How to find a standard
Discover where and how to get a specific standard on a topic of interest to your specific sector and information on ongoing standardisation work.
How can you find the relevant standard?
Most National Standardisation Bodies (NSB) have an electronic search engine where you can look for a specific national, European or international standard by keyword, reference, title and/or activity sector. Each NSB also normally includes a list of existing national standards committees and an electronic search engine on its website. Often, information about the standard (e.g. abstract, scope, index) is also available.
In addition, the European Standardisation Bodies CEN, CENELEC and ETSI offer their own search engines and provide also information on the drafts of standards and new work items. You can also look for international standards directly in the websites of ISO, IEC or ITU-T. SBS has also developed a monitoring tool that can help you to find some information on ongoing work or standards on some specific topics and sectors of relevance to SMEs.
CEN and CENELEC standards are only sold by the National Standardisation bodies. The prices of the standards vary according to the member from which they are purchased. Standards developed by ETSI are available for free in their website.
ISO and IEC also sell their standards directly through their electronic portals in addition to their member, the National Standardisation Body (NSB) in your country.
Please remember that standards are protected by copyrights and it is forbidden to copy them for further distribution or commercial use.
If you have difficulties in finding a standard do not hesitate to contact directly your NSB. Many of them have a SME contact of helpdesk (see list of CEN and CENELEC National SME Helpdesks). You can also contact us for any questions regarding standards or standardisation.