02.1
What Standards Australia does, and does not do
Standards Australia describes itself as the nation’s leading developer of standards, and as an “independent, non-governmental, and not-for-profit organisation”. It develops standards, technical specifications and handbooks, and takes part in international standards work as a member of ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). It coordinates Australian experts at international meetings, and Australia’s representatives on international committees are endorsed by Standards Australia and an Australian “mirror committee”.
On certification, its answer is short: “Standards Australia does not certify products/services/organisations.” That work is done by certification bodies. It points readers who want a certification body to the register kept by JASANZ, which its page still writes in the older form, JAS-ANZ.
Standards are voluntary on their own, Standards Australia explains, but State and Commonwealth governments often refer to them in legislation, and then “these standards can become mandatory.”
02.2
Reading a designation
A standard’s designation is its reference: Standards Australia describes it as the “AS number and year of publication”. Here is one current designation, as listed on the Standards Australia store beside ISO 9001:2026, taken apart.
- 1AS/NZS: a joint Australian/New Zealand Standard, as distinct from an Australian Standard marked AS alone.
- 2ISO: the international prefix. Standards Australia’s drafting rules explain that ISO/IEC Guide 21 “only allows” a designation carrying the full international identifier, prefix included, for identical adoptions.
- 39001: the number. Where an Australian Standard is identical or modified, it commonly carries the same number as the international standard.
- 42026: the year of publication.
An adoption that differs from the ISO text is written differently. Standards Australia’s rules give an invented example: designation “AS 61234:2017”, with the title “Tests for widgets (ISO 61234:2015, MOD)”. The ISO prefix is absent, and the title states the relationship instead.
02.3
Three degrees of correspondence
Every comparison with an International Standard is described with one of three terms, based on ISO/IEC Guide 21. The test behind them is what Standards Australia calls the “vice versa principle”: whether anything acceptable under the international standard is also acceptable under the national standard, “and vice versa.”
| Term | What it means | Vice versa principle |
|---|---|---|
| IDT, identical | Identical in technical content; the presentation is identical or has only minimal editorial changes | Fulfilled |
| MOD, modified | Technical differences, generally minor, exist and are clearly identified; the structure still allows easy comparison | Not fulfilled |
| NEQ, not equivalent | Not equivalent in content and structure, with no clear correspondence; not an adoption at all | Not applicable |
One more detail from the same rules: where some of the documents an ISO standard refers to have been adopted in Australia in modified form, the adoption becomes a “Fast Track Modified” one rather than identical, and the standard’s designation changes from AS ISO (or AS IEC) to AS alone.
02.4
How an ISO standard is adopted
Standards Australia’s guide SG-007 (version 2.0.1, June 2023) sets out three pathways for adopting an International Standard.
1. Traditional
A proposal is submitted to Standards Australia; a public comment period of four weeks follows, and the technical committee votes on publication. SG-007 calls this “the most common pathway”.
2. Alternative path
Standards Australia acts as proponent with stakeholder support, a 60-day public comment period follows drafting, and where there is no objection and consensus is reached, the Standards Development and Accreditation Committee recommends publication.
3. Opt-in adoption
A technical committee that is an active participating member of the matching ISO or IEC committee, and has an approved International Participation Case, may opt in to adopting its International Standards automatically, “unless objections are received by TC members”. Members can opt out at any point, which halts the adoption.
However it arrives, the adopted text is the ISO text: Standards Australia reproduces the International Standard as a PDF and adds a preface stating its international origin and any local variations, which are listed in a “ZZ Appendix” after the source text. When ISO revises or amends the standard, SG-007 says those changes should be “mirrored in the local Standard so that international equivalence is maintained.”
02.5
Status words that matter to a certificate
When a standard is cited with its year, the status of that edition is worth knowing. Standards Australia defines these terms.
- Superseded
- Replaced by a more recent document, sometimes under a different designation; a standard can also be only partly superseded.
- Available superseded
- Formally superseded but still available for a time. One reason Standards Australia gives is that it “is being used by a certifying body”: where such a publication is the basis for certification, it must stay available until every organisation’s relevant certification has lapsed.
- Withdrawn
- No longer relevant, or its designation has changed. Withdrawn publications can still be used by an industry, community or government that chooses to.
- Amendment
- A stand-alone document whose text replaces part of a published standard; later versions of the full standard include the amended text.
Questions about what a standard requires sit elsewhere: Standards Australia says it is “unable to comment on the application, implementation or interpretation” of its publications.