WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/38 
28 July 2006 
 (06-3651) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
SUBMISSION BY THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION 
(ISO) TO THE MEETING OF THE WTO COMMITTEE ON  
TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRAD E, GENEVA, 7-9 JUNE 2006  
 
 
 The following report, dated 07 June 2006, is being circulated at the request of the 
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
. 
  
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 1. The International Organization for Standardizati on (ISO) has prepared this information paper 
following the discussions at the WTO/TBT Committee meeting in March 2006. It provides information on the evolution of ISO/IEC Gu ide 2 on definitions since its 1991 edition. 
2. The International Organization for Standa rdization (ISO) and the International 
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) form a recognized system for the development of International 
Standards fully compliant with the criteria devel oped, inter alia, in the context of the WTO/TBT 
Agreement (cf. Second Triennial Revue, Annex 4). National bodies that are members of ISO or IEC 
participate in the development of International St andards through technical committees established by 
the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC technical 
committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest . Other international or ganizations, governmental 
and non governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. 
I. ISO/IEC GUIDES – GENERAL INFORMATION 
3. In addition to International Standards, T echnical Specifications, Publicly Available 
Specifications and Technical Reports prepared by technical committees, ISO and IEC publish Guides on matters related to intern ational standardization. 
4. Until 1992, Guides were approved by the ISO Council. In accordance with the current 
procedure, the publication of ISO/IEC guides is approved by the national bodies of ISO and IEC. 
Publication as an ISO/IEC Guide requires approval by at least 75% of the national bodies of both ISO and IEC casting a vote. 
II. SCOPE OF ISO/IEC GUIDE 2 
5. ISO/IEC Guide 2 provides general terms and definitions concerning standardization and 
related activities. It is intended to contribut e fundamentally towards mutual understanding amongst 
the members of ISO and IEC and the various governmental and non-governmental agencies involved in standardization at international,  regional and national leve ls. It is intended also  to provide a suitable 
source for teaching and for reference, covering basic terms and definitions rela ting to theoretical and 
practical principles of standardization and conformity assessment. G/TBT/GEN/38 
Page 2  
 
  6. It is not the aim of ISO/IEC Gu ide 2 to duplicate definitions of  terms adequately defined for 
general purposes in other authoritative internati onal vocabularies (e.g. VIM, the international 
vocabulary for metrology, developed and publishe d jointly by BIPM, IEC, IFCC, ISO, IUPAC, 
IUPAP and OIML). 
III. EVOLUTION OF ISO/IEC GUIDE 2 
7. Since the 1991 edition of the ISO/IEC Guide 2 (s ixth edition), referenced at Annex 1 to the 
WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, th e guide has been revised in two instances (a 
seventh edition was published in 1996 and the eighth – currently in force – in 2004). It is underlined that the seventh and eighth editions of the Gu ide have been published in accordance with the 
procedure referred to under item 3 above, i.e. acceptance by at least 75% of the national bodies of 
both ISO and IEC. 
8. Clauses 1 to 11, concerning standardization, ha ve never been modified since the 1991 edition. 
The above two revisions concerned exclusively the terms and definitions for the subject area of 
conformity assessment and were required due to th e constant and rapid ev olution of conformity 
assessment activities. The earlier ed itions of Guide 2 included a limited number of terms associated 
with product (hardware) certification; the context then broadened to include certification/registration 
of management systems and the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies. 
9. The seventh edition (1996) preserved the struct ure of the 1991 edition by grouping related 
concepts under generic clause headings. The clau ses concerning the broad spectrum of conformity 
assessment were modified on the recommendations of the ISO Committee on Conformity Assessment 
(ISO/CASCO) to reflect developments in conformity  assessment activities. They were not intended to 
provide a comprehensive terminology but included, in particular, concepts related to the following 
typical sequence: 
(a) determination of product, process or service characteristics; 
(b) comparison of characteristics with specified requirements, i.e. conformity evaluation; 
(c) assurance of conformity, e.g. by supplier's declaration or by third party certification. 
10. The eighth edition (2004) is identical to th e seventh edition except that the terms and 
definitions on conformity assessment have been deleted and replaced by a normative reference to 
ISO/IEC 17000, Conformity assessment — Vocabulary and general principles. This maintains the 
necessary linkage between these two base vocabul ary documents for internationally accepted 
standardization and conformity assessment prac tice. ISO/IEC 17000 was published in November 
2004 (at the same time as the eighth edition of ISO/ IEC Guide 2) as an International Standard 
following the corresponding consensus building and voting process in ISO and IEC. (As a reminder, 
the submission by ISO to the WTO/TBT Committee meeting in March 2005 on recent changes in the 
internationally accepted vocabulary for standardiza tion and conformity assessment has been attached 
as an Annex).  G/TBT/GEN/38 
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  ANNEX1 
 
