ABSTRACT
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a private, nongovernmental, international standards body based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1947, ISO promotes international harmonization and development of manufacturing, product, and communications standards. It is a nongovernmental organization. However, governments are allowed to participate in the development of standards and many governments have chosen to adopt the ISO standards as their regulations. The ISO also closely interacts with the United Nations [2]. ISO has promulgated over 16,000 internationally accepted standards for everything from paper sizes to film speeds. Roughly 157 countries participate in the ISO as "Participating" members or as "Observer" members. The United States is a full-voting Participating member and is officially represented by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
