International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 164 national standards bodies. India is represented by BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards). ISO was founded in 1947 and is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

It is a non-governmental organization which has its mission promotion of the development of Standardization and related activities in the world to facilitate international exchange of goods and services.

Because "International Organization for Standardization" would have different acronyms in different languages ("IOS" in English, "OIN" in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), its founders d ecided to give it also a short, all-purpose name. They chose "ISO", derived from the Greek isos, meaning "equal". Whatever the country, whatever the language, the short form of the organization's name is always ISO.

ISO is the developer and publisher of international standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.

ISO does not itself carry out auditing and certification. These services are performed independently of ISO by certification bodies. ISO does not control such bodies, but does develop voluntary International Standards to encourage good practice in their activities on a worldwide basis. For example, ISO/IEC 17021 specifies the requirements for bodies providing auditing and certification of management systems.

One option for certification bodies wishing to provide further confidence in their services is to apply to be accredited as competent by an IAF (International Accreditation Forum) recognized national accreditation body, such as NABCB (National Accreditation Body for Certification Bodies). The IAF is an international association whose membership includes the national accreditation bodies of 49 economies.

ISO does not control such bodies, but does develop voluntary International Standards such as ISO/IEC 17011 which specifies the general requirements for carrying out accreditation.