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ISO布线标准 |
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The International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies from some 130 countries, one from each country.
ISO is a non-governmental organization established in
1947. The mission of ISO is to promote the development
of standardization and related activities in the world
with a view to facilitating the international exchange
of goods and services, and to developing cooperation
in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological
and economic activity.
ISO's work results in international agreements which
are published as International Standards.
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ISO's name
Many people will have noticed a seeming lack of correspondence
between the official title when used in full, International
Organization for Standardization, and the short form, ISO. Shouldn't
the acronym be "IOS"? Yes, if it were an acronym ?which
it is not. |
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| In fact, "ISO" is a word, derived from
the Greek isos, meaning "equal", which is the root
of the prefix "iso-" that occurs in a host of terms,
such as "isometric" (of equal measure or dimensions)
and "isonomy" (equality of laws, or of people before
the law). |
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| From "equal" to "standard",
the line of thinking that led to the choice of "ISO"
as the name of the organization is easy to follow. In addition,
the name ISO is used around the world to denote the organization,
thus avoiding the plethora of acronyms resulting from the translation
of "International Organization for Standardization"
into the different national languages of members, e.g. IOS in
English, OIN in French (from Organisation internationale de
normalisation). Whatever the country, the short form of the
Organization's name is always ISO. |
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| The existence of non-harmonized standards for
similar technologies in different countries or regions can contribute
to so-called "technical barriers to trade". Export-minded
industries have long sensed the need to agree on world standards
to help rationalize the international trading process. This
was the origin of the establishment of ISO. |
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| International standardization is well-established
for many technologies in such diverse fields as information
processing and communications, textiles, packaging, distribution
of goods, energy production and utilization, shipbuilding, banking
and financial services. It will continue to grow in importance
for all sectors of industrial activity for the foreseeable future. |
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The main reasons are:
- Worldwide progress in trade liberalization
Today's free-market economies increasingly encourage
diverse sources of supply and provide opportunities
for expanding markets. On the technology side, fair
competition needs to be based on identifiable, clearly
defined common references that are recognized from
one country to the next, and from one region to the
other. An industry-wide standard, internationally
recognized, developed by consensus among trading partners,
serves as the language of trade.
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- Interpenetration of sectors
No industry in today's world can truly claim to be
completely independent of components, products, rules
of application, etc., that have been developed in
other sectors. Bolts are used in aviation and for
agricultural machinery; welding plays a role in mechanical
and nuclear engineering, and electronic data processing
has penetrated all industries. Environmentally friendly
products and processes, and recyclable or biodegradable
packaging are pervasive concerns.
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- Worldwide communications systems
The computer industry offers a good example of technology
that needs quickly and progressively to be standardized
at a global level. Full compatibility among open systems
fosters healthy competition among producers, and offers
real options to users since it is a powerful catalyst
for innovation, improved productivity and cost-cutting.
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- Global standards for emerging technologies
Standardization programs in completely new fields
are now being developed. Such fields include advanced
materials, the environment, life sciences, urbanization
and construction. In the very early stages of new
technology development, applications can be imagined
but functional prototypes do not exist. Here, the
need for standardization is in defining terminology
and accumulating databases of quantitative information.
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- Developing countries
Development agencies are increasingly recognizing
that a standardization infrastructure is a basic condition
for the success of economic policies aimed at achieving
sustainable development. Creating such an infrastructure
in developing countries is essential for improving
productivity, market competitiveness, and export capability.
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| Industry-wide standardization is a condition
existing within a particular industrial sector when the large
majority of products or services conform to the same standards.
It results from consensus agreements reached between all economic
players in that industrial sector - suppliers, users, and often
governments. They agree on specifications and criteria to be
applied consistently in the choice and classification of materials,
the manufacture of products, and the provision of services.
The aim is to facilitate trade, exchange and technology transfer
through: |
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- enhancedproduct quality and reliability at a reasonable
price;
- improved health, safety and environmental protection,
and reduction of waste;
- greater compatibility and interoperability of goods and
services;
- simplification for improved usability;
- reduction in the number of models, and thus reduction
in costs;
- increased distribution efficiency, and ease of maintenance.
