the committee Chair, shall prepare a draft SBP. The draft SBP shall be submitted to an internal consultation within the technical committee. It shall be formally agreed upon by the technical committee by way of a resolution, before being submitted to the technical management board for review.
The technical committee shall submit the draft SBP (tmb@iso.org) in revisable (i.e. Word) and PDF format
to the ISO technical management board, which will review the draft SBP against
the set of minimum requirements for SBPs (see Table SC.1).
Table SC.1 — Requirements for strategic business plans of ISO technical committees
|
Item |
Description of Requirements |
Score |
|
1 |
Descriptions of relevant dynamics in the business environment related to the work of the ISO committee, and quantitative indicators of trends in this business environment and the acceptance and implementation of the ISO committee’s standards. |
1 to 5 |
|
2 |
Descriptions of tangible benefits that the standardization programme is expected to achieve for the business environment. |
1 to 5 |
|
3 |
Descriptions of identified objectives of the ISO committee and strategies to achieve those objectives. This should include descriptions of specific actions that will be taken, or that will be proposed to the ISO committee to better respond to the needs and trends of the business environment. |
1 to 5 |
|
4 |
Descriptions of factors that may negatively impact the ISO committee’s ability to achieve its objectives and implement its strategies, including information on the representation of the major market forces in the committee (geographically as well as by type, e.g. manufacturer, government, etc.). |
1 to 5 |
|
5 |
Objective information regarding the ISO committee and its work programme that is required: - link added in section 7 to the TC’s page on ISO’s website About (Secretariat, Secretary/Committee Manager, Chair, Date of creation, Scope, etc.), Contact details, Structure (Subcommittees and working groups), Liaisons, Meetings, Tools, Work programme (published standards and standards under development; - priorities assigned to projects in the work programme (if the committee assigns priorities) with an explanation of the reasons/process for prioritization; - relationships of projects to European regional standardization (CEN); - time allocated to each project by working group Convenors, Project Leaders/editors and for translation; and - the range of stakeholders that should be engaged based on the subject area being standardized. |
No score Mandatory information |
SC.3.2 A total score of at least 10 is necessary for approval. If the SBP is not approved by the TMB, the technical management board scores and comments will be sent to the committee, which will be asked to resubmit the SBP. If approved, the comments from the technical management board shall be taken into consideration during the SBP review at the next plenary meeting.
SC.3.3 Once approved by the technical management board, the SBP is made available to the general public for review and comment on a publicly accessible server (https://www.iso.org/bp) by the ISO Central Secretariat. Member bodies are encouraged to inform the interested public in their countries of the availability of the SBP for public review and, if appropriate, to set links to the SBPs.
Annex SD
(normative)
Matrix presentation of project stages
SD.1 Introduction to the Harmonized Stage Code
The standardization process has a number of definite steps or stages which can be used both to describe the process and to indicate where in the process any one item has reached. In general terms the methods used to develop and publish standards via the formal standardization process operated by international, regional and national standards bodies are very similar no matter which body is overseeing the process. Thus, at a high level, it is possible to have a common view of the standardization process and with it a common set of stages. There are differences between the processes of individual bodies, however, and this has led to the development of different stage systems for each body.
This Harmonized Stage Code (HSC) system is used in ISO’s databases for tracking standards development projects. Its purpose is to provide a common framework for the transfer of core data. The system allows tracking of the development of a given project in the same way in databases being used at international, regional and national levels and the matrix is so constructed that it can easily be adapted to new requirements.
SD.2 Design of the stage code matrix
A series of “stages” representing procedural sequences common to different organizations has been established. These represent the main stages of standards development.
A series of “sub-stages” has been established within each stage, using a consistent logical system of concepts. The terms “stage” and “sub-stage” are hence used to designate the respective axes of the resulting matrix.
Principal stages and sub-stages are each coded by a two-digit number from 00 to 90, in increments of 10. Individual cells within the generic matrix are coded by a four-digit number made up of its stage and sub-stage coordinates. For visual presentation (although not necessarily for the purposes of database operations), the pair of coordinates are separated by a point (e.g. 10.20 for stage 10, sub-stage 20).
All unused stage codes are reserved for future use, to allow for interpolation of additional phases that might be identified, e.g. stage codes 10, 30, 40, 50 and 80.
SD.3 Basic guidelines for using the system
- Other information concerning, for example, document source or document type, should be recorded in separate database fields and should not be reflected in stage codes.
- There is no sub-code to indicate that a project is dormant at any particular stage. It is recommended to use another database field to address this issue.
- The HSC system allows for the cyclical nature of the standards process and for the repeating of either the current phase or an earlier phase. Events that may be repeated in the life of a project are recordable by repetition of the same stage codes.
- Freezing a project at any point is possible by using the code the project has reached. Projects that have been suspended should have this information recorded in a separate database field.
- The HSC system is not concerned with recording either target or actual dates for achieving stages.
|
STAGE |
SUB-STAGE |
||||||
|
00 |
20 |
60 |
90 Decision |
||||
|
Registration |
Start of the main action |
Completion of the main action |
92 Repeat |
93 Repeat current phase |
98 Abandon |
99 Proceed |
|
|
00 Preliminary |
00.00 |
00.20 |
00.60 |
|
|
00.98 |
00.99 |
|
Proposal for a new project received |
Proposal for a new project under review |
Close of review |
|
|
Proposal for new project abandoned |
Approval to ballot proposal for a new project |
|
|
10 Proposal |
10.00 |
10.20 |
10.60 |
10.92 |
|
10.98 |
10.99 |
|
Proposal for new project registered |
New project ballot initiated |
Close of |
Proposal returned to the submitter for further definition |
|
New project rejected |
New project approved |
|
|
20 Preparatory |
20.00 |
20.20 |
20.60 |
|
|
20.98 |
20.99 |
|
New project registered in TC/SC work programme |
Working draft (WD) study initiated |
Close of comment period |
|
|
Project cancelled |
WD approved for registration |
|
|
30 Committee |
30.00 |
30.20 |
30.60 |
30.92 |
|
30.98 |
30.99 |
|
Committee draft (CD) registered |
CD |
Close of |
CD referred back to Working Group |
|
Project cancelled |
CD approved |
|
|
40 Enquiry |
40.00 |
40.20 |
40.60 |
40.92 |
40.93 |
40.98 |
40.99 |
|
DIS |
DIS ballot
initiated: |
Close of |
Full report
circulated: |
Full report circulated: decision for new DIS ballot |
Project cancelled |
Full report circulated: |
|
|
50 Approval |
50.00 |
50.20 |
50.60 |
50.92 |
|
50.98 |
50.99 |
|
Final text received or FDIS registered for formal approval |
Proof sent to
secretariat or FDIS ballot initiated: |
Close of voting. |
FDIS or proof referred back to TC or SC |
|
Project cancelled |
FDIS or proof |
|
|
60 Publication |
60.00 |
|
60.60 |
|
|
|
|
|
International Standard under publication |
|
International Standard published |
|
|
|
|
|
|
90 Review |
|
90.20 |
90.60 |
90.92 |
90.93 |
|
90.99 |
|
|
International Standard under systematic review |
Close of review |
International Standard to be revised |
International Standard confirmed |
|
Withdrawal of International Standard proposed by TC or SC |
|
|
95 Withdrawal |
|
95.20 |
95.60 |
95.92 |
|
|
95.99 |
|
|
Withdrawal ballot initiated |
Close of |
Decision not to withdraw International Standard |
|
|
Withdrawal of International Standard |
|
Annex SE
(normative)
Numbering of documents
SE.1 Working documents (including committee drafts)
Each document (including committee drafts — see also SE.2) relating to the work of an ISO committee circulated to all or some of the member bodies shall have an “N-number” generated by the system that appears at the top right-hand corner of recto pages and at the top left-hand corner of verso pages. The first page of the document shall also bear, immediately under the reference number, the date, written in accordance with ISO 8601 (Data elements and interchange formats — Information interchange — Representation of dates and times), on which the document was compiled.
Once a reference number is used for a working document, it cannot be used again for a document with different wording and/or different contents. The same number may be used for a proposal and a voting form (optional). If a document replaces an earlier one, the system generates a new N-number on the first page of the new document.
The N-number is made up of the following two parts separated by the letter N:
1) the number of the technical committee (TC) and, when applicable, the number of the subcommittee (SC) to which the working document belongs;
2) an overall serial number.
As an example, the reference number will look as follows: ISO/TC a/SC b Nn
SE.2 Working drafts (WD), committee drafts (CD), draft International Standards (DIS), final draft International Standards (FDIS) and International Standards
When a new project is registered by ISO Central Secretariat (see 2.3.5), the latter will allocate an ISO reference number to the project. The number allocated will remain the same for the ensuing WD, CD, DIS and FDIS and for the published International Standard. The number allocated is purely a registration and reference number and has no meaning whatsoever in the sense of classification or chronological order. The number allocated to a withdrawn project or International Standard will not be used again.
If the project represents a revision or amendment of an existing International Standard, the registered project will be allocated the same number as the existing International Standard (with, in the case of an amendment, a suffix indicating the nature of the document).
If, however, the scope is substantially changed, the project shall be given a different number.
Successive WDs or CDs on the same subject shall be marked “first working draft”, “second working draft”, etc., or “first committee draft”, “second committee draft”, etc., as well as with the working document number in accordance with SE.1.
Successive DIS on the same subject will carry the same number but will be distinguished by a numerical suffix (.2, .3, etc.).
Annex SF
(normative)
Hosting meetings
SF.1 Who may host an ISO meeting?
Meetings may be hosted by:
- any ISO member (member body, correspondent member, subscriber member);
- for working group meetings only, any liaison member of the committee concerned.
For committee meetings, the ISO member body in the country shall be the host, and pre-approval of the meeting is required.
For working group meetings, the ISO member body in the country shall be informed of the meeting before the meeting is confirmed.
It is not necessary for a host to be a direct participant in the work of the committee concerned, although that will typically be the case.
A potential host shall first ascertain that there are no restrictions imposed by its country or the hosting venue to the entry of representatives of any P‑member of the committee for the purpose of attending the meeting. In some cases, it may be necessary for special permission to be obtained for attendance — wherever possible, the host should assist in determining if this is the case, but it is the joint responsibility of the secretariat or group leader, and the participant to determine any restrictions.
Given that some hosts may not have sufficient meeting facilities and/or other resources of their own, the main host — say, an ISO member — may accept an invitation from another organization to assist by, for instance, providing a meeting location or organizing a welcoming event.
Irrespective of the actual host of a meeting, responsibility for the meeting concerned rests with the Secretary/Committee Manager (in the case of a committee, or similar groups) or group leader (in the case of working groups, ad-hoc groups, etc.). Thus, potential hosts should liaise directly with these individuals.
Large ISO meetings can be expensive and/or complicated to stage and support, and the resource requirements may exceed those that an ISO member can itself provide. It is, therefore, acceptable for a meeting to have one or more sponsors contributing to its organization and cost. Nevertheless, whilst it is acceptable for sponsors to be identified, and for their support to be recognized in the meeting, an ISO meeting shall not be used as an opportunity for the promotion for commercial or other reasons of the products or services of any sponsor (see also “Fees for delegates at ISO meetings”).
SF.3 Proposing or withdrawing support as a meeting host
The ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, request that the following advance notice be given:
|
Meeting of … |
Schedule of meeting dates |
Advance notice of |
|
Technical committee or |
2 years |
4 months |
|
Working group |
— |
6 weeks |
In general, the more notice, the better in order that participants may make appropriate travel and business arrangements, and also obtain briefing, where appropriate.
If a host finds that they need to withdraw an offer, these notice periods should also be respected.
In planning meetings, account should be taken of the possible advantage of grouping meetings of technical committees and subcommittees dealing with related subjects, to improve communication and to limit the burden of attendance at meetings by delegates who participate in several technical committees or subcommittees.
SF.5 Facilities to provide at meetings
Any member body offering to host an ISO committee meeting undertakes to provide appropriate meeting facilities, including any provisions for interpretation (see SF.6), for the TC/SC, taking into account the normal attendance at such meetings and any requirements foreseen by the committee secretariat for facilities for parallel meetings (for example, of working groups, ad hoc groups or the drafting committee). The working facilities required during a meeting (i.e. additional rooms) will vary from group to group. This may include printing, and internet access (teleconference facilities). Administrative support may also be needed. The host may be requested, but shall not be obliged, to provide separate facilities serving as the “Chair's” or “secretariat” room.
