BACKGROUND
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was formed in 1947. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) develops international standards over almost the entire range of technology. Its membership comprises the national standards institutes of over 120 countries. ISO is a non-government organization and the standards it develops are voluntary and market driven. They are developed by international consensus among experts drawn from the industrial, technical or business sectors that have expressed the need for a particular standard. The GATT treaty required the use of international standards - ISO, IEC, and ITU for international trade. This requirement has since been adopted by the World Trade Organization (WTO). All three of these bodies have a strong and successful collaboration. The ISO and IEC, in fact, issue common/joint directives.
The ISO Technical Committee 8 (ISO/TC8) was established as the Committee on Shipbuilding and Marine Structures in 1947. The Committee later recognized the need to serve the entire maritime industry's collective interests for standards and expanded the scope of ISO/TC8 to include ship owner/operators, designers, labor, shipbuilders and repairers, and the allied industries. Thus in 1992, ISO/TC8 became the "Committee on Ships and Marine Technology."
