The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) encourages stakeholder participation in a new survey launched by the International Standards Organization Technical Management Board (ISO/TMB) to gather feedback on a proposal intended to improve complex communications about service standards to regulators and end product users for new technologies and innovations. The survey is seeking response to a proposed ISO category and a new and relevant definition for "foundational standards."
Following a June 2018 meeting of the ISO Council Standing Committee on Strategy and Policy (CSC/SP), the ISO/TMB was directed to take on the task of considering a proposal addressing a need for purpose-built standards in areas where there is new or increased cross-border regulatory interest and where regulators and industry must collaborate to establish workable, fair, and responsible oversight of new technologies or innovations. Task Force 18 (TF18), an outcome of the ISO/TMB Resolution 89/2018, invited the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standardization Management Board (SMB) to participate, as approved by SMB Decision 163/22.
The TF 18 has considered relevant definitions of foundational standards, horizontal standards, and basic standards and is proposing a more encompassing term "horizontal deliverable," defined as:
Horizontal deliverable: dealing with a subject relevant to a number of committees or sectors and of crucial importance to ensure the coherence of the corpus of standardization deliverables.
Note 1: Horizontal deliverables may provide fundamental principles, concepts, graphical symbols, terminology, or general characteristics.
Note 2: Some horizontal deliverables provide the foundations of workable, fair, and responsible oversight of new innovative technologies.
The ISO/TMB is seeking input from all stakeholders of international standardization, including regulators, end users, conformity assessment organizations, product and service providers, and standards developers. ANSI invites stakeholder participation by Friday, March 29, to this brief survey regarding the proposed definition of "horizontal deliverable," along with responses regarding possible next steps identified for ISO and IEC.