The exact requirements should be determined by the committee secretariat or group leader. Some committee secretariats develop and maintain a standing document to advise member bodies of the facilities that will be required of any potential host of a meeting of the committee, which ensures a clear understanding of what will be required. The host of a working group is also expected to provide all basic working facilities.
SF.6 Interpretation facilities at meetings
The Chair and secretariat are responsible for dealing with the question of language at a meeting in a manner acceptable to the participants, following the general rules of ISO, as appropriate. The official languages at meetings are English, French and Russian, and meetings are conducted in any one or more of these. The typical language combinations are English and French, or English only. In the latter case, French may only be omitted with the explicit agreement of the francophone member(s). Thus, there may be an obligation on the host to provide interpretation between English and French. This needs to be determined in advance. Potential hosts may need to seek assistance from ISO Central Secretariat or from other P‑members. The National Body for the Russian Federation provides all interpretation and translation into or from the Russian language.
So far as the capabilities of translators (when required) are concerned, the guidance is:
- for meetings where final decisions on draft standards are expected to be taken, the services of an adequately qualified interpreter are generally required;
- meetings where “intermediary” or procedural decisions are expected to be taken, brief interpretation may be provided by a member of the secretariat or a volunteer delegate;
- at working group meetings, the members should, whenever possible, arrange between themselves for any necessary interpretation of the initiative and under the authority of the Convenor of the working group.
SF.7 Welcoming activities and social events
ISO is widely recognized and respected. It is, therefore, not unusual for formal ceremonies to be associated with, for example, the opening of a technical committee meeting. Such events are acceptable, but their incorporation within the meeting period is entirely at the option of the host, and typically subject to the approval of the Secretary/Committee Manager and Chair of the group/s concerned.
A host may also offer social events of one kind or another, perhaps with the aid of co-sponsors. As for welcoming events, social events are entirely optional (see also SF.8).
It is recognized that the inclusion of welcoming and social events significantly increases the time and cost, etc. of organizing a meeting. It may also increase the cost of participation. Given the pressures on the resources of all participants, there is merit in the simplification of meetings. Above all, meetings shall not become “competitive” events so far as hosts are concerned, in the sense that no host shall feel obliged, in any respect, to equal or exceed the welcoming and/or social facilities offered at any previous meeting.
SF.8 Fees for delegates at ISO meetings
Accredited delegates shall not be obliged to pay a fee as a condition of their participation in ISO meetings. However, in very exceptional cases (e.g. large and complex meetings), some charging mechanisms may be necessary, but such mechanisms shall be approved on a case-by-case basis by the Technical Management Board.
There is no obligation on a host to provide social functions during ISO meetings, but if a committee requests a host to organize social functions, the host shall have the right to require that the costs of holding such functions be borne by the delegates participating therein.
SF.9 Media participation policy
This clause describes a policy for engaging with the media to raise the effectiveness of communication activities of ISO. It is vital to ensure transparency and openness by proactively and consistently delivering accurate information to the public, and to support the use of proper channels to deliver information to the public as effectively and efficiently as possible.
This policy describes how to raise awareness about ISO activities and ensure transparency. It is important that all involved in ISO activities provide accurate and appropriate information in a spirit of goodwill and responsibility. The media contributes to the shaping of attitudes and behaviours of the general public. Building good media relations is important for building awareness through accurate information and preventing isolated and unrepresentative views and opinions from misleading the public.
Engagement with the media should be sought through multiple vehicles at multiple organizational levels.
All engagement with the media relating to ISO activities will be consistent with the following:
- Interest by the press or other media in ISO work is to be welcomed and the ISO Central Secretariat and many ISO member bodies have public relations and promotion services able to provide information to the press concerning ISO, ISO standards, and work in progress.
- In recent years, there has been a growing interest on the part of some of the press to be present during meetings of particular ISO committees. Whilst this interest is welcome, the presence of the press during an ISO meeting may inhibit the free and open discussion of issues. For this reason, members of the press shall not be permitted to be present during working sessions of ISO meetings. However participation by members of the press may be permitted during the opening and closing ceremonies of ISO plenary meetings.
SF.9.2 ISO Central Secretariat roles
Within ISO, the ISO Central Secretariat prepares and releases any and all official press releases. The ISO Central Secretariat reserves the right of final decision on any ISO press release.
SF.9.3 ISO committee and working group leadership roles
Leaders shall only express the consensus reached by the delegates/Experts at press conferences held in conjunction with the ISO committee meetings. Between meetings, the secretariat will endeavour to provide prompt written responses to media requests.
SF.9.4 Member body and mirror committee roles
At a local or national level, mirror committees are the proper channel for media inquiries. Mirror committees are encouraged to arrange meetings with local media. This will improve local participation and awareness. At the national level, the relevant member body's media policy should apply.
SF.9.5 Delegate, Expert and observer roles
These parties shall not comment to the media on the consensus achieved in the ISO committee, nor shall they comment on the contributions and comments made by other delegates and Experts in the working sessions of the ISO committee. This could have a detrimental effect on the productive dialogue and trust necessary among delegates and Experts for effective ISO standards development.
SF.9.6 Meetings and media participation
Media representatives present at the site of a meeting shall register with the ISO committee secretariat and the meeting host (name, organization, and contact number).
Media representatives will be given a media badge to wear or keep handy when present at the meeting site.
Registered media representatives with badges are allowed to attend the following events:
- Opening and closing ceremonies;
- Press conferences;
- Social events if invited by the host organization.
People from the media are not allowed to attend:
- Committee plenary meetings;
- Working group meetings;
- Chair's Advisory Group (CAG) meetings.
Press conferences may be scheduled for appropriate times (pre- and/or post-plenary) in a designated location by the ISO committee leadership in consultation with the public relations service of the host ISO member body. At the press conferences, the ISO committee leaders and ISO Central Secretariat representatives will make statements to the press. Delegates or Experts may be invited to speak by the ISO committee leaders. Otherwise, delegates, Experts and observers may attend, but are not permitted to speak at the press conferences.
SF.10 Recordings at ISO meetings
The recording of ISO meetings by the Secretary/Committee Manager is acceptable provided that at the outset of the meeting, all participants are made aware that the meeting will be recorded and there are no objections. Individual participants shall have the right to require that the means of recording are switched off during a particular intervention if she/he so desires.
Such recordings are intended to aid the meeting Secretary/Committee Manager in preparing the minutes/report of the meeting. They may also be used to resolve disputes concerning what occurred at a meeting, which, in some instances, may require the preparation of transcripts of the recording.
The recordings and any transcripts are the property of the meeting Secretary/Committee Manager, who is expected to respect the confidentiality of ISO meetings. The recordings and transcripts shall accordingly not be divulged to third parties and should preferably be destroyed once the minutes have been approved.
Annex SG
(normative)
Second (and subsequent) language texts for ISO standards
Annex E of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, specifies the general policy on the use of languages as applied in ISO. This annex describes additional requirements concerning obtaining second and subsequent language texts. (English, French and Russian are the official ISO languages.)
SG.2 English, French, Russian and other languages
It is the responsibility of the ISO committee secretariat to obtain (but not necessarily themselves prepare) texts in English in general. Translation of documents into French is typically (but not exclusively) carried out by the translation department of the member body of France (AFNOR), or by agents nominated to act on their behalf.
It is the responsibility of the Russian member body to determine those cases for which a Russian version is required, and to provide all translation into Russian.
When a non-official language has been approved by the committee for inclusion in the final document (this is permitted only in the case of a vocabulary), the National Body supporting the related non-official language is responsible for the text, and its timely delivery (i.e. at the latest before the FDIS ballot).
The National Body supporting a language is responsible for ensuring the equivalence of the related language version to the official language text during the development of an ISO document, if necessary, with the assistance of other Experts. A recommended way of ensuring the equivalence of texts is to establish a multilingual editing group.
SG.2.3 Timing of preparation of texts
The ISO/IEC Directives note that it is beneficial to start the preparation of language versions as early as possible in the development cycle. It is preferable, but not required, that Committee Drafts are available in all envisaged language versions. Apart from aiding comprehension during development, this also serves to help avoid preparation-related delays at later stages.
Where a second or subsequent official language version is required, the ISO Central Secretariat will provide the member body responsible for the second or subsequent language with a copy of the first language version, English in general, when the text is submitted to ISO Central Secretariat for processing as a DIS.
SG.2.4 Timely delivery of language versions
In the case where a second or subsequent official language version is required, the National Body supporting the related language shall provide the ISO Central Secretariat with the related language version within 8 weeks of the submission of the first language version, English in general.
SG.2.5 Updating language versions after a ballot
In the case of preparation of a second or subsequent DIS, or the FDIS text, to facilitate the preparation of the second or subsequent official language text (where required), TC and SC secretariats should preferably provide the ISO Central Secretariat with a marked-up copy of the revised first-language DIS showing the changes to be made, for use by the member body responsible for the second or subsequent language version.
SG.3 Other non-official languages
Languages other than the official languages of ISO may only be included in the body of vocabularies. This is dependent on the committee approving the business case presented by a National Body, which is then responsible for the related language version. The business case explaining the rational shall then be submitted to ISO/CS.
In those cases where an ISO project is a joint project with CEN under the Agreement on technical cooperation between ISO and CEN (Vienna Agreement), the preparation of a German version is a requirement. For more guidance, reference should be made to the separate Guidelines for Chairmen and Secretariats on the implementation of the Vienna Agreement. In all cases of multilingual documents, the cover page, copyright, and foreword pages of the document will only mention the official ISO languages and, only in case of a joint project with CEN under the Vienna Agreement, German might be added.
It may be proposed that an international document need only be developed in a single official language. Further official language versions can always be prepared as a translation of the published text.
Under the terms of the ISO Statutes, as supplemented by the agreement ISO policies and procedures for copyright, copyright exploitation rights and sales of ISO publications (ISO POCOSA), the member bodies of ISO may, under their sole responsibility, prepare translations into other languages of certain ISO publications and documents.
Annex SH
(normative)
Procedures for the standardization of graphical symbols
This annex describes the procedures to be adopted in the submission and subsequent approval and registration, when appropriate, of all graphical symbols appearing in ISO documents.
Within ISO, the responsibility for the coordination of the development of graphical symbols has been subdivided into two principal areas, allocated to two ISO technical committees:
- ISO/TC 145 — all graphical symbols (except those for use in technical product documentation) (see ISO/TC 145 website);
- ISO/TC 10 — graphical symbols for technical product documentation (tpd) (see ISO/TC 10 website).
In addition, there is coordination with IEC/TC 3 (Information structures, documentation and graphical symbols) and with IEC/TC 3/SC 3C (Graphical symbols for use on equipment).
The basic objectives of the standardization of graphical symbols are to:
- meet the needs of users;
- ensure that the interests of all concerned ISO committees are taken into account;
- ensure that graphical symbols are unambiguous and conform to consistent sets of design criteria;
- ensure that there is no duplication or unnecessary proliferation of graphical symbols.
The basic steps in the standardization of a new graphical symbol are:
- identification of need;
- elaboration;
- evaluation;
- approval, when appropriate;
- registration;
- publication.
All steps should be carried out by electronic means.
- Proposals for new or revised graphical symbols may be submitted by an ISO committee, a liaison member of an ISO committee or any ISO member organization (hereafter jointly called the “proposer”).
- Each approved graphical symbol will be allocated a unique number to facilitate its management and identification through a register that provides information that can be retrieved in an electronic format.
- Conflicts with the relevant requirements and guidelines for graphical symbols shall be resolved by liaison and dialogue between ISO/TC 145 or ISO/TC 10 and the product committee concerned at the earliest possible stage.
SH.2 All graphical symbols except those for use in the technical product documentation
ISO/TC 145 is responsible within ISO for the overall coordination of standardization in the field of graphical symbols (except for tpd). This responsibility includes:
- standardization in the field of graphical symbols as well as of colours and shapes, whenever these elements form part of the message that a symbol is intended to convey, e.g. a safety sign;
- establishing principles for preparation, coordination and application of graphical symbols: general responsibility for the review and the coordination of those already existing, those under study, and those to be established.
