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/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/img/Group-GA2019.jpg/thumbnails/600x900 600w" sizes="100vw" class="bg"/> </header>  <main role="main" id="content" class="acer" aria-label="Content" tabindex="-1"> <section class=" img-overflow bg-white"> <div class="container"> <div class="row "> <div class="col-md-12"><nav role="navigation" aria-label="Children Navigation" class="heading-condensed nav-relatives"> <h1>About us</h1> <div class="nav-children"> <ul class="list-inline h5 inline-responsive list-separation"> <li><span class="icon "></span><a target="" href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/what-we-do.html" title="Find out how we develop and publish international standards by bringing together more than 160 members and more than 45,000 experts">What we do</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/structure.html" title="">Structure</a></li> <li><span class="icon "></span><a target="" href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/members.html" title="Representing the four corners of the world with one member per country, ISO is the International Organization for Standardization.">Members</a></li> <li><span class="icon "></span><a target="" href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/announcements.html">Announcements</a></li> <li><a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/strategy2030.html" title="Making lives easier, safer and better. Our Strategy outlines our vision and our mission for the next 10 years and a set of goals and priorities to help us get there.">Strategy</a></li> </ul> <div class="nav-shadow nav-shadow--start"></div> <div class="nav-shadow nav-shadow--end"></div> </div> </nav><div class="clear"></div></div> </div> </div> </section><section class=" bg-lightgray"> <div class="container"> <div class="row "> <div class="col-md-7"><p class="lead">ISO is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 165 <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/members.html" title="An alphabetically ordered list of all ISO members">national standards bodies</a>.</p> <p>Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.</p> <p>You'll find our <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/contact-iso.html" title="Contact ISO">Central Secretariat</a> in Geneva, Switzerland. Learn more about our <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/structure.html" title="How we run as an organization">structure and how we are governed</a>.</p><div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="col-md-4 col-md-offset-1"><h3>Contact ISO</h3> <p>International Organization for Standardization<br/> ISO Central Secretariat<br/> Chemin de Blandonnet 8<br/> CP 401 - 1214 Vernier, Geneva, Switzerland</p> <p>E-mail: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210509094207/mailto:central@iso.org">central@iso.org</a><br/> Tel.: +41 22 749 01 11<br/> Fax: +41 22 733 34 30</p><div class="clearfix icon"> <h6 class="entry-name entry-title"> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/contact_ISO/information_for_visitors.pdf">Visiting ISO</a> <span class="small text-muted text-normal">[PDF, 1.29 MB]</span> </h6> </div><div class="clear"></div><div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> </section><section class=" "> <div class="container"> <div class="row "> <div class="col-md-12"><h2>Our Story begins in 1946</h2><div class="clear"></div></div> </div> </div> <style type="text/css">.storyjs-embed.sized-embed {padding:0; border: none; margin-bottom: 30px !important;} .vco-slider .caption {position: relative; right:0; opacity: 1;} </style> <div id="timeline-embed"></div> <script type="text/javascript"> var timeline_config = { width: '100%', height: '650', source: 'https://web.archive.org/web/20210509094207/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Ahgmt7QegQiUdHNOWV83bkRTbEJRQWlhcXNZQkg5Unc&output=html', embed_id: 'timeline-embed', //OPTIONAL USE A DIFFERENT DIV ID FOR EMBED start_at_end: false, //OPTIONAL START AT LATEST DATE start_at_slide: '', //OPTIONAL START AT SPECIFIC SLIDE start_zoom_adjust: '1', //OPTIONAL TWEAK THE DEFAULT ZOOM LEVEL hash_bookmark: true, //OPTIONAL LOCATION BAR HASHES font: '', //OPTIONAL FONT debug: true, //OPTIONAL DEBUG TO CONSOLE lang: 'en', //OPTIONAL LANGUAGE maptype: 'watercolor', //OPTIONAL MAP STYLE css: '/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/iso_story/assets/timeline.css', //OPTIONAL PATH TO CSS js: '/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/iso_story/assets/timeline-min.js' //OPTIONAL PATH TO JS } </script><script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20210509094207js_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/iso_story/assets/storyjs-embed.js"></script><div class="clear"></div><div class="container"> <div class="row "> <div class="col-md-7"><h3>Friendship among equals</h3> <p><span style="font-size: 18px;">The ISO story began in 1946 when delegates from 25 countries met at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London...