International Classification for Standards (ICS) is an international classification system for

technical standards A technical standard is an established norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, ...

. It is designed to cover every economic sector and virtually every activity of humankind where technical

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...

may be used. Developed and maintained by the

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in A ...

, the ICS is intended to be a continuous work in progress and is updated when necessary. The latest edition of the ICS can be downloaded free of charge from the ISO web site. Anyone may submit a proposal for modifications or additions to the ICS.

Purpose

The ICS serves as a structure for catalogues and

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases ...

s of

and other normative documents, and as a basis for standing-order systems for international, regional and national standards.

Classification principles

The ICS uses an hierarchical classification, which consists of three nested levels called ''fields'' (Level 1), ''groups'' (Level 2) and ''sub-groups'' (Level 3). Each ''field'' is subdivided into ''groups'', which are further divided into ''sub-groups''. All classification levels are designated by a classification code (called ''notation'') and a title. The notation is a set of

Arabic numeral Arabic numerals are the ten numerical digits: , , , , , , , , and . They are the most commonly used symbols to write decimal numbers. They are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers such as ...

s. Top-level items, which have no parent levels, use a two-digit notation, for example: :''43 ROAD VEHICLE ENGINEERING'' The notations for ''groups'' and ''sub-groups'' include the parent-level notations. The example below shows a notation for Sub-Group 20 (Level 3), which belongs to Group 040 (Level 2) in Field 43 (Level 1). :''43.040.20 Lighting, signaling and warning devices''

Level 1 (Fields)

A ''field'' is the first level in the International Classification for Standards. It may represent one or a combination of the following: *A sector of the economy such as

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

or the

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a c ...

industry; *A technology such as

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex in ...

; *An activity such as

environment protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair da ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

assurance and protection of

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

; *A field of science such as

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

. At present the classification includes 40 ''fields'': :01 Generalities, terminology, standardization, documentation :03 Services, company organization, management and quality, administration, transport, sociology :07 Mathematics, natural sciences :11 Health care technology :13 Environment, health protection, safety :17 Metrology and measurement, physical phenomena :19 Testing :21 Mechanical systems and components for general use :23 Fluid systems and components for general use :25 Manufacturing engineering :27 Energy and heat transfer engineering :29 Electrical engineering :31 Electronics :33 Telecommunications, audio and video engineering :35 Information technology, office machines :37 Image technology :39 Precision mechanics, jewelry :43 Road vehicles engineering :45 Railway engineering :47 Shipbuilding and marine structures :49 Aircraft and space vehicle engineering :53 Materials handling equipment :55 Packaging and distribution of goods :59 Textile and leather technology :61 Clothing industry :65 Agriculture :67 Food technology :71 Chemical technology :73 Mining and minerals :75 Petroleum, and related technologies :77 Metallurgy :79 Wood technology :81 Glass and ceramics industries :83 Rubber and plastics industries :85 Paper technology :87 Paint and colour industries :91 Construction materials and building :93 Civil engineering :95 Military engineering :97 Domestic and commercial equipment, entertainment, sports.

Level 2 (Groups)

The ICS second level, the ''group'', is a subdivision of the ''field''.

Level 3 (Sub-Groups)

''Sub-groups'' are used in the ICS to subdivide ''groups'' into subjects that certain to a particular aspect of the subject covered by a given ''group''. Regardless of the subject, virtually all ''groups'' include a ''sub-group'' No. 01 that covers the complete subject of the respective ''group''. In addition, most of the ''groups'' contain a ''sub-group'' No. 99 for standards on subjects which do not correspond either to the subjects of the general ''sub-groups'' or to the subjects of the specific ''sub-groups'' of the respective ''groups''.

Level 4 (Units)

Level 4 subdivisions are not part of the official ICS document. The ICS rules however allow users of the classification system to subdivide the official ICS ''sub-groups'' into so-called ''units'', making them a Level 4 component of the International Classification for Standards. This is accomplished by adding a two-digit number to the notation of the ''sub-group'' being subdivided. However, instead of a period, new notations use a

hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes ( figure ...

as a separator. For example: :''35.220.20-10 Magnetic tapes''

Statistics

*The International Classification for Standards has 99 top-level divisions of which only 40 are presently used. The remaining 59 divisions are reserved for topics that are not yet known. *There are three "official" levels in the ICS system, each holding ninety nine (99), nine hundred and ninety nine (999) and ninety nine (99) subsets, respectively. *Each ''field'' of the ICS is designed to hold a maximum of 999 ''groups''. *Although any ''group'' in the ICS may contain no more than 99 "official" ''sub-groups'', the holding capacity of the ''group'' can be expanded 99 times by using "unofficial" Level 4 subdivisions, an option that is built into the ICS. Adding Level 4 subdivisions to all ''sub-groups'' within a ''group'' increases the ''group's'' holding capacity to 9 801 subjects. *The expanded version of the International Classification for Standards is capable of covering nearly 1 billion subjects (969,328,701 to be exact). This can be achieved without any restructuring of its numerical coding system. Since there are currently about 780 000 national standards in the world, the number of subjects that the ICS can offer for classification purposes exceeds 1 200 times the total number of documents that are available for classification.

References

* *{{cite book , first=Robert B. , last=Toth , date=April 1997 , title=Profiles of National Standards-Related Activities, NIST Special Publication 912 , publisher=

NIST The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

, location=United States

External links

International Classification for Standards
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iso.org
a
iso.org
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