The standardization of letters, numerals, punctuation marks, mathematical signs and symbols, and symbols for quantities and units is excluded. However, such elements may be used as components of a graphical symbol.
The review and coordination role of ISO/TC 145 applies to all committees that undertake the responsibility for the creation and standardization of graphical symbols within their own particular fields.
ISO/TC 145 has allocated these responsibilities as follows:
- ISO/TC 145/SC 1: Public information symbols;
- ISO/TC 145/SC 2: Safety identification, signs, shapes, symbols and colours;
- ISO/TC 145/SC 3: Graphical symbols for use on equipment.
There is also liaison with ISO/TC 10 and with IEC, in particular with IEC/SC 3C, Graphical symbols for use on equipment.
Table SH.1 shows the categories of graphical symbols covered by each coordinating committee.
Table SH.1 — Categories of graphical symbols
|
|
Basic message |
Location |
Target audience |
Design |
Overview |
Responsible |
|
Public |
Location of |
In public areas |
General public |
ISO 22727 |
ISO 7001 |
ISO/TC 145/SC 1 |
|
Safety signs (symbols) |
Related to safety and
health of |
In workplaces and public areas and on products |
a) General public or b) authorized and trained persons |
ISO 3864-1 ISO 3864-2 ISO 3864-3 |
ISO 7010 |
ISO/TC 145/SC 2 |
|
Graphical |
Related to |
On equipment |
a) General public or b) authorized and trained persons |
IEC 80416-1 ISO 80416-2 IEC 80416-3 |
ISO 7000 IEC 60417 |
ISO/TC 145/SC 3 IEC/TC 3/SC 3C |
|
tpd symbols |
(Product |
Technical |
Trained persons |
ISO 81714-1 |
ISO 14617 IEC 60617 |
ISO/TC 10/SC 1 ISO/TC 10/SC 10 IEC/TC 3 |
Table SH.2 — Examples for the different categories of graphical symbols
|
Public information symbols |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Telephone ISO 7001 – PI PF 017 |
Airport or Aircraft ISO 7001 – PI TF 001 |
Sporting activities or general sports ISO 7001 – PI SA 001 |
Filling station ISO 7001 – PI CF 009 |
Direction arrow ISO 7001 – PI PF 030 |
|
|
Safety signs (symbols) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Means of escape ISO 7010 – E001 |
Fire equipment ISO 7010 – F001 |
Mandatory action sign: ISO 7010 – M001 |
Prohibition sign: ISO 7010 – P002 |
Warning sign: ISO 7010 – W002 |
|
|
Graphical symbols for use on equipment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ventilating fan: ISO 7000 – 0089 |
General symbol for recovery/recyclable ISO 7000 - 1135 |
Weight ISO 7000 – 0430 |
Lamp; lighting; IEC 60417 – 5012 |
Brightness/Contrast IEC 60417 – 5435 |
|
|
tpd symbols |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Two-way valve ISO 14617-8 – 2101 |
Liquid ISO 14617-15 – 321 |
Hydraulic motor ISO 14617-10 – 2405 |
Amplifier ISO 14617-5– 892 |
Boiler/steam generator ISO 14617-11 – 2531 |
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SH.2.2 Submission of proposals
Proposers shall submit their proposals on the relevant application form as soon as possible to the secretariat of the appropriate ISO/TC 145 subcommittee to allow for timely review and comment. It is strongly recommended that this submission be made by proposers at the CD stage, but it shall be no later than the first enquiry stage (i.e. DIS or DAM) in the case of an International Standard.
Prior to submitting a graphical symbol proposal, the proposer should:
- be able to demonstrate the need for the proposed graphical symbol;
- have reviewed the relevant ISO and/or IEC standards of graphical symbols, to avoid ambiguity and/or overlap with existing standardized graphical symbols, and to check for consistency with any related graphical symbol or family of graphical symbols already standardized;
- create the proposed graphical symbol in accordance with the relevant standards and instructions, these include design principles and criteria of acceptance.
SH.2.3 Standardization procedure for proposed graphical symbols
Upon receipt of a proposal, the ISO/TC 145 sub-committee concerned shall review the application form, within two months, to check whether it has been correctly completed and the relevant graphics file(s) has been correctly provided. If necessary, the proposer will be invited to modify the application, and to re-submit it.
Upon receipt of a correctly completed application form, a formal review process shall be commenced to review the proposal for consistency with standardized graphical symbols, the relevant design principles and the criteria of acceptance.
When this formal review process has been completed, the results shall be transmitted to the proposer, together with any recommendations. The proposer will, where appropriate, be invited to modify the proposal, and to re-submit it for a further review.
The procedures outlined on the relevant ISO/TC 145 sub-committee website shall be followed:
- ISO/TC 145/SC 1: Public information symbols (www.iso.org/tc145/sc1);
- ISO/TC 145/SC 2: Safety identification, signs, shapes, symbols and colours (www.iso.org/tc145/sc2);
- ISO/TC 145/SC 3: Graphical symbols for use on equipment (www.iso.org/tc145/sc3).
These websites also provide application forms for the submission of proposals.
Graphical symbols approved by ISO/TC 145 shall be assigned a definitive registration number and included in the relevant ISO/TC 145 standard.
NOTE In exceptional cases, unregistered symbols may be included in ISO standards subject to TMB approval.
SH.3 Graphical symbols for use in technical product documentation (tpd) (ISO/TC 10)
ISO/TC 10 is responsible for the overall responsibility for standardization in the field of graphical symbols for technical product documentation (tpd). This responsibility includes
- maintenance of ISO 81714-1: Design of graphical symbols for use in the technical documentation of products — Part 1: Basic rules, in co-operation with IEC;
- maintenance of ISO 14617, Graphical symbols for diagrams;
- standardization of graphical symbols to be used in technical product documentation, co-ordinated with IEC;
- establishing and maintaining a database for graphical symbols, including management of registration numbers.
Included is the standardization of symbols for use in diagrams and pictorial drawings.
ISO/TC 10 has allocated these responsibilities to ISO/TC 10/SC 1 for symbols used on technical product documentation and ISO/TC 10/SC 10 for graphical symbols on diagrams. The respective Secretariats are supported by maintenance groups.
Any committee identifying the need for new or revised graphical symbols for tpd shall, as soon as possible, submit their proposal to the secretariat of ISO/TC 10/SC 1 or ISO/TC 10/SC 10 for review and — once approved — allocation of a registration number.
When developing new symbols for use in technical drawings, the proposed symbols (alternatively: those symbols) are submitted to ISO/TC 10 for review. ISO/TC 10 will confirm that a duplicate symbol with a different meaning does not exist and will add the new symbol to this document once the originating document has been approved and published.
The following is a description of the process used for incorporating a new symbol:
a) The originator fills in the new symbol application form.
b) The originator attaches the symbol graphics file per the accepted graphics formats in the form.
c) The originator sends the application and graphics file to ISO/TC 10/SC 1 or ISO/TC 10/SC 10.
d) ISO/TC 10/SC 1 or ISO/TC 10/SC 10 forwards the documents to the validation team (appointed group of Experts).
e) The validation team reviews the application and symbol according to the following areas:
- justification for new symbol;
- design;
- conformity with ISO 81714-1;
- duplication and similarity to existing and registered symbols.
f) The validation team prepares their report and sends the application documents back to ISO/TC 10/SC 1 or ISO/TC 10/SC 10. Rejected proposals are sent back to the originator with an attached cause of rejection.
g) If the new symbol request is approved, the originator is notified, and the symbol is appointed a registry number and submitted to ISO Central Secretariat for registration and publication on the ISO Online browsing platform: https://www.iso.org/obp.
h) The approved new symbol is added to the list of symbols to be added in the next revision of ISO 7083 or ISO 14617.
Annex SI
(normative)
Procedure for the development of International Workshop Agreements (IWA)
SI.1 Proposals to develop IWAs
A proposal to hold an ISO workshop for the purpose of developing one or more IWAs on a particular subject may come from any source, including ISO member bodies, liaison organizations, corporate bodies etc. An organization that is not an ISO member body or liaison organization, or is not international in scope, shall inform the ISO member body in its country of its intent to submit such a proposal.
Whenever practicable, proposers shall provide details concerning:
- Purpose and justification of the proposal;
- Relevant documents; and
- Cooperation and liaison,
in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, Annex C.
Additionally, wherever possible, proposals shall include an indication of an ISO Member Body willing to provide secretariat support to the IWA Workshop. If it is considered likely that participation in the workshop will need to be limited (see SJ.5.2), this shall also be indicated.
In some circumstances, it may be considered that several meetings may be needed to reach a consensus. In such cases, the proposer is encouraged, or may be required by the ISO Technical Management Board, to develop a business plan which would give details concerning meeting schedules, expected dates of availability of draft documents, the possibility that a workshop may establish project teams to progress work between meetings of the workshop, the expected date of availability of any IWA, etc.
Proposals will be referred to the ISO Technical Management Board for approval. Proposals should contain an analysis of the global interest in the subject being proposed for the IWA in different countries and by stakeholders.
If the proposal is accepted, the ISO/TMB will initiate consultations with member bodies to identify a candidate willing to act as the organizer and to provide administrative and logistics support to the proposer. Preference will normally be given to:
- The member body from the country of the proposer, if the proposer is not a member body; or
- Member bodies holding secretariats in fields related to that covered by the proposal.
If there is more than one offer, the ISO/TMB will formally designate the member body assigned to act as the workshop secretariat. The assigned ISO member body may establish financial arrangements with the proposer to cover administrative and logistics support costs for the workshop. If a member body is not willing to act as workshop secretariat, the ISO/TMB may authorize the ISO Central Secretariat to fulfil this role, provided all associated costs are recovered by workshop registration fees.
An informative checklist for estimating IWA workshop costs is provided in SI.10.
The workshop secretariat and the proposer shall designate the Chair of the workshop.
Once the workshop secretariat and the proposer have agreed on a date and venue for the first meeting of the workshop, these shall be communicated to the ISO member bodies. These details shall be further announced by the workshop secretariat, the ISO Central Secretariat and by any other interested member bodies in the most appropriate way(s) to achieve the widest possible circulation (e.g. a publicly accessible website). This may include a number of different announcement options and media, but the intent is to ensure that the broadest range of relevant interested parties worldwide are informed of the workshop and have the opportunity to attend.
The proposer and workshop secretariat will ensure that any ISO committees with projects relevant to the subject will be invited to be represented at the workshop.
A registration fee may be applied to help support the preparation and hosting of the workshop. Any registration fees shall be stated in the workshop announcement.
NOTE When the subject matter of a workshop is likely to be of interest to developing countries, it is recommended either that a funding mechanism other than a registration fee be applied to facilitate participation from such countries, or that a number of “free” registrations be permitted.
The announcement shall be made at least 90 days in advance of the agreed date to allow potential attendees adequate time to plan on attending the workshop. The announcement shall be accompanied by a registration form to allow potential participants to register for the workshop. Registration forms shall be returned to the workshop Secretariat.
A workshop programme detailing workshop objectives, documents, agenda, draft documents and any other relevant details for the workshop shall be available, and circulated to registered participants, no later than six weeks prior to the workshop date. Registered participants may submit their own contributions to the workshop secretariat for further distribution to other participants.
The proposer and workshop secretary shall designate the Chair of any particular workshop. The Chair shall act in a purely international and neutral capacity and, in particular, shall
- Ensure that all points of view expressed during a workshop are adequately summed up so that they are understood by all present,
- Conduct the workshop with a view to reaching consensus,
- Ensure that all decisions are clearly formulated and, if needed, made available to the participants before the closure of the meeting of the workshop.
SI.5.2 Registered participants
Any organization may register as a participant in a workshop, and participation will be open to the registered participants only. Participants are not required to be appointed by the ISO member body in their country. The workshop secretariat, Chair and proposer shall endeavour to ensure that the broadest range of interests is represented in any workshop and that there is an appropriate balance of representation. If needed, this may require that some limitation be placed on participation (for example, no more than two registered participants from the same corporate body or organization). If the need to limit participation is expected at the outset, this shall be indicated in the proposal submitted to the ISO Technical Management Board. If a need for limitation becomes apparent after the announcement of the workshop, this shall be authorized by the TMB secretariat following consultation with the ISO/TMB Chair and, if needed, other ISO/TMB members.