</span></p><p>Read more about the first 50 years of ISO (1947 - 1997) in the book:</p><div class="clearfix icon"> <h6 class="entry-name entry-title"> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/docs/en/Friendship_among_equals.pdf">Friendship among equals</a> <span class="small text-muted text-normal">[PDF, 1.32 MB]</span> </h6> </div><div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="col-md-4 col-md-offset-1"><div class="emphasis emphasis-info bg-lightgray clearfix"> <h4>It's all in the name</h4> <p>Because 'International Organization for Standardization' would have different acronyms in different languages (IOS in English, OIN in French for <em>Organisation internationale de normalisation</em>), our founders decided to give it the short form ISO. ISO is derived from the Greek 'isos', meaning equal. Whatever the country, whatever the language, we are always ISO.</p> </div><div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div><div class="clear"></div> </section><section class=" bg-primary"> <div class="container"> <div class="row "> <div class="col-md-7"><h2>ISO Today</h2><div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="col-md-4 col-md-offset-1"><div class="clear"></div> </div> </div><div class="row "> <div class="col-md-4"><div class="statistic "> <div class="quantity"> <span class="number"><a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/standards-catalogue/browse-by-ics.html">23782</a></span> </div> <div class="description"><p><strong>International Standards </strong>covering almost all aspects of technology and manufacturing.</p> </div> </div><div class="clear"></div></div> <div class="col-md-4"><div class="statistic "> <div class="quantity"> <span class="number"><a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/members.html">165</a></span> </div> <div class="description"><p><strong>Members</strong> representing ISO in  their country. There is only one member per country.</p> </div> </div><div class="clear"></div></div> <div class="col-md-4"><div class="statistic "> <div class="quantity"> <span class="number"><a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/technical-committees.html">794</a></span> </div> <div class="description"><p><strong>Technical committees and subcommittees</strong> to take care of standards development.</p> </div> </div><div class="clear"></div></div> </div><div class="clear"></div> </div> </section><section class=" section-img id-5d64e4dd-aa49-4e2d-ba1d-fcf6f8b13022 bg-static no-height bg-lightgray"> <img loading="lazy" src="/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/annual_reports/img/GettyImages-168856270.jpg/thumbnails/1200x600" srcset="/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/annual_reports/img/GettyImages-168856270.jpg/thumbnails/2400x1200 2400w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/annual_reports/img/GettyImages-168856270.jpg/thumbnails/1200x600 1200w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/annual_reports/img/GettyImages-168856270.jpg/thumbnails/900 900w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/annual_reports/img/GettyImages-168856270.jpg/thumbnails/600 600w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/about%20ISO/annual_reports/img/GettyImages-168856270.jpg/thumbnails/300 300w" sizes="100vw" class="bg"/> <div class="overlay opacity-25 bg-lightgray"></div> <div class="container"> <div class="row "> <div class="col-md-4"><h2>How did we do in 2020?</h2><p class="lead">How many projects did we begin? Which sectors were most active? How many documents did we publish?</p><h6>Find our <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/iso-in-figures.html" title="ISO in figures">key achievements in figures </a>at a single glance.</h6><div class="clear"></div></div> <div class="col-md-4"><div class="clear"></div></div> <div class="col-md-4"><div class="clear"></div></div> </div> </div> </section><section class=" bg-info"> <div class="container"> <div class="row "> <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-3 col-xl-offset-1 col-xl-2"><figure class="width-100pct inCol3 fig-srcset"> <div class="img-container "> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/annual-reports.html" title="Annual reports"> <img loading="lazy" width="7816" height="5127" src="/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100385.jpg/thumbnails/300" srcset="/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100385.jpg/thumbnails/150 150w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100385.jpg/thumbnails/300 300w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100385.jpg/thumbnails/600 600w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100385.jpg/thumbnails/900 900w" sizes="(min-width:1680px) 283px,(min-width:1200px) 263px,(min-width:992px) 213px, (min-width:768px) 721px, 100vw" class="hover-zoom" alt="Germany, Hamburg, Niederbaum bridge and Kehrwiederspitze in the morning."