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| Users have more confidence in products and services
that conform to International Standards. Assurance of conformity
can be provided by manufacturers' declarations, or by audits
carried out by independent bodies. |
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| ISO is made up of its members which are divided
into three categories: |
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| A member body of ISO is the national body "most
representative of standardization in its country". Thus,
only one body in each country may be admitted to membership
of ISO. |
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A member body takes the responsibility for:
- informing potentially interested parties in their country
of relevant international standardization opportunities
and initiatives;
- ensuring that a concerted view of the country's interests
is presented during international negotiations leading to
standards agreements;
- providing their country's share of financial support for
the central operations of ISO, through payment of membership
dues.
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| Member bodies are entitled to participate and
exercise full voting rights on any technical committee and policy
committee of ISO. |
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| A correspondent member is usually an organization
in a country which does not yet have a fully developed national
standards activity. Correspondent members do not take an active
part in the technical and policy development work, but are entitled
to be kept fully informed about the work of interest to them. |
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| ISO has also established a third category, subscriber
membership, for countries with very small economies. Subscriber
members pay reduced membership fees that nevertheless allow
them to maintain contact with international standardization. |
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| The technical work of ISO is highly decentralized,
carried out in a hierarchy of some 2 850 technical committees,
subcommittees and working groups. In these committees, qualified
representatives of industry, research institutes, government
authorities, consumer bodies, and international organizations
from all over the world come together as equal partners in the
resolution of global standardization problems. Some 30 000 experts
participate in meetings each year. |
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| The major responsibility for administrating a
standards committee is accepted by one of the national standards
bodies that make up the ISO membership - AFNOR, ANSI, BSI, CSBTS,
DIN, SIS, etc. The member body holding the secretariat of a
standards committee normally appoints one or two persons to
do the technical and administrative work. A committee chairman
assists committee members in reaching consensus. Generally,
a consensus will mean that a particular solution to the problem
at hand is the best possible one for international application
at that time. |
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| The Central Secretariat in Geneva acts to ensure
the flow of documentation in all directions, to clarify technical
points with secretariats and chairmen, and to ensure that the
agreements approved by the technical committees are edited,
printed, submitted as draft International Standards to ISO member
bodies for voting, and published. Meetings of technical committees
and subcommittees are convened by the Central Secretariat, which
coordinates all such meetings with the committee secretariats
before setting the date and place. Although the greater part
of the ISO technical work is done by correspondence, there are,
on average, a dozen ISO meetings taking place somewhere in the
world every working day of the year. |
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| Each member body interested in a subject has
the right to be represented on a committee. International organizations,
governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also
take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical
standardization. |
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| The publication ISO Memento provides information
on the scope of responsibility, organizational structure and
secretariats for each ISO technical committee. Detailed rules
of procedure for the technical work are given in the ISO/IEC
Directives. A list of the 500 international organizations in
liaison with ISO's technical committees and subcommittees is
given in the publication ISO Liaisons. |
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ISO standards are developed according to the following principles:
- Consensus
The views of all interests are taken into account: manufacturers,
vendors and users, consumer groups, testing laboratories,
governments, engineering professions and research organizations.
- Industry-wide
Global solutions to satisfy industries and customers worldwide.
- Voluntary
International standardization is market-driven and therefore
based on voluntary involvement of all interests in the market-place.
There are three main phases in the ISO standards development
process. |
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| The need for a standard is usually expressed
by an industry sector, which communicates this need to a national
member body. The latter proposes the new work item to ISO as
a whole. Once the need for an International Standard has been
recognized and formally agreed, the first phase involves definition
of the technical scope of the future standard. This phase is
usually carried out in working groups which comprise technical
experts from countries interested in the subject matter. |
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| Once agreement has been reached on which technical
aspects are to be covered in the standard, a second phase is
entered during which countries negotiate the detailed specifications
within the standard. This is the consensus-building phase. |
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| The final phase comprises the formal approval
of the resulting draft International Standard (the acceptance
criteria stipulate approval by two-thirds of the ISO members
that have participated actively in the standards development
process, and approval by 75 % of all members that vote), following
which the agreed text is published as an ISO International Standard. |
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| It is now also possible to publish interim documents
at different stages in the standardization process. |
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| Most standards require periodic revision. Several
factors combine to render a standard out of date: technological
evolution, new methods and materials, new quality and safety
requirements. To take account of these factors, ISO has established
the general rule that all ISO standards should be reviewed at
intervals of not more than five years. On occasion, it is necessary
to revise a standard earlier. |
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| To date, ISO's work has resulted in some 12 000
International Standards, representing more than 300 000 pages
in English and French (terminology is often provided in other
languages as well). |
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