Workshop secretariats are responsible for ensuring that the outcome of the workshop is truly international, i.e. it is attended by more than one country.
In cases in which more than one meeting will be required to reach a consensus, a workshop may establish one or more project teams to progress work between meetings of the workshop. The workshop shall designate the membership of such project teams, ensuring that their working methods will allow all interests to participate fully.
SI.6 Workshop procedures and management oversight
Workshops will be permitted to work in a practically autonomous manner using very flexible procedures.
However, there are a number of general ISO policies which need to be respected, in particular those concerning intellectual property rights and the use of SI units. It shall be the responsibility of the workshop secretariat to ensure that the appropriate policies are known to registered participants and are respected.
Management oversight will be kept to the minimum required to ensure coordination with existing standardization activities if relevant and to ensure that appropriate resource is provided by the ISO system. It will be the responsibility of the workshop Chair to determine when consensus of the workshop participants has been reached on a particular item or document. For the purposes of determining consensus, the workshop Chair shall apply the definition of consensus in clause 2.5.6.
It should be noted that an IWA workshop may arrive at the consensus that an IWA document is not necessary.
The workshop documents shall contain a description of the workshop consensus achieved, including any recommendations for possible future actions or revisions to the workshop documents. The document resulting from the workshop will proceed to publication based on the consensus of the workshop without additional reviews or approvals by any other body, except in the case of an appeal on such a document (see immediately below).
Any parties affected by the document resulting from the workshop shall have the right of appeal for the following reasons:
- The workshop and the process to arrive at its document have not complied with these procedures;
- The document resulting from the workshop is not in the best interests of international trade and commerce, or such public factors as safety, health or the environment; or
- The contents of the document resulting from the workshop conflict with existing or draft ISO standard(s) or may be detrimental to the reputation of ISO.
Such appeals shall be submitted within two months of the date of the workshop and shall be considered by the ISO Technical Management Board, which, in such circumstances, will take the final decision concerning the publication of an IWA.
SI.8 Workshop documents and publication
Workshops will decide on the content of their own documents. Documents shall be sent to the ISO Central Secretariat for publication as International Workshop Agreements. They will be numbered in a special IWA series. Each IWA shall include the list of participants in the workshop that developed it. The list of participants should solely comprise the names of the organization/company and the country, without any additional information.
IWAs may be published in one of the official ISO languages only, and competing IWAs on the same subject are permitted. The technical content of an IWA may compete with the technical content of an existing ISO or IEC document, or the proposed content of an ISO or IEC document under development, but conflict is not normally permitted unless expressly authorized by the ISO/TMB.
If there is an existing ISO committee whose scope covers the topic, the published IWA shall automatically be allocated to this committee for maintenance.
An IWA shall be reviewed three years after its publication. This review shall be organized by the member body which provided the workshop secretariat, or the committee which has been allocated the responsibility for the maintenance of the IWA. The review shall include the consultation of interested market players. The result of the review may be to confirm the IWA for a further three-year period, to withdraw the IWA or to submit it for further processing as another ISO document in accordance with Part 1 of the ISO/IEC Directives.
An IWA may be further processed to become a Publicly Available Specification, a Technical Specification or an International Standard, according to the market requirement.
An IWA may remain valid for a maximum period of six years, following which it shall either be transformed with or without change into another ISO document or shall be automatically withdrawn.
SI.10 Checklist to estimate costs associated with hosting an ISO IWA Workshop (WS)
Completion of this checklist is NOT mandatory for the proposed hosting of an IWA. It is intended simply as a tool to assist proposers and assigned ISO member bodies in determining major costs associated with hosting an ISO IWA Workshop. Some of the sample costs provided may not be applicable to particular IWA Workshops, or may be covered in a different manner than is described below.
SI.10.1 Overall measures to consider
|
Expected number of documents |
|
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Expected number of Project groups |
|
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Expected number of participants |
|
|
Expected number of WS plenary meetings |
|
|
Expected number of Project group meetings |
|
SI.10.2 Planned Resources — Human Resource Requirements & Functions
|
Function |
Who |
Estimated Cost |
Covered by |
Commitment |
|
WS Secretariat - organizing WS plenary meetings - producing WS and project meeting reports and action lists - administrative contact point for WS projects - managing WS (and project group) membership lists - managing WS (and project group) document registers - follow-up of action lists - if the Workshop works mainly by electronic means, assist Chair in monitoring and follow-up of electronic discussion |
|
|
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|
|
WS Chair - chairing WS plenary meetings -
responsible for overall -
producing project management -
acting as formal liaison with related - if the Workshop works mainly by electronic means, follow and steer electronic discussions that take place between meetings, take necessary decisions |
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|
|
|
|
WS Vice-Chair If your WS will have “Vice-Chair(s)”, you should list them here, along with their particular functions and fill-in the right side of this table |
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Project Leader(s) (where applicable) - chairing project group meetings - producing project group meeting - reports and action lists - preparing project group progress reports - if the Workshop works mainly by - electronic means, follow and steer - electronic discussions that take place - regarding his/her particular project |
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IWA Editor - editing of the IWA texts - attend meetings - follow discussions relating to the IWA (s) that she/he is editing |
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SI.10.3 Planned Resources — Material Resource Requirements
|
Material Resource costs |
Numbers |
Estimated Cost |
Covered by … |
Commitment |
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WS Meetings |
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Meeting rooms |
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Logistics (IT support, photocopies, etc.) |
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Food and beverage |
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Interpretation during meetings |
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Annex SJ
(normative)
Forms
These are available in electronic format (typically MS Word) for download from www.iso.org/forms.
Annex SK
(normative)
Deadlines for posting committee and working group meeting documents
SK.1 Why it is important to respect these deadlines
National mirror committees need time to prepare their national positions on the various issues discussed at the meeting.
SK.2 Ensuring that a document will be ready for circulation by the deadlines stipulated
This is the responsibility of the secretariat. They shall carefully consider the steps needed and leave enough time in advance of the meeting deadlines to make sure that the document is ready. For example, to discuss a DIS, the secretariat will have to start the process 7 months before the committee meeting (i.e. 2 weeks of document preparation by the ISO Central Secretariat + 20 weeks for the vote and translation + 6 weeks deadline before the meeting).
SK.3 How to deal with issues that come up at the meeting for which no document was issued 6 weeks in advance
It is possible that committees make decisions on points for which no information was provided in advance of the meeting within the deadlines indicated below. In such cases, the committee leadership should ask the P-members present if they are comfortable and prepared to take such decisions in principle or if they would prefer time to consult further with other national stakeholders. The committee leaders should ensure that they are seeking to engage all P members in decisions, even if those P members were not able to attend the meeting. A ballot can then be launched after the meeting via the ISO Committee Internal Ballot (CIB) mechanism to confirm any decisions.
Table SK.1 — Deadlines for committees
|
Item |
Time |
|
Agenda & meeting logistics (e.g. location, accommodation, visa information) |
−16 weeks (face-to-face and hybrid meetings) −8 weeks (virtual meetings) |
|
Documents for decision in meetings such as: |
|
|
Working group reports |
−6 weeks |
|
Liaison reports |
−6 weeks |
|
Leadership elections/renewals |
−6 weeks |
|
Creation/disbandment of subcommittees and working group |
−6 weeks |
|
Strategic Business Plans |
−6 weeks |
|
Voting results and compilation of comments for CD, DIS, DTR and DTS |
−6 weeks |
|
Voting results for SR and any CIB ad hoc enquiries requiring discussion or follow-up |
−6 weeks |
|
Resolutions |
+48 hours |
|
Minutes (including list of attendees) |
+4 weeks |
SK.4 Deadlines for sending working group documents
The ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 state only that the agenda shall be sent out 6-weeks in advance of working group meetings. The timeframe for the circulation of other documents is to be decided by the working group members. WG Convenors should ensure that their working groups take decisions on the acceptable time frame for circulating documents before meetings to ensure working group Experts can be well-prepared. The minutes of WG meetings shall be circulated within 4 weeks after the WG meeting.
Table SK.2 — Deadlines for WGs
|
Type of document, announcement or activity |
Deadline |
|
First WG meeting after a TC decision |
+12 weeks |
|
Meeting announcement |
To be decided by the WG (face-to-face and hybrid meetings) −4 weeks (virtual meetings) |
|
Agenda |
−6 weeks (face-to-face and hybrid meetings) −4 weeks (virtual meetings) |
|
Documents for the WG meeting |
(To be decided by the WG) |
|
Minutes (including the list of attendees) |
+4 weeks |
SK.5 Time frames for circulating documents in advance of a web meeting or teleconference
Again, the principle should be that agendas and documents are circulated with enough time before any meeting in order that participants can be well-prepared for informed discussions and decisions. Web or teleconference meetings of TCs, PCs, SCs and WGs for limited aspects of their work should follow the same time frames detailed above. P-members involved should decide on appropriate timeframes for the circulation of documents before Chairman’s Advisory Groups, Advisory Groups, Task Forces, etc.
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Annex SL
(normative)
Harmonized approach for management system standards
The harmonized approach for developing management system standards (MSS) includes this annex, a justification study (see Appendix 1), the harmonized structure (identical clause numbers with the same sequence, clause titles, text, common terms and core definitions) with guidance for use (see Appendix 2) and terminology guidance (see Appendix 3).
A new management system standard (MSS) or revision of an existing MSS by a TC/SC/PC shall be developed in accordance with this annex (see SL.8.2).
NOTE 1 TC/SC/PC is hereafter referred to as “committee” in this annex.
NOTE 2 The committees responsible for MSS are members of the Joint Technical Coordination Group on MSS (JTCG).
For the purposes of this annex, the following terms and definitions apply.
|
SL.2.1 |
Note 1 to entry: A management system can address a single discipline or several disciplines.
Note 2 to entry: The management system elements include the organization’s structure, roles and responsibilities, planning and operation.
Note 3 to entry: This definition corresponds to definition 3.4 in Appendix 2.
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SL.2.2 |
Note 1 to entry: For the purposes of this annex, this definition also applies to other ISO documents (e.g. TS, PAS, IWA).
|
SL.2.3 |
|
SL.2.4 |
EXAMPLE Management system requirements standards (specifications); management system sector-specific requirements standards.
Note to entry 1: There are different categories of Type B MSS, including:
- the use, application or implementation of a Type A MSS (SL.2.5);
- the establishment, improvement or enhancement of a management system;
- a specific topic, requirement or set of requirements related to a Type A MSS;
- other guidance not directly related to a Type A MSS.
|
SL.2.7 |
Note 1 to entry: See Appendix 2 and Appendix 3.
SL.3 Requirements to submit a Justification Study
A justification study (JS) shall be carried out in accordance with Appendix 1 and is needed for:
- new MSS, including Type A , Type B or sector-specific MSS;
- revisions of MSS that do not have an approved JS.
All MSS proposals [including sector-specific MSS (SL.2.4), see Annex SP] and their JS shall be identified by the relevant committee leadership and the JS shall be sent to the TMB (or its MSS task force) for evaluation and approval before the NP ballot takes place. It is the responsibility of the relevant committee secretariat to identify all MSS proposals.
No JS is required for:
- a Type B MSS providing guidance on a specific Type A MSS for which a JS has already been submitted and approved;
- a revision of an MSS with an approved JS and scope that has been confirmed.
EXAMPLE ISO/IEC 27003 (Information technology — Security techniques — Information security management system implementation guidance) did not need a JS prior to its development because ISO/IEC 27001 (Information technology — Security techniques — Information security management systems — Requirements) had already had a JS submitted and approved.
SL.4 Cases where no JS have been submitted
MSS proposals which have not been submitted for TMB evaluation before the NP ballot will be sent to the TMB for evaluation, and no new ballot should take place before the TMB decision (project on hold). It is considered good practice that the committee members endorse the JS before it is sent to the TMB.
NOTE Already published MSS which did not have a JS submitted will be treated as new MSS at the time of the revision, i.e. a JS needs to be presented and approved before any work can begin.
SL.5 Applicability of this annex
The procedures in this annex apply to all ISO documents, including TS, PAS and IWA.
All projects for new MSS (or for MSS which are already published but for which no JS was completed) shall undergo a JS (see SL.1 and SL.3). The following general criteria are used for the preparation of the JS and to assess the market relevance of the proposed MSS. The justification criteria questions in Appendix 1 are based on these criteria. The answers to the questions will form part of the JS. An MSS should only be initiated, developed and maintained when the following have been addressed.