/> </a> </div> </figure><div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="col-sm-6 col-md-9 col-xl-8"><h2><a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/annual-reports.html" title="Annual reports">Annual report</a></h2> <p class="lead">If you want to know what we achieved in 2019, check out our latest annual report. This includes our high-impact standards, production facts and figures and how we reached standards users around the world. The report also covers the journey that we took, together with our members, to further develop our new ISO Strategy 2021-2030.</p><div class="clear"></div> </div> </div><div class="clear"></div> </div> </section><section class=" bg-transparent"> <div class="container"> <div class="row "> <div class="col-md-4"><div class="media clearfix portrait"> <div class="media-left"> <figure class="tilt"> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB100364.html" title="ISO Strategy 2030" aria-label="ISO Strategy 2030"> <img loading="lazy" src="/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100364.jpg/thumbnails/150" srcset="/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100364.jpg/thumbnails/150 150w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100364.jpg/thumbnails/300 300w" sizes="100px" class="media-object width-100 hover-zoom" alt="Cover page: ISO Strategy 2030" title="ISO Strategy 2030"/> </a> </figure> </div> <div class="media-body"> <div class="entry-content"> <h6 class="entry-name entry-title"> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB100364.html" title="ISO Strategy 2030">ISO Strategy 2030</a> </h6> <div class="entry-summary"> The ISO Strategy 2030 outlines our vision and our mission for the next 10 years and a set of goals and priorities to help us get there. The three goals are stepping stones to our vision. We will focus on six priorities to achieve our goals and maximize our impact. </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="clear"></div></div> <div class="col-md-4"><div class="media clearfix obp"> <div class="media-left"> <figure class="tilt"> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB100399.html" title="ISO Membership Manual" aria-label="ISO Membership Manual"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/obp/graphics/pub/0eb5e00a-81a6-4897-8d4d-54f9abbdcdc7_51a9cee455ac0d437b76647abf6a03c0.png" class="media-object width-100 hover-zoom" alt="Cover page: ISO Membership Manual" title="ISO Membership Manual"/> </a> </figure> </div> <div class="media-body"> <div class="entry-content"> <h6 class="entry-name entry-title"> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB100399.html" title="ISO Membership Manual">ISO Membership Manual</a> </h6> <div class="entry-summary"> Learn how to get the most out of ISO membership </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="clear"></div></div> <div class="col-md-4"><div class="media clearfix portrait"> <div class="media-left"> <figure class="tilt"> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB100007.html" title="ISO in brief" aria-label="ISO in brief"> <img loading="lazy" src="/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100007.jpg/thumbnails/150" srcset="/web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100007.jpg/thumbnails/150 150w, /web/20210509094207im_/https://www.iso.org/files/live/sites/isoorg/files/store/en/cover/PUB100007.jpg/thumbnails/300 300w" sizes="100px" class="media-object width-100 hover-zoom" alt="Cover page: ISO in brief" title="ISO in brief"/> </a> </figure> </div> <div class="media-body"> <div class="entry-content"> <h6 class="entry-name entry-title"> <a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/publication/PUB100007.html" title="ISO in brief">ISO in brief</a> </h6> <div class="entry-summary"> An introduction to the ISO system, how it works and how ISO standards benefit the world. </div> </div> </div> </div><div class="clear"></div></div> </div> </div> </section><div class="clear"></div> <div class="nav-breadcrumb print-footer bg-darkgray"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-8 small">  <ol class="breadcrumb"> <li><a href="/web/20210509094207/https://www.iso.org/home.html" title="Home page"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-home" aria-hidden="true"></span></a></li> <li> About us </li> </ol><div class="clear"></div> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 hidden-print text-right small"> <a role="button" class="accordion-toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" href="#collapseSitemap" target="_self" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="collapseSitemap">Sitemap</a> </div> </div> <div class="collapse border-top" id="collapseSitemap"> <div class="row">  <nav role="navigation" aria-label="Sitemap" 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