According to the International Standardization Organization (ISO), standardization means the “activity of establishing, with regard to actual or potential problems, provisions for common and repeated use, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context. Notes: 1) In particular, this activity consists of the processes of formulating, issuing and implementing standards. 2) Important benefits of standardization are improvement of the suitability of products, processes and services for their intended purposes, prevention of barriers to trade and facilitation of technological co-operation” (ISO/IEC Guide 2, 1991).

Although nowadays there are billions of published documents that seem to be standards, not all of them are, as they were not developed under the strict rules and principles of international standardization, such as representativity and consensus-building, among others.

This presentation is presented by Sandra Feliciano from the Q-Cert VET project and will discuss these rules and principles and the challenge and benefits they bring, using examples of the development of the Portuguese Standard “NP 4512 – Training management system, including technology enhanced learning – Requirements”.