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1) Market relevance |
— |
MSS meets the needs of, and adds value for, the primary users and other affected parties. |
|
2) Compatibility |
— |
There is compatibility between various MSS and within an MSS family. |
|
3) Topic coverage |
— |
A generic MSS (SL.2.3) should have sufficient application coverage to eliminate or minimize the need for sector-specific variances. |
|
4) Flexibility |
— |
An MSS should be applicable to organizations in all relevant sectors and cultures and of every size. An MSS should not prevent organizations from competitively adding to or enhancing their management systems beyond the standard or differentiating themselves from others. |
|
5) Free trade |
— |
An MSS should permit the free trade of goods and services in line with the principles included in the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. |
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6) Applicability |
— |
The market need for first-, second- or third-party conformity assessment, or any combination thereof, should be assessed. The resulting MSS should clearly address the suitability of use for conformity assessment in its scope. An MSS should facilitate combined audits against multiple MSS. |
|
7) Exclusions |
— |
An MSS shall not include directly related product or service specifications, test methods, performance levels (i.e. setting of limits) or other forms of standardization for products or services provided by the implementing organization. |
|
8) Climate impact |
— |
An MSS should support the determination of an organization’s potential impacts on climate change and ensure that the organization aims to mitigate or avoid adverse climate impacts resulting from its processes, products, services and value chain. |
|
9) Ease of use |
— |
It should be ensured that the user can easily implement one or more MSS. An MSS should be easily understood, unambiguous, free from cultural bias, easily translatable, and applicable to businesses in general. |
SL.7 Justification study process and criteria
This clause describes the justification study (JS) process for justifying and evaluating the market relevance of proposals for an MSS. Appendix 1 provides a set of questions to be addressed in the justification study.
SL.7.2 Justification study process
The JS process applies to any MSS project and consists of the following:
a) the development of the JS by (or on behalf of) the proposer of an MSS project;
b) an approval of the JS by the TMB.
The JS process is followed by the normal ISO balloting procedure for new work item approval as appropriate.
SL.7.3 Justification study criteria
Based on Annex C and the general principles stated above, a set of questions (see Appendix 1) shall be used as criteria for justifying and assessing a proposed MSS project and shall be answered by the proposer. This list of questions is not exhaustive, and any additional information that is relevant to the case should be provided. The JS should demonstrate that all questions have been considered. If it is decided that they are not relevant or appropriate to a particular situation, then the reasons for this decision should be clearly stated. The unique aspect of a particular MSS may require consideration of additional questions to assess objectively its market relevance.
SL.8 Identical clause titles, identical core text and common terms and core definitions for use in management systems standards (the “harmonized structure”)
The aim of this document is to enhance the consistency and alignment of MSS by providing a unifying and agreed upon harmonized approach. The aim is that all Type A MSS (and Type B MSS where appropriate) are aligned and the compatibility of these standards is enhanced. It is envisaged that individual MSS will add additional “discipline-specific” requirements as required.
NOTE In SL.8.3 and SL.8.4, “discipline-specific” is used to indicate the specific subject(s) to which a management system standard refers, e.g. energy, quality, records, environment etc.
The intended audience for this document is committees and others that are involved in the development of MSS.
This common approach to new MSS and future revisions of existing standards will increase the value of such standards to users. It will be particularly useful for those organizations that choose to operate a single (sometimes called “integrated”) management system that can meet the requirements of two or more MSS simultaneously.
Appendix 2 sets out the harmonized structure that forms the nucleus of future and revised Type A MSS, and Type B MSS when possible, together with guidance on its use for MSS Writers and ISO Editors.
SL.8.2 Application of the harmonized structure by different types of MSS
Type A MSS shall apply the harmonized structure detailed in Appendix 2.
Type B MSS providing guidance on the use, application or implementation of Type A MSS shall follow the same clause sequence down to the two-digit clause level (e.g. 10.2) of that Type A MSS.
For other Type B MSS, the committee may choose to use the harmonized structure clause sequence or take a different approach.
SL.8.3 Using Appendix 2 to this annex
Discipline-specific text additions to requirements in Appendix 2 shall be managed as follows.
a) Discipline-specific additions shall be made by the individual committee or other group that is developing the specific MSS.
b) Discipline-specific text shall not affect harmonization or contradict or undermine the intent of the harmonized structure.
c) Additional subclauses, or sub-subclauses (etc.), may be inserted either ahead of an identical text subclause (or sub-subclause etc.), or after such a subclause (etc.), renumbered accordingly and with the necessary adjustments to cross referencing.
NOTE 1 Hanging paragraphs are not permitted (see ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2).
d) Clause 3 of the MSS shall include the terms and definitions from Clause 3 of Appendix 2. If a modification or deletion of a definition or note to entry is made by a committee, a justification for deviation is required, except in the case of the term risk, 3.7 (see Appendix 2, 3.7). The addition of notes to entry are not considered deviations. These terms and definitions may be repeated in a vocabulary standard. Insertions of discipline specific terms and definitions and renumbering accordingly are permitted.
NOTE 2 Appendix 2 presents the definitions in systematic order, which is preferred due to translation (see Appendix 3 on terminology).
e) A committee may add or insert discipline-specific text within Appendix 2. Examples of additions include:
1) new bullet points;
2) discipline-specific explanatory text (e.g. Notes or Examples), to clarify requirements;
3) discipline-specific new paragraphs to subclauses (etc.) within the identical text;
4) additional text that enhances the existing requirements in Appendix 2.
f) A committee shall avoid repeating requirements between identical core text and discipline-specific text by adding text into the identical core text, taking into account point 2 above.
g) To distinguish between discipline-specific text and identical core text from Appendix 2, a committee shall, from the start of the drafting process, use blue for the text from the harmonized structure and black for the committee discipline-specific text. This aids identification of the different types of text during the development and balloting stages.
NOTE 3 Identification of distinguishing text is not necessarily carried into the published version.
h) Understanding of the concept of “risk” may be different than that given in definition 3.7 of Appendix 2. In this case, a discipline-specific definition may be needed.
NOTE 4 The above can also apply to a number of other definitions.
i) If, due to exceptional discipline-specific circumstances, text from the harmonized structure cannot be applied in the management system standard, then the committee may amend the text and introduce a deviation.
j) If there are non-discipline specific circumstances, the committee shall raise the issue within JTCG.
When a committee has a deviation, it shall justify the deviation based on discipline specific information by:
a) providing an initial deviation report to ISO/CS with the DIS submission;
b) providing a final deviation report to TMB (through the ISO/TMB Secretary at tmb@iso.org) upon submission of the final text of the International Standard for publication.
The committee shall use the ISO commenting template to provide its deviation reports. The deviation report shall contain the changes to the Appendix 2 text or notes to entry and any deletions. The report should also contain additions to facilitate trend analysis for future revisions.
NOTE 1 The final deviation report can be an updated version of the initial deviation report.
NOTE 2 The committee strives to avoid any non-applicability of the harmonized structure.
The committee receives comments from ISO/CS regarding the deviations. The committee resolves the comments in dialogue with the editorial staff. The deviation reports are retained by JTCG. JTCG reviews the deviation reports for trends and other information for future revisions of Annex SL.
Appendix 1
(normative)
Justification criteria questions
1. General
The list of questions to be addressed in the justification study is in line with the principles listed in SL.6. This list is not exhaustive. Additional information not covered by the questions should be provided if it is relevant to the case.
Each general principle should be given due consideration, and ideally, when preparing the JS, the proposer should provide a general rationale for each principle, prior to answering the questions associated with the principle.
The principles to which the proposer of the MSS should pay due attention when preparing the justification study are:
1. Market relevance
2. Compatibility
3. Topic coverage
4. Flexibility
5. Free trade
6. Applicability of conformity assessment
7. Exclusions
8. Climate impact and
9. Ease of use
NOTE No questions directly refer to principle 9 (“Ease of use”), but it should guide the development of the document.
Basic information on the MSS proposal
|
1 |
What is the proposed purpose and scope of the MSS? Is the document supposed to be a guidance document or a document with requirements? |
|
2 |
Is there one or more existing ISO committees or non-ISO organizations that could logically have responsibility for the proposed MSS? If so, identify. |
|
3 |
Have relevant reference materials been identified, such as existing guidelines or established practices? |
|
4 |
Are there technical Experts available to support the standardization work? Are the technical Experts direct representatives of the affected parties from the different geographical regions? |
|
5 |
What efforts are anticipated as being necessary to develop the document in terms of Experts needed and the number/duration of meetings? |
|
6 |
Is the MSS intended to be a guidance document, contractual specification or regulatory specification for an organization? |
|
7 |
Are there any potentially negative impacts on the climate (e.g. GHG emissions) as a result of the implementation of the MSS, and how might these be mitigated? |
|
8 |
Have all the affected parties been identified? For example: a) organizations (of various types and sizes): the decision-makers within an organization who approve work to implement and achieve conformance to the MSS; b) customers/end-users, i.e. individuals or parties that pay for or use a product (including service) from an organization; c) supplier organizations, e.g. producer, distributor, retailer or vendor of a product, or a provider of a service or information; d) MSS service provider, e.g. MSS certification bodies, accreditation bodies or consultants; e) regulatory bodies; f) non-governmental organizations. |
|
9 |
What is the need for this MSS? Does the need exist at a local, national, regional or global level? Does the need apply to developing countries? Does it apply to developed countries? What is the added value of having an ISO document (e.g. facilitating communication between organizations in different countries)? |
|
10 |
Does the need exist for a number of sectors and is thus generic? If so, which ones? Does the need exist for small, medium or large organizations? |
|
11 |
Is the need important? Will the need continue? If yes, will the target date of completion for the proposed MSS satisfy this need? Are viable alternatives identified? |
|
12 |
Describe how the need and importance were determined. List the affected parties consulted and the major geographical or economic regions in which they are located. |
|
13 |
Is there known or expected support for the proposed MSS? List those bodies that have indicated support. Is there known or expected opposition to the proposed MSS? List those bodies that have indicated opposition. |
|
14 |
What are the expected benefits and costs to organizations, differentiated for small, medium and large organizations if applicable? Describe how the benefits and the costs were determined. Provide available information on geographic or economic focus, industry sector and size of the organization. Provide information on the sources consulted and their basis (e.g. proven practices), premises, assumptions and conditions (e.g. speculative or theoretical), and other pertinent information. |
|
15 |
What are the expected benefits and costs to other affected parties (including developing countries)? Describe how the benefits and the costs were determined. Provide any information regarding the affected parties indicated. |
|
16 |
What will be the expected value to society? |
|
17 |
Have any other risks been identified (e.g. timeliness or unintended consequences to a specific business)? |
|
18 |
Is there potential overlap or conflict with (or what is the added value in relation to) other existing or planned ISO or non-ISO international standards, or those at the national or regional level? Are there other public or private actions, guidance, requirements and regulations that seek to address the identified need, such as technical papers, proven practices, academic or professional studies, or any other body of knowledge? |
|
19 |
Is the MSS or the related conformity assessment activities (e.g. audits, certifications) likely to add to, replace all or parts of, harmonize and simplify, duplicate or repeat, conflict with, or detract from the existing activities identified above? What steps are being considered to ensure compatibility, resolve conflict or avoid duplication? |
|
20 |
Is the proposed MSS likely to promote or stem the proliferation of MSS at the national or regional level, or by industry sectors? |
|
21 |
Is the MSS for a single specific sector? |
|
22 |
Will the MSS reference or incorporate an existing, non-industry-specific MSS (e.g. from the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards)? If yes, will the development of the MSS conform to the ISO/IEC Sector Policy (see ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2), and any other relevant policy and guidance procedures (e.g. those that may be made available by a relevant ISO committee)? |
|
23 |
What steps have been taken to remove or minimize the need for particular sector-specific deviations from a generic MSS? |
|
24 |
Will the MSS allow an organization competitively to add to, differentiate or encourage innovation of its management system beyond the standard? |
|
25 |
How would the MSS facilitate or impact global trade? Could the MSS create or prevent a technical barrier to trade? |
|
26 |
Could the MSS create or prevent a technical barrier to trade for small, medium or large organizations? |
|
27 |
Could the MSS create or prevent a technical barrier to trade for developing or developed countries? |
|
28 |
If the proposed MSS is intended to be used in government regulations, is it likely to add to, duplicate, replace, enhance or support existing governmental regulations? |
Principle 6: Applicability of conformity
|
29 |
If the intended use is for contractual or regulatory purposes, what are the potential methods to demonstrate conformance (e.g. first party, second party or a third party)? Does the MSS enable organizations to be flexible in choosing the method of demonstrating conformance, and to accommodate for changes in its operations, management, physical locations and equipment? |
|
30 |
If third-party registration/certification is a potential option, what are the anticipated benefits and costs to the organization? Will the MSS facilitate combined audits with other MSS or promote parallel assessments? |
|
31 |
Does the proposed scope of the MSS include product or service specifications, test methods, (product or service) performance levels, or other forms of guidance or requirements directly related to products or services produced or provided by the implementing organization? |
Principle 8: Climate change impact
|
32 |
Does the proposed MSS require the organization to consider climate change (mitigation and adaptation)? |
Appendix 2
(normative)
Harmonized structure for MSS with guidance for use
The harmonized structure for MSS (identical clause numbers, clause titles, text and common terms and core definitions), together with guidance on its use for writers and editors of MSS, is provided at the following URL:
(https://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink?func=ll&objId=16347818&objAction=browse&viewType=1)
Appendix 3
(informative)
Terminology guidance in support of Annex SL
The guidance that is intended to help writers and editors of MSS to understand the approach to terminology in Appendix 2 is provided at the following URL:
(https://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink?func=ll&objId=16347818&objAction=browse&viewType=1).
