The ISO team of senior managers responsible for oversight of the 3 274 technical bodies that make up the ISO standards development system celebrated its 50th meeting yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland.

During its half-century of meetings since it was established in 1994, the ISO Technical Management Board (TMB) has seen its role evolve from strictly technical issues, such as adjudicating between scopes of the committees that develop ISO standards, to also cover strategic matters, such as the TMB contributions to the on-going realization of objectives and vision set out in The ISO Strategic Plan 2011-2015.

The TMB comprises representatives of 14 ISO national member bodies, pictured here with the Chair and support staff of ISO Central Secretariat. (Photo: ISO/Granier)

ISO Technical Management Board Chair, Jacob Holmblad, about to cut the anniversary cake celebrating the 50th TMB meeting. (Photo: ISO/PGR)

“We are still responsible for ‘nuts and bolts’ issues, but in addition to our work in the ‘engine room’ of standards development, we also provide our colleagues on the “bridge” – ISO Council – with strategic advice and recommendations,” comments TMB Chair, Jacob Holmblad.

For example, in recent years the TMB introduced the concept of ISO project committees which concentrate on rapidly developing a single standard for a new field. Such committees are currently addressing a variety of topics, including asset management, natural gas fuelling stations for vehicles, and outsourcing, in addition to new ISO technical committees for areas such as the safety of amusement park attractions, and biogas

Part of the TMB’s role is to ensure that ISO only commits resources to developing standards for which there is a clear market requirement. It therefore carried out an extensive study of initiatives and programmes related to social responsibility before recommending that an ISO standard could add value – finally resulting in the publication on 1 November 2010 of ISO 26000, which provides guidance on social responsibility,

Another study performed by the TMB demonstrated the extent to which the totality of ISO’s standards developing committees contributes to the economic, environmental and social goals of sustainable development. Recent and on-going TMB projects include:

New brochures aimed at the continual improvement of the processes employed by ISO and its partners to develop International Standards that provide benefits for business, government and society.

An updated agreement with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to improve cooperation on standards for electric vehicles and automotive electronics

Deploying innovations resulting from ISO’s “Living Lab” project to improve the standards development systems.

“The upcoming fifth ISO Chairs’ Conference which the TMB is now planning around the theme of “Simpler, better, faster” will provide further opportunities to identify and share best practice,” says Mr. Holmblad.

Membership of the TMB rotates among ISO national member bodies and currently includes representatives from: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the USA.

A more detailed article on the work of the TMB and the benefits it provides will appear in the July-August issue of ISO Focus+ magazine which includes a Special Report on the standards development chain.

Source from: ISO