ISO Standards

Established in 1974, ISO is an independent non-governmental international organization that brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.

ISPO and the ISO/Technical Committee (TC) 168 Prosthetics and Orthotics work together on the development of International Standards and Projects to overcome the global challenges of increasing mobility and independence of life of people with disabilities. This is a Joint Committee with CEN TC 293 linked to Working Group 5 enabling developing harmonisation of the standard generated with EN standards.

The work aims at:

• Harmonising the best O&P practices across the globe
• Providing sustainable rehabilitation through raising education
• Sharing expertise through future technologies such as telemedicine and closer integration of products and services
• Establishing future standards based on users need and closer customisation and integration of products and services

O&P standards are created by a multidisciplinary team based on very specific needs. The Technical Committee 168 for P&O currently consists of three Working Groups (WG):

• WG 1 is responsible for Nomenclature and Classification,
• WG 2 is responsible for Medical Aspects, and is composed of experts in rehabilitation medicine, prosthetists, orthotists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and biomedical engineers, who are specialists with significant international experience in rehabilitation, design and development as well as education,
• WG 3 is responsible for Testing, and is composed of mainly engineers with a particular interest in the development of new products, outcome measures for safety, function and utilisation of advance technology in services.