Annex SM
(normative)
Global relevance of ISO technical work and publications
The adoption of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement (TBT), placed an obligation on ISO to ensure that the International Standards it develops, adopts, and publishes are globally relevant. The WTO document “Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations” defines in Clause 4 “Effectiveness and Relevance” the requirements for relevance of International Standards, which apply also to their global relevance:
- Effectively respond to regulatory and market needs (in the global marketplace)
- Respond to scientific and technical developments in various countries
- Not distort the market
- Have no adverse effects on fair competition
- Not stifle innovation and technological development
- Not give preference to characteristics or requirements of specific countries or regions when different needs or interests exist in other countries or regions
- Be performance-based as opposed to design prescriptive
Hence the development and adoption of an International Standard that fails to meet these requirements are open to being challenged as creating a barrier to free trade.
Noting the need to provide fuller advice to committees on global relevance, and following a request from the ISO Council, the ISO/TMB established a Global Relevance Task Force. This task force and, subsequently, the ISO/TMB have agreed on the set of principles that follows.
Standard
Document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.
NOTE Standards should be based on the consolidated results of science, technology and experience, and aimed at the promotion of optimum community benefits.
(ISO/IEC Guide 2, ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2)
international standard
Standard that is adopted by an international standardizing/standards organization and made available to the public.
(ISO/IEC Guide 2, ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2)
International Standard
International standard where the international standards organization is ISO or IEC.
(ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2)
Global relevance
Required characteristic of an International Standard that it can be used/implemented as broadly as possible by affected industries and other stakeholders in markets around the world.
SM.3.1 The status and meaning of an International Standard shall be respected.
Any International Standard shall respect the above definitions and shall, to the extent possible, represent a unique international solution. In cases where unique international solutions are not possible for specific provisions of an International Standard at the current time due to legitimate market and essential differences, International Standards may present options to accommodate these differences where justified.
It is recognized that, in some instances, various solutions exist to meet unique aspects of the local markets in different regions and countries. With globalization and the unification of markets, these market differences should be minimized over time and evolve into one global market. Simply projecting one solution that accommodates one market (but not others) as the International Standard will not force markets to evolve and coalesce. In such cases, the markets and their related industries will look elsewhere for standards that better accommodate their needs, and ISO will lose its relevance for those markets and industries. Rather than force such a situation, ISO committees should ascertain at the outset of a project whether:
- a globally relevant International Standard presenting one unique international solution in all of its provisions is feasible;
- an International Standard is feasible that presents options in specific provisions to accommodate existing and legitimate market differences where justified; or
- the preparation of a globally relevant International Standard is not feasible, and work should not be undertaken in such circumstances.
Additional practical guidance for committee leaders and delegates/Experts may be found in the ISO Global Relevance Policy Implementation document.
SM.3.3 Preference shall be given to preparing standards based on performance rather than design.
Please note the following: Annex 3 of the WTO/TBT Agreement.
“Wherever appropriate, the standardizing body shall specify standards based on product requirements in terms of performance rather than design or descriptive characteristics.”
ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, clause 5.4 Performance principle (Excerpt) “Whenever possible, requirements shall be expressed in terms of performance rather than design or descriptive characteristics. This principle allows maximum freedom for technical development and reduces the risk of undesirable market impacts (e.g. restriction of innovative solutions).”
Given these quotations, the use of the performance-based approach is widely recognized as supporting the development of globally relevant ISO standards. In the case of design-based standards, the freedom for further technical innovation is most limited, while performance-based standards provide maximum freedom for further innovation. However, in practice, there may be cases where the inclusion of design requirements for some provisions within a performance-based standard is appropriate. There may also be other cases where the development of a completely design-based standard may be appropriate and will result in a globally relevant ISO standard.
Thus, which approach is most appropriate depends on the technical matter in question.
Additional practical guidance for committee leaders and delegates/Experts may be found in the ISO/TMB's Global Relevance Implementation Guidance document.
Under this principle, a committee may wish to consider how it addresses current and potentially changeable differences in markets (based on factors such as legislation, economies, social conditions, trade patterns, market needs, scientific theories, design philosophies, etc.) in the ISO documents it produces.
Additional practical guidance for committee leaders and delegates/Experts may be found in the ISO/TMB's Global Relevance Implementation Guidance document.
Under this principle, a committee may wish to consider how it addresses essential differences in markets around the world, that is, factors that are not expected to change over time, such as embedded technological infrastructures, climatic, geographical or anthropological differences.
Additional practical guidance for committee leaders and delegates/Experts may be found in the ISO/TMB's Global Relevance Implementation Guidance document.
Additional practical guidance for committee leaders and delegates/Experts may be found in the ISO/TMB's Global Relevance Implementation Guidance document.
Annex SN
(Currently blank — placeholder for new annexes)
Annex SO
(normative)
Principles for developing ISO and IEC Standards related to or supporting public
policy initiatives
The 2007 ISO General Assembly Open Session on International Standards and Public Policy addressed important dynamics confronting the ISO community — the relationship between ISO standards and public policy, as well as the unique needs and concerns of one major class of ISO standards users, namely, governments. ISO's sister organization IEC, responsible for electrotechnical standardization, applauds the initiative and wishes to cooperate with ISO to develop common ISO/IEC principles and guidance for the technical committees of both organizations. It is a reasonable goal that ISO and IEC wish to make their portfolio of standards more visible to public authorities and, equally important, ensure that its standards address the relevant needs and concerns of the public authorities. This will support their global relevance and applicability worldwide, as it has been shown that ISO and IEC standards are capable of providing valuable support to the implementation of public policy. ISO and IEC have been and will continue to be effective providers of voluntary standards that support the programs of government authorities, who need standards that meet the WTO TBT criteria and that support technical regulations and/or procurement actions.
It should be noted that, as private, voluntary organizations, ISO and IEC themselves are not directly representative of government interests. ISO and IEC consensus on ISO and IEC standards reflects agreement across a range of stakeholders at the standard drafting level, AND it reflects a consensus across national standards bodies at the approval level. National positions on ISO or IEC standards are not necessarily government positions, although government Experts may participate in developing these positions with their counterparts from the private sector.
The following set of principles has been established to guide ISO and IEC committees in developing standards related to or supporting public policy initiatives. These principles will ensure that ISO and IEC standards can properly support and be used by public authorities.
a) ISO and IEC are committed to creating market-driven International Standards, based on objective information and knowledge on which there is a global consensus, and not on subjective judgments, to provide credible technical tools that can support the implementation of regulation and public policy initiatives.
b) ISO and IEC are committed to developing International Standards that are market relevant, meeting the needs and concerns of all relevant stakeholders, including public authorities where appropriate, without seeking to establish, drive or motivate public policy, regulations, or social and political agendas.
When ISO or IEC standards are anticipated to support a public policy initiative, the relationship between the standard(s) and the public policy initiative(s) should be clearly understood among all concerned parties. The interaction of standardization and public policy or regulation should be anticipated and the intervention of the public authorities in the standards development process should occur as early as possible. It should be noted that in many cases, Experts representing regulatory authorities are actively participating in the development of ISO and IEC International Standards both as members of the relevant international committees and/or at the pertinent national mirror committees to ISO and IEC technical bodies.
c) ISO and IEC recognize that the development of regulation, public policy and/or the development and interpretation of international treaties is the role of governments or treaty organizations.
d) ISO and IEC standards supporting regulation, regulatory cooperation and public policy are best developed within ISO and IEC structures and under operational approaches and participation models that have been proven successful and that are detailed in the ISO/IEC Directives.
The use of special committee structures, procedures or participation models may compromise the credibility and suitability of the resulting ISO/IEC standards supporting regulation and public policy.
- In addition to promoting these principles to ISO and IEC committees, their leaders and participants, ISO and IEC shall actively support and promote the principles for international standardization established in the WTO TBT Agreement and subsequent decisions of the TBT Committee regarding the development of International Standards.
- ISO member bodies and IEC National Committees should ensure that national governments, including their trade representatives, are aware of ISO's and IEC's portfolios, are informed about ISO and IEC as venues for standards development, and are engaged in ISO and IEC standards development whenever appropriate to reduce misunderstanding and inadvertent contradictions.
- The ISO Technical Management Board and the IEC Standardization Management Board should develop additional implementation guidance and case studies of successful ISO and IEC standards efforts that support public policy initiatives (for example, ISO standards related to medical devices and greenhouse gas emissions, and IEC standards related to radio interference, the safety of household appliances, ships and marine technology).
Annex SP
(normative)
Policy for the development of sector-specific management
standards and sector-specific management system standards (MSS)
Any technical committee or subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop that proposes the development of a sector-specific management standard (SP.2.2) or a sector-specific management system standard (MSS) (SP.2.4) shall follow the directions specified in this annex. It includes, as applicable, committee-specific policies (SP.5), which may not be limited to sector-specific management standards or sector-specific management system standards.
|
SP.2.1 |
|
SP.2.2 |
|
SP.2.3 |
|
SP.2.4 |
SP.3 Sector-specific management standards and sector-specific management system standards
Any new proposal for a sector-specific management standard (SP.2.2) or sector-specific MSS (SP.2.4) shall:
- clearly demonstrate its market relevance and alignment through the completion of appropriate ISO project approval procedures by means of ISO Form 4, New Work Item Proposal,
- [in the case of the development of a sector-specific MSS (SP.2.4)] clearly demonstrate that all the rules and principles in Annex SL have been followed, including the approval of the justification study (see Annex SL), and
- clearly demonstrate that the liaison with the committee responsible for the generic management standard or generic MSS concerned is effective,
- if applicable, conform with the committee-specific policies set out below.
SP.4 Drafting rules
Sector-specific management standards (SP.2.2) and sector-specific MSS (SP.2.4) shall respect the following rules:
a) Normative reference shall be made to the generic management standard (SP.2.1) or generic MSS (SP.2.3). Alternatively, the clauses and subclauses may be reproduced verbatim.
b) If text from the generic management standard (SP.2.1) or generic MSS (SP.2.3) is reproduced in the sector-specific standard, it shall be distinguished from the other elements of the sector-specific standard.
c) Terms and definitions specified in the generic management standard (SP.2.1) or generic MSS (SP.2.3) shall be referred to in a normative manner or reproduced verbatim.
SP.5 Committee specific policies
Sector-specific management standards (SP.2.2) and sector-specific MSS (SP.2.4) shall not interpret, change, or subtract from the requirements of the generic management standard or generic MSS.