RECENT CHANGES IN THE INTERNATIONALLY ACCEPTED VOCABULARY FOR 
STANDARDIZATION AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT 
 
I. INTRODUCTION 
1. The International Organization for Standa rdization (ISO) and the International 
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have recently revi sed and updated their terms and definitions for 
the subject areas of standardization and conformity assessment. 
2. Annex 1 to the WTO Agreement of Technical Barriers to Trade (WTO TBT) makes reference 
to the 1991 edition of the relevant ISO/IEC Guide 2, Standardization and related activities – General 
vocabulary.  
3. In the most recent revision of this Guide, which was published in November 2004 and cancels 
and replaces all previous editions, the previous clauses numbered 12-17 that were related to 
conformity assessment have been removed, revised , and republished as the new separate International 
Standard, entitled ISO/IEC 17000:2004, Conformity assessment – Voc abulary and general principles . 
4. Apart from this change, there are no other differences between the new 2004 edition of 
ISO/IEC Guide 2, and its previous edition that  was published in 1996.  Clauses 1-11 remain in 
ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004 unchanged. 
  
II. CONTENT OF THE NEW VOCABULARY STANDARD FOR CONFORMITY 
ASSESSMENT 
5. The new ISO/IEC 17000:2004 provides internationally accepted definitions for terms that are, 
inter alia , found in Articles 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the WTO TB T Agreement.  These include definitions for 
terms such as: 
 
− acceptance − declaration − notification 
− accreditation − designating authority − peer assessment 
− appeal − designation − procedure 
− approval − equal and national treatment − reciprocity 
− attestation − equal treatment − recognition 
− audit − equivalence − supplier's declaration 
− certification − inspection   on conformity 
− complaint − first, second or third party − surveillance 
− conformity assessment   conformity assessment − sampling 
− conformity assessment − national treatment − testing 
       scheme   
 
 
                                                      
1  This information was provided by the ISO as  a Room Document at the WTO TBT Committee of 22-
23 March 2005. G/TBT/GEN/38 
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  III. PUBLICATION OF ISO/IEC 17000:2004 AND LINK WITH ISO/IEC GUIDE 2:2004 
6. ISO/IEC 17000:2004 was published in November  2004 at the same time as the revised 
ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004.  In the place of clauses 12-17 in  the previous edition of Guide 2 there is now a 
cross-reference from Guide 2 to ISO/IEC 17000.  Th is maintains the necessary linkage between these 
two base vocabulary documents for internationa lly accepted standardization and conformity 
assessment practice. 
7. WTO and its members may consider referencing ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004, which includes the 
cross-reference to ISO/IEC 17000:2004. 
8. For any further information on this standard, or  on ISO's role in providing the International 
Standards and Guides related to vocabulary and conformity assessme nt, please do not hesitate to 
contact the ISO Central Secretariat, 1, rue de Varembé, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland (tel: +41 22 749 
01 11 or email: cas1@iso.org). 
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