Editing Standards organization (section)

{{Use British English Oxford spelling|date=October 2019}}
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{{short description|Organization that develops standards}}
A '''standards organization''', '''standards body''', '''standards developing organization''' ('''SDO'''), or '''standards setting organization''' ('''SSO''') is an organization whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise contributing to the usefulness of [[technical standard]]s<ref name="Ping" /> to those who employ them. Such an organization works to create uniformity across producers, consumers, government agencies, and other relevant parties regarding terminology, product specifications (e.g. size, including units of measure), protocols, and more. Its goals could include ensuring that Company A's external hard drive works on Company B's computer, an individual's blood pressure measures the same with Company C's [[sphygmomanometer]] as it does with Company D's, or that all shirts that should not be ironed have the same icon (a [[clothes iron]] crossed out with an X) on the label.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.termnet.org/downloads/english/projects/IFAP/pres_drame_term_stand.pdf|title=International Terminology Standardization; reasons, institutions, results, implementation|author=Anja Drame|work=TermNet|date=2006-01-06|access-date=2020-12-19}}</ref>

Most standards are voluntary in the sense that they are offered for adoption by people or industry without being mandated in law. Some standards become mandatory when they are adopted by regulators as legal requirements in particular domains, often for the purpose of safety or for consumer protection from deceitful practices.

The term ''formal standard'' refers specifically to a specification that has been approved by a standards setting organization. The term ''[[de jure]] standard'' refers to a standard mandated by legal requirements or refers generally to any formal standard. In contrast, the term ''[[de facto standard]]'' refers to a specification (or protocol or technology) that has achieved widespread use and acceptance – often without being approved by any standards organization (or receiving such approval only after it already has achieved widespread use). Examples of de facto standards that were not approved by any standards organizations (or at least not approved until after they were in widespread ''de facto'' use) include the [[Hayes command set]] developed by [[Hayes Microcomputer Products|Hayes]], [[Apple Computer|Apple]]'s [[TrueType]] font design and the [[Printer Command Language|PCL]] protocol used by [[Hewlett-Packard]] in the [[computer printer]]s they produced.

Normally, the term ''standards organization'' is not used to refer to the individual parties participating within the standards developing organization in the capacity of founders, [[benefactor (law)|benefactors]], [[Project stakeholder|stakeholders]], members or contributors, who themselves may function as or lead the standards organizations.