Standards relating to the accessibility of ICT systems

How Are ISO Standards Made?

Richard Hodgkinson FISTC,
Reprinted from the Summer 2003 edition of the "Communicator", published by the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC).

Who produces international standards?

Two of the main organisations are ISO (the International Organisation for Standardisation) and the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). For the production of information technology standards these bodies have formed Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1). Within ISO/IEC JTC 1 are several Sub Committees (SCs) responsible for specific areas of IT standardisation. These SCs are then divided into Working Groups (WGs).

Through their national standards organisations (for example, the BSI for the UK or ANSI for the USA), countries belong to these committees as either participating or observing members.

Apart from at the very highest levels within ISO and the IEC, all the individuals and experts who participate in the production of standards, work for businesses, academia or national standards organisations - their time and expenses being contributed freely by their employers. Frequently, individuals from competing companies work together for the benefit of their industry.

How is the work done?

Simply put, WGs hold meetings and prepare draft standards, which then undergo international ballots.

Meetings

WGs meet between two and four times each year typically for three to five days, each meeting being hosted in a different country. This enables experts who are unable to travel overseas to attend the occasional meeting personally. At these meetings, the votes and comments from ballots are reviewed and new drafts prepared for the next ballot cycle. It is not unusual to receive 400 comments from a ballot – all of which must be discussed and responses written. This work can continue between the face-to-face meetings by means of email and electronic conferencing. WG meetings are always planned to coincide with the ending of ballot cycles.

Ballots

The SC Secretariat distributes the drafts electronically to member national standards organisations, which in turn circulate them to local experts for review, comment and voting recommendations. The comments and voting are agreed and compiled at national level, then sent back to the SC Secretariat for distribution to the WG. The ISO Directives set the times allowed for these ballots.

What are the stages?

Whilst there are ‘fast track’ procedures for adopting existing national and industry standards as international standards, the stages for creating a new standard are:

1. NWI (New Work Item).
   A requirement for a new standard is identified and a justification, set of user requirements and basic draft undergo international ballot. When a minimum of five countries have approved the NWI proposal, and committed to contributing experts plus a project editor, the project is allocated an ISO number and assigned to a WG.



2. WD (Working Draft).
   The basic working draft is then developed further within the WG. Ballots are not conducted, but when the WD is considered ready, it progresses to the next stage.



3. CD (Committee Draft).
   This is the next balloting stage. The Directives require that a minimum of 66% of the votes cast are positive. Comments are received, and categorised as ‘Technical High’, ‘Technical Low’ or ‘Editorial’. Technical High comments are often conditional and if implemented can change a vote from ‘No’ to ‘Yes’. If the ballot is unsuccessful, the WG has to prepare further drafts (e.g. a 2nd CD, a 3rd CD, etc.), and the balloting cycles are repeated until the 66% approval requirement is met. For each new ballot, a Disposition of National Body Comments must accompany the new draft.



4. FCD (Final Committee Draft).
   By this stage, the WG considers that the draft is complete and no further development is necessary. This is also the final opportunity for Technical Comments to be submitted. Again, the criterion is for 66% of the votes to be positive.



5. FDIS (Final Draft International Standard).
   This is the final approval ballot and only Editorial comments are expected. If, however, there are insufficient positive votes, then the WG has to decide whether to revise the draft and go back to CD level or abandon it altogether.



6. IS (International Standard).
   The draft has now successfully completed all of its ballot cycles and is published by ISO.

As you will appreciate, this process can take several years to complete. Standards developers are always aware that their work must be relevant, address current technology and practices, but not inhibit or constrain the future development of products or technologies.

ISO sets time frames for the development of its standards, If these time frames are not met the work on the standards can be cancelled.

 

Back to contents