SP.5.2.1 Terms and definitions
The following terms and definitions are applicable to environmental policy:
|
SP.5.2.1.1 |
EXAMPLE The application of an environmental management system (ISO 14001) or life-cycle assessment (ISO 14044) to agri-food or energy sectors.
|
SP.5.2.1.2 |
EXAMPLE The application of an environmental management system (ISO 14001) for greenhouse gas (aspect) management or life-cycle assessment (ISO 14044) for the water (aspect) footprint of products.
|
SP.5.2.1.3 |
EXAMPLE Communications or emergency management (elements) within an environmental management system (ISO 14001) or data collection or critical review (elements) within a life-cycle assessment (ISO 14044).
SP.5.2.2 General
Any technical committee, subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop that proposes development of a sector-, aspect- or element-specific environmental management standard shall clearly demonstrate its market relevance and alignment through the completion of appropriate project approval procedures, including:
- ISO Form 4, New Work Item Proposal for the sector-, aspect- or element-specific specific application of generic environmental management system standards, environmental labeling, life-cycle assessment and greenhouse gas management standards, and
- Annex SL Proposals for management system standards (MSS) for sector-, aspect- or element-specific specific application of generic environmental MSS.
Approval documentation should include specific justification as to why the relevant generic ISO 14000 series standard(s) insufficiently address sector-, aspect- or element-specific needs and how the proposed new standard would effectively resolve identified issues. Proposers should critically assess whether additional sector-, aspect- or element-specific requirements are needed as opposed to the provision of additional guidance to the generic environmental management standard(s).
SP.5.2.3 Any technical committee, subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop that proposes the development of a sector-, aspect- or element-specific environmental management standard should consider and reflect the needs of developing countries, economies in transition, small- and medium- enterprises and organizations operating across a variety of sectors.
SP.5.2.4 ISO/TC 207 will cooperate in or, where appropriate and as decided by the Technical Management Board, lead joint projects with the technical committee, subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop developing sector-, aspect- or element-specific environmental management standards to avoid duplication of effort and promote consistency and alignment. There is no intention to restrict the development of market-relevant standards in committees outside of ISO/TC 207.
SP.5.2.5 Technical committee, subcommittee, project committee, or International Workshop developing sector-, aspect- or element-specific environmental management standards shall:
- include the normative reference of the appropriate generic ISO 14000 series environmental management systems, environmental auditing, environmental labeling, life-cycle assessment and greenhouse gas management standards;
- include the normative reference of the appropriate generic ISO 14050 terms and definitions;
- distinguish ISO 14000 series text if it is reproduced; and
- not interpret, change, or subtract from the requirements of the generic ISO 14000 series environmental management systems, environmental auditing, environmental labeling, life-cycle assessment and greenhouse gas management standards.
SP.5.2.6 Any requests for guidance on this sector-, aspect- or element-specific policy or for interpretation of generic ISO 14000 series standards or ISO 14050 terms and definitions or for guidance on a sector-, aspect- or element-specific document shall be submitted to the ISO Central Secretariat as well as the relevant TC 207 subcommittee.
When a technical committee, subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop wishes to develop quality management system requirements or guidance for a particular product or industry/economic sector, it shall respect the following rules.
a) Normative reference shall be made to ISO 9001 in its entirety. Alternatively, the clauses and subclauses may be reproduced verbatim.
b) If text from ISO 9001 is reproduced in the sector document, it shall be distinguished from the other elements of the sector document [see d)].
c) Terms and definitions specified in ISO 9000 shall be referred to in a normative manner or reproduced verbatim.
d) The guidance and criteria provided in Quality management systems – Guidance and criteria for the development of documents to meet the needs of specific product and industry/economic sectors, approved by ISO/TC 176, shall be considered not only when determining the need for sector-specific requirements or guidance document but also in the document development process.
Any requests for guidance on this sector policy or for interpretation of ISO 9000 terms and definitions, ISO 9001 or ISO 9004 shall be submitted to the secretariat of ISO/TC 176.
When a technical committee, subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop wishes to develop asset management system requirements or guidance for a particular product or industry/economic sector, it shall respect the following rules:
a) Normative reference shall be made to ISO 55001 in its entirety. Alternatively, the clauses and subclauses may be reproduced verbatim.
b) If text from ISO 55001 is reproduced in the sector document, it shall be distinguished from the other elements of the sector document.
c) Terms and definitions specified in ISO 55000 shall be referred to in a normative manner or reproduced verbatim.
Any requests for guidance on a sector-specific document or for interpretation of ISO 55000 terms and definitions or ISO 55001 shall be submitted to the secretariat of ISO/TC 251.
When a technical committee, subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop wishes to develop risk management requirements or guidance for a particular product or industry/economic sector, it may choose to use definition(s) of risk in their deliverables as appropriate to the purpose of the deliverable and the needs of the committee’s relevant stakeholders. If they decide to use a definition of risk established in another ISO and/or IEC deliverable, the committee may choose to augment the term and definitions in the following ways:
- By adding notes to the definition(s) that will be helpful in bridging the definition(s) to the deliverable in which the definition(s) appears.
- By describing the context of risk.
- By indicating the domain of risk in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives Part 2, clause 16.5.6.
Any requests for guidance on a sector-specific document or for interpretation of ISO 31000 terms and definitions shall be submitted to the secretariat of ISO/TC 262.
When a technical committee, subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop wishes to develop social responsibility requirements or guidance for a particular product or industry/economic sector, it shall respect the following rules:
a) Reference shall be made to ISO 26000 in its entirety. Alternatively, the clauses and subclauses may be reproduced verbatim.
b) If text from ISO 26000 is reproduced in the sector document, it shall be distinguished from the other elements of the sector document.
c) Terms and definitions specified in ISO 26000 shall be referred to in a normative manner or reproduced verbatim.
SP.5.7 Occupational health and safety
When a technical committee, subcommittee, project committee or International Workshop wishes to develop occupational health and safety management requirements or guidance for a particular product or industry/economic sector, it shall respect the following rules:
a) Normative reference shall be made to ISO 45001 in its entirety. Additional requirements or guidance shall not conflict with, or duplicate, ISO 45001. Alternatively, the clauses and subclauses may be reproduced verbatim.
b) If text from ISO 45001 is reproduced in the sector document, it shall be distinguished from the other elements of the sector document.
c) Terms and definitions specified in ISO 45001 shall be referred to in a normative manner or reproduced verbatim.
Any requests for guidance on a sector-specific document or for interpretation of ISO 45001 terms and definitions or ISO 45001 shall be submitted to the secretariat of ISO/TC 283.
Annex SQ
(Currently blank — placeholder for new annexes)
Annex SR
(normative)
Statements intended to limit the purpose or use of documents
The ISO Technical Management Board adopted the following ISO/TMB Resolution 8/2012 regarding statements intended to limit the purpose or use of deliverables:
Noting that ISO Council Resolution 9/2001 confirms ISO's compliance with the basic principles of the operation and implementation of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT),
Agrees that statements intended to limit the purpose or use of deliverables in relation to barriers or obstacles to trade are not permitted,
Further agrees that statements relating to contractual obligations or government regulation are also not permitted,
Requests that any such statements be removed during the development of a deliverables (i.e. before the close of the DIS) and that any such statements in existing deliverables be removed when the deliverables is revised,
Requires that any exceptions to the above in exceptional cases be approved by the ISO/TMB (…)
The ISO Technical Management Board also adopted the following ISO/TMB Resolution 69/2012 regarding statements intended to limit the purpose or use of deliverables in relation to conformity assessment (“conformity assessment disclaimers”):
Recalling TMB Resolution 8/2012 Statements intended to limit the purpose or use of deliverables,
(…)
Decides that statements related to conformity assessment (for example certification) are not permitted in ISO deliverables,
(…)
Agrees that any conformity assessment statements must be removed during the development of a deliverables (i.e. before the close of the DIS) and that any such statements in existing deliverables must be removed when the deliverables is revised, to be replaced by the link in the Foreword, and
Requires that any exceptions to the above be approved by the TMB.
SR.2 Further information regarding statements in relation to barriers or obstacles to trade
Various statements intended for a limited purpose or use of documents (sometimes referred to as “disclaimers”) in relation to barriers or obstacles to trade are included in a number of ISO documents. Though the wording differs slightly from case to case, they make the point that the document in question is not intended to create barriers or obstacles to trade.
As explained on the ISO/IEC Information Centre, the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) is one of the legal texts of the WTO Agreement. It obliges WTO Members to ensure that, inter alia, voluntary standards do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. Specifically, Annex 3 of the TBT entitled Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards (para. E) states: “The standardizing body shall ensure that standards are not prepared, adopted or applied with a view to or with the effect of, creating unnecessary obstacles to international trade.”
Standardizing bodies within the territory of a WTO Member can notify their acceptance of the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards (Annex 3 to the TBT). A list is available of the standardizing bodies from the countries that have notified their acceptance. In accordance with the TBT, the onus is then on WTO Members to ensure that the TBT is respected within their respective territories.
The obligation to avoid obstacles to trade is, therefore, amply covered in the TBT. To add a TBT declaimer in some standards but not in others creates two classes of standards with no clear difference between the two. In fact, if the practice were allowed to continue, this could inadvertently create the impression that there are two different levels of compliance with the TBT.
In addition, the issue of ISO's general compliance with the basic principles of the operation and implementation of the TBT was considered by the ISO Council. By way of ISO Council Resolution 9/2001, the ISO Council confirmed that ISO was indeed compliant in this regard.
SR.3 Further information regarding statements in relation to contractual obligations or government regulation
ISO/TMB Resolution 8/2012 reinforces the application of clause 4 of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, which states that “A document shall not include contractual requirements (e.g. concerning claims, guarantees, covering of expenses) and legal or statutory requirements.”
The ISO Technical Management Board also adopted the following ISO/TMB Resolution 70/2018 regarding the interpretation of “statements relating to contractual obligations or government regulation”:
Noting the issues of interpretation related to Technical Management Board Resolution 8/2012 concerning the phrase “Further agrees that statements relating to contractual obligations or government regulation are also not permitted”;
- Further noting that
- text relating to compliance with contractual obligations, legal requirements and government regulations exists in many ISO standards; and
- ISO deliverables can be used to complement such requirements and serve as useful tools for all related stakeholders (which can include government authorities and industry players);
Further noting the responses received from the DMT consultation on this question;
Clarifies that, for all ISO documents:
a) Statements that include an explicit requirement or recommendation to comply with any specific law, regulation or contract (such as a normative reference to such requirements), or a portion thereof, are not permitted;
b) Statements related to legal and regulatory requirements that do not violate point a) are permitted;
c) Factual examples of the content of specific laws or regulations for informative purposes are permitted; and
d) No exceptions shall be granted to point a).
In addition, a document shall not include statements containing an explicit requirement or recommendation to comply with national law or statements that a document is not intended to conflict with national law. The application of ISO standards is voluntary, and national law takes precedence in case of conflict. Furthermore, to add such statements in some standards but not in others creates two classes of standards. This could inadvertently create the impression that an ISO standard takes precedence over national law unless primacy of national law is expressly stated.
SR.4 Further information on do's and don'ts related to conformity assessment
Further information regarding conformity assessment
for standard writers is available in the
publication entitled “Conformity assessment for standards writers — Do's and
Don'ts”: https://www.iso.org/iso/PUB100303.pdf and in clause 33 of ISO/IEC
Directives, Part 2. Additional guidance is also contained in the generic
text, a link to which is included in the Foreword of ISO documents (www.iso.org/foreword-info).
Requests for exceptions to include a statement intended to limit the purpose or use of documents shall be approved by the ISO Technical Management Board, which will carefully consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.
Annex SS
(normative)
Optional use of the Committee Draft (CD) stage — Guidance for committees
The following is guidance for committees regarding the optional use of the Committee Draft (CD) stage.
- Decisions on whether to skip the CD should be made on a case-by-case basis.
- Decisions should be made on the basis of what is expected to be gained by a CD circulation (e.g. further understanding of an issue) compared to possible increases in costs and time (additional drafting and meetings).
- The proposal to skip the CD stage should be made by the Working Group Convenor/Project Leader following a consultation with the WG Experts to prove consensus.
- The final decision should then be taken by the committee by consensus through a 4-week Committee Internal Ballot or at a meeting (for a definition of consensus, see clause 2.5.6).
- When the consensus to skip CD is reached, see 2.5.7.
- In cases where there are concerns that skipping the CD stage may seriously compromise consensus and document quality, then skipping the CD stage should be avoided.
