Check our FAQs for quick answers to frequently asked questions we receive.
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- How do I manange my ISO standard?
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You can manage your ISO standard using our comprehensive ISO management system platform: ECLoop. ECLoop serves as your essential ISO management system resource. It’s a user-friendly online platform that facilitates ISO standards implementation, management, auditing, and adherence for your business.
- Do ISO standards apply equally to developed and developing countries?
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ISO standards carry the same weight in both industrialised and developing countries. With the globalisation of trade, products manufactured to lower standards will not be acceptable to clients. EC work with clients in developing countries to assist them in putting in place a standardisation infrastructure to enable their products to meet requirements on an international level.
- What does ISO do for developing countries?
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Developing countries with limited resources can benefit from the reservoir of knowledge that ISO represents. For developing countries, ISO standards are an important means of acquiring technological know-how heralded as ‘state of the art’. Developing countries also benefit from ISO as a way of raising their capability to export and compete in global markets.
- How are the ISO standards developed?
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The technical committee of the national delegates (experts) discuss, debate, and produce a draft agreement. ISO’s members, as a whole, comment and ballot on the draft; if the voting is in favour, the document is published as an international standard.
- Who develops ISO standards?
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ISO standards are developed by international expert technical committees, made up of industry sectors. 30,000 experts participate in the development of ISO standards each year, e.g. government representatives, consumer associations, etc.
- What benefits does international standardisation bring to clients?
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Clients benefit from a wide choice of offers as the worldwide compatibility of technology is achieved when products and services are based on international standards.
- How long does it take to complete the ISO standard?
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Timescales of completion are dependent on the following variables:
- The standard(s) you require
- The number of company sites
- The number of employees
- The amount of support deemed necessary to ensure that your business is prepared and ready for certification EC will attach the necessary resources required to ensure all deadlines are achieved.
- Could you give some practical examples of ISO standards in place?
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You come in to contact with ISO standards on a daily basis without even realising it. Hundreds of researched signs and symbols have been developed by ISO technical committees, conveying clear-cut messages crossing language barriers. Here are a few examples of ISO in action:
- The signs on packaging telling you “this way up”
- The symbols on the dashboard of your car
- ISBN numbers on the inside front cover of your book – unique to every copy of each book
- Directions and instructions in and around airports
- Features on your credit card to enable it to be used worldwide
- The nuts, bolts and screws that hold your chair, desk, bicycle together
- What is ISO’s relationship with governments?
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In 1946, delegates from 25 countries formed with the intention of creating a new international organisation in order “to facilitate the international coordination and unification of industrial standards”. ISO is a non-governmental organisation (NGO), although, government experts often participate in ISO standard development. Although ISO is an NGO, it forms a bridge between and receives input from the public sector as it does from the private sector.
- The world is constantly moving on and evolving – what about ISO standards?
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ISO standards are reviewed at least every five years after their publication to ensure that they remain representative to industry.
- What does “international standardisation” mean?
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International standardisation provides a reference framework, or a common technological language, between suppliers and their customers, facilitating trade and technology transfer. Industry-wide standardisation occurs when the large majority of products or services in a particular business or industry sector conform to international standards.
