Arriving at a Consensus when Developing and Publishing Standards: An Australian Perspective

Abstract

Although decision making during the development of standards generally relies on the principle of consensus, there is often differences of opinion and interpretation of what this means especially if numerical acceptance criteria are used. This paper outlines the criteria used to define consensus by international (ISO/IEC), regional (CEN/CENELEC) and one national standards body (Standards Australia) when approving new standards projects and final acceptance for publication and explores the concept of one vote, one value when such a formula approach is taken. Show more