SS.2 Tips for Convenors and Project Leaders when proposing to skip the CD stage
a) Use stage 0 to build a draft document which reflects already known stakeholder views.
b) Ensure a high-quality draft is circulated with the New Work Item Proposal.
c) Inform the parent committee Secretary/Committee Manager as soon as it is known that the Working Group (WG) would like the project to skip the CD stage.
d) Ensure P‑members with a major interest in the subject have nominated Experts to the WG, and that consensus has been achieved on the document among the WG.
e) Ensure an appropriate number of re-iterations of Working Drafts circulations to the Experts.
f) Give regular updates about the status of the work to the Secretary/Committee Manager of the committee, who in turn should provide updates to the P‑members and circulate working drafts for information if necessary.
g) Ask WG Experts to regularly inform their nominating P‑members of the status of the work and encourage the WG Experts to conduct informal consultations at the national level.
h) Ensure the document submitted to the Secretary/Committee Manager is of high technical quality, which is good enough for a DIS vote.
i) Always ensure a full review of the DIS comments after the DIS vote.
SS.3 Tips for committee Chairs and Secretaries/Committee Managers
- Inform the members of the committee as soon as it is known that the Working Group would like to skip the CD stage.
- When submitting the DIS draft to ISO CS for preparation for the vote, send the draft to the committee for information.
- This does not alter the current standards development timeframes, which remain at 18, 24 or 36 months. The optional use of the CD will help you meet or beat your target dates that are set under these timeframes.
- For Vienna Agreement projects, the CD can also be used on an optional basis.
Annex ST
(normative)
Twinning Policy
The objective of twinning is to build capacity and improve participation and performance in the twinned partner. The twinning objectives should support those priorities identified by the twinned partner and be integrated into their national development plans/strategies.
This policy is mandatory.
ST.2.1 Twinning: A partnership agreement between two ISO members for the purposes of capacity building, where capacity building is defined as the “development of competencies (at National Body- NSB level) to be successful in ISO standardization work.
ST.2.2 Lead partner: The ISO member body providing the guidance, expertise and training.
ST.2.3 Twinned partner: The ISO member body seeking to build capacity.
ST.2.4 Leadership twinning: Twinning arrangements that involve learning the competencies relevant to leadership roles in the development of International Standards. There are three types of leadership twinning arrangements; Chair, Convenor and Secretary/Committee Manager. Through leadership twinning, the twinned partner has the opportunity to learn the skills and responsibilities needed to assume the chairmanship/convenorship/the role of a committee Secretary/Committee Manager.
ST.2.5 Chair twinning: An arrangement between a Chair and a Twinned-Chair.
ST.2.6 Convenor twinning: An arrangement between a Convenor and a Twinned Convenor.
ST.2.7 Secretariat twinning: An arrangement between a Secretariat and a Twinned Secretariat.
ST.2.8 P-member twinning: The lead partner and the twinned partner both need to be P-members of the committee in question. P-member Twinning allows the twinned partner, who may not yet have the level of competency required to cooperate in a leadership position, to participate actively in the technical work of standards development. P-member twinning allows members to gain specifically targeted experience related to the work of a committee at the international and national levels (including the role of national mirror committees) and insight into the obligations of a P-member.
To be eligible to participate in a twinning arrangement, the following requirements need to be met:
- Full membership of ISO (or participation in the ISO Council’s New member rights pilot, in the case of P-member Twinning).
- Requirement to be a lead partner: demonstration of sufficient knowledge and experience (at NSB level) of the role in question.
- Requirement to be a twinned partner: demonstration of a need for capacity building, as evidenced by a lack of experience holding secretariats /appointing Chairs or Convenors/ participating actively in technical committees.
Selection criteria
The suggested experience for a lead partner is:
- Secretariat twinning: holding 5 or more committee secretariats.
- Chair or Convenor twinning: having 5 or more appointed Chairs or Convenors.
- P-member twinning: being a P-member in 100 or more committees.
The suggested experience for a twinned partner is:
- Secretariat twinning: holding fewer than 5 committee secretariats.
- Chair or Convenor twinning: having fewer than 5 appointed Chairs or Convenors.
- P-member twinning: being a P-member in fewer than 100 committees.
a) Voluntary in nature — Twinning arrangements are to be entered into voluntarily.
b) Objectives — Both partners to the arrangement shall be committed to the primary objective of twinning: to build capacity and improve participation and performance in the twinned partner. Twinning objectives should support those priorities identified by the twinned partner and integrated into their national development plans/strategies.
c) No expectation of financial support — There is no expectation that the lead partner will provide financial support to the twinned partner.
d) One country, one vote — Twinning arrangements shall have no influence in terms of national position. There should be no expectation that one partner will support the positions and views of the other partner. Twinning arrangements shall not jeopardize the principle of “one country, one vote” in ISO (and proxy voting is not allowed).
e) Cooperation — The cooperation should be viewed as broadly as possible, with a flexible approach, and include technical, strategic and policy-level activities between the partners.
f) Commitment — The commitment of both partners to the twinning arrangement should be sustained for the duration of the arrangement. By mutual agreement of the two partners, the lead partner may also assume other specific administrative tasks beyond providing training and guidance.
g) Continual improvement — Twinning arrangements should embrace the continual improvement concept. There should be mechanisms in place to ensure that, for each action, there is a possibility for follow-up and, if necessary, corrective action. Projects should include indicators to measure/monitor the progress of a twinned partner’s participation and leadership in ISO, with progress reviewed on an annual basis.
h) Sustainability — The knowledge and experience gained through the twinning arrangement should be used to train other staff in the twinned partner to build capabilities in a sustainable manner. Participation in twinning should reduce, or remove altogether, the need for the twinning of the twinned partner so that, once the twinning arrangement is finished, the twinned country can participate independently.
This Policy addresses the various aspects of a Twinning arrangement in the order of the life cycle of a typical Twinning arrangement noting that some stages may be done in parallel. Each stage is addressed as follows:
- Identifying the need for a Twinning arrangement (ST.5.2)
- Selecting a Twinning partner (ST.5.3)
- Drafting/Submitting a Twinning Request (ST.5.4)
- Approving the Twinning Request (ST.5.5)
- Implementing the Twinning arrangement (ST.5.6)
- Terminating a twinning arrangement (ST.5.7)
- Role of the ISO CS (ST.5.8)
ST.5.2 Identifying the need for a Twinning arrangement
Twinning arrangements are to be entered voluntarily. The partners shall fill in the Request Form (See Annex SJ) once they have agreed on the type of twinning (P-member, Secretariat, Chair or Convenor). In the case of a Secretariat or Chair twinning, the request form should be submitted to the TMB Secretariat. In the case of a WG Convenor twinning arrangement, it should be submitted directly to the parent committee and the ISO Technical Program Manager (TPM) for processing. For P-member twinning arrangements, the request form should be submitted to the TPM for review and to the committee secretariat for information.
ST.5.3 Selecting a Twinning partner
If a member body has identified the need for a twinning arrangement, but not a twinning partner, it can contact ISO/CS or the TPM of the committee in question, if a committee has been identified, and ask for help in identifying a partner to twin with.
ST.5.4 Drafting/Submitting a Twinning Request
The following shall be included in the request form:
- Contact details of the ISO member bodies making the request
- Committee in which a twinning relationship is requested
- Type of twinning requested
- Statement from the ISO member body (twinned partner) demonstrating the need for capacity building and explaining what kind of capacity-building this arrangement will target
- Statement from the ISO member body (lead partner) demonstrating competencies and resources to support capacity building
- Goals and expected outcome of the twinning arrangement
- Proposed time frame of the twinning arrangement
- In the case of a leadership twinning arrangement, the contact details and CV of the Secretary/Committee Manager/Twinned Secretary/ Twinned Committee Manager, Chair/Twinned-Chair, Convenor/Twinned Convenor
Secretariat or Chair twinning arrangements at TC, PC or SC level shall be approved by the TMB.
For WG Convenor Twinning arrangements, the requesting partners submit the Twinning request form directly to the secretariat of the parent committee for approval.
For P-member Twinning arrangements, the requesting partners submit the Twinning request form directly to the ISO/CS TPM (copied to the committee secretariat for information).
ST.5.5 Approving the Twinning request:
- Secretariat and Chair twinning arrangements shall be submitted to the TMB Secretariat, who will send the Twinning request form and supporting material to the TMB members for approval by correspondence (4-week CIB ballot). Supporting material for the ballot shall include an assessment from the TPM/ISO CS, plus any relevant statistics on NSB participation in ISO and performance in other committee leadership roles. The request is evaluated by the TMB according to the quality of the information, and against the above guidelines (suggested experience) for being a “lead” and “twinned” partner.
If approved by the TMB, the Secretariat or Chair twinning arrangement will be registered in the Global Directory (GD).
- For WG Convenor Twinning arrangements, the requesting NSBs submit the Twinning request form directly to the secretariat of the parent committee for approval. The committee then submits its decision to the TPM for processing.
- For P-member Twinning arrangements, the requesting NSBs submit the Twinning request form directly to the ISO/CS TPM (copied to the committee secretariat for information). The TPM reviews the form and registers the Twinning arrangement in the GD.
Once approved, the twinned partners shall submit a completed Twinning Agreement (with an end date, maximum time limit of 5 years) and Collaboration Plan to their ISO/CS TPM within 3 months of the registration of the Twinning arrangement. See Annex SJ for the Forms. The TPM reviews the Agreement and Collaboration Plan and works with the twinned partners to improve it, if necessary. If the partners do not submit a satisfactory Twinning Agreement and Collaboration plan within 3 months, the twinning arrangement shall not be started.
ST.5.6 Implementing the Twinning arrangement
Twinning arrangements shall be subject to an annual review and performance assessment, consisting of a self-assessment by the twinned partners, an assessment by the P-members of the committee, and an assessment by the TPM.
Annual performance assessment form: The twinned partners shall submit a completed form once per year. This form includes a section that will be completed by the TPM.
P-member assessments will be done as part of the regular post-meeting feedback survey process. The TPM reviews the results of these surveys and notes the P-member feedback on the Annual performance assessment form.
The TMB secretariat reviews the performance assessment forms and sends the completed forms back to the twinned partners for information. If there are no problems raised, the form is filed, and the arrangement continues.
ST.5.7 Terminating a Twinning arrangement
Failure to submit annual performance assessments or negative assessments/problems raised shall be brought to the attention of the TMB. The TMB evaluates the information and decides on any action to be taken. This may include the cancellation of the twinning arrangement.
Once a twinning arrangement reaches the 5-year maximum time limit, it is automatically terminated. Extensions/renewals of Twinning arrangements are not possible.
There shall be no automatic transfer of leadership roles (secretariat, Chair, Convenor) from the lead to the twinned partner at the end of the twinning arrangement. The twinned partner leadership roles shall be removed from the GD.
In the case of secretariat twinning, if the lead partner wishes to relinquish the secretariat, the committee may take a resolution to support the assignment of the secretariat to the twinned partner. In the case of an SC secretariat, the TC will approve this assignment based on the SC resolution. In the case of a TC secretariat, the ISO/TMB will approve this assignment based on the TC’s resolution.
Any other changes to leadership roles shall follow the approval process outlined in the ISO/IEC Directives Part 1.
The Twinned partners’ interface with ISO/CS is through the responsible TPM. The role of the TPM includes:
- Helping to identify a potential twinning partner in cases where a twinning partner/lead partner has not been identified
- Providing guidance and advice on how to implement the twinning policy
- Raising potential problems to the attention of the TMB
The following are links to reference documents for the ISO technical community on a number of important subjects.
About ISO
ISO (International Organization for Standardisation) is an independent, non-governmental organization with a membership of 167 national standards bodies. Through its members, ISO brings together Experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market-relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges. ISO has published more than 22 000 International Standards and related documents, covering almost every industry, from technology to food safety, agriculture and healthcare.
About IEC
The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is a global, not-for-profit membership organization that brings together 173 countries and coordinates the work of 20 000 Experts globally. IEC International Standards and conformity assessment work underpins international trade in electrical and electronic goods. It facilitates electricity access, and verifies the safety, performance and interoperability of electric and electronic devices and systems, including, for example, consumer devices such as mobile phones or refrigerators, office and medical equipment, information technology, electricity generation, and much more.
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