Standards in Development

On this page, you can find out more about other published language industry ISO standards and standards in development.

The ATC is actively involved in the development of new ISO standards for the language services industry via the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the United Kingdom’s mirror committee at the ISO Technical Committee TC37 and Sub-Committee SC5 at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Get in touch if you’re interested in getting involved in ISO standards development!

Translation Services

ISO/TS 11669 Translation Projects – General Guidance PUBLISHED

This Technical Specification provides general guidance for all phases of a translation project.

It is intended for use by all stakeholders of the translation project, including those who request translation services, those who provide the services and those who make use of the results of the project — in particular, the translation product. It applies to multiple sectors, including the commercial and government sectors, and non-profit organizations.

It provides a framework for developing structured specifications for translation projects, but does not cover legally binding contracts between parties involved in a translation project.

It addresses quality assurance and provides the basis for qualitative assessment, but does not provide procedures for quantitative measures of the quality of a translation product.

It is not applicable to interpreting services.

ISO 21999 Translation Quality Assurance and Assessment — Models and Metrics DRAFT

This document is intended to provide guidance on translation service quality assurance. It provides comprehensive information about translation industry approaches to translation service quality assurance, references methodologies and facilitates the development and implementation of quality-oriented processes.

ISO 5060 Translation Services — Assessment of Translation Output DRAFT

This document provides guidelines and recommendations for the assessment of human translation output and post-edited machine translation output. Its focus lies on an analytical translation assessment method using error categories and error points producing and error score.

Interpreting Services

ISO 13611 Interpreting – Guidelines for Community Interpreting PUBLISHED

This international standard establishes criteria and recommendations for community interpreting during oral and signed communication that enables access to services that people who have limited proficiency in the language of such services. Community interpreting occurs in a wide variety of private and public settings and supports equal access to community and/or public services.

This international standard is a guidance document. It establishes and provides the basic principles and practices necessary to ensure quality community interpreting services for all language communities, for end users, as well as for requesters and for service providers. Furthermore, it provides general guidelines that are common to all forms of community interpreting. This international standard is applicable to settings where speakers of non-societal languages need to communicate to access services. The settings vary and can include, among others, the following:

  • public institutions (schools, universities, community centres etc.)
  • human and social services (refugee boards, self-help centres etc.)
  • healthcare institutions (hospitals, nursing homes etc.)
  • business and industry (real estate, insurance etc.)
  • faith based organizations (rituals, ceremonies etc.)
  • emergency situations (natural disasters, epidemics etc.)

Equipment & Technology

ISO 2063 Simultaneous Interpreting – Permanent Booths PUBLISHED

This document provides requirements and recommendations for building and renovating permanent booths for simultaneous interpreting in new and existing buildings. This document also ensures the usability and accessibility of booths for all interpreters, including those with special needs.

It is applicable to all types of permanent booths, using built-in or portable equipment. In conjunction with either this document or ISO 4043, ISO 20108 and ISO 20109 provide the relevant requirements both for the quality and transmission of sound and image provided to interpreters and for the equipment needed in the booths.

ISO 4043 Simultaneous Interpreting – Mobile Booths PUBLISHED

This document provides requirements and recommendations for the manufacturing of mobile simultaneous interpreting booths. The main features of mobile booths that distinguish them from permanent simultaneous interpreting booths are that they can be dismantled, moved and set up in a conference room not equipped with permanent booths. This document also ensures the usability and accessibility of booths for all interpreters, including those with special needs.

In conjunction with either ISO 2603 or this document, ISO 20108 and ISO 20109 provide the relevant requirements both for the quality and transmission of sound and image provided to interpreters and for the equipment needed in the booths.

ISO 20108 Simultaneous Interpreting – Quality and Transmission of Sound and Image Input PUBLISHED

This international standard provides requirements for the quality of sound and image input interpreters and thus specifies the characteristics of the necessary audio and video signals delivered to the interpreters. The components of typical interpreting systems are specified in ISO 20109. Together with permanent (ISO 2603) or mobile (ISO 4043) booths, these interpreting systems form the interpreter’s working environment. In addition to the requirements for on-site interpreting, where participants (speakers and other audience taking the floor) this international standard specifies requirements for varieties of distance interpreting situations, whereby the interpreters are not at the same location as one or more of the participants of the conference.

In conjunction with either ISO 2306 or ISO 4043, ISO 20108 and ISO 20109 provide the relevant requirements both for the equipment needed in the booths and for the quality and transmission of sound and image provided to interpreters.

ISO 20109 Simultaneous Interpreting – Equipment PUBLISHED

This document specifies requirements for equipment used for simultaneous interpreting.

In conjunction with either ISO 2603 or ISO 4043, ISO 20108 and this document provide the relevant requirements both for the quality and transmission of sound and image provided to interpreters and for the equipment needed in the booths.

ISO 22259 Conference Systems — Equipment PUBLISHED

This document specifies requirements for typical conference systems, the parts they are composed of, the auxiliary devices necessary for their use (such as microphones, headphones, and sound reinforcement equipment) and the environment in which they are used. These requirements ensure interoperability and optimum performance under conditions of normal operation.

It is applicable to both wired and wireless systems.

This document facilitates the determination of the quality of conference systems, the comparison of different systems and the assessment of their proper use by listing their characteristics. This document contains the technical backbone of ISO 20108 and ISO 20109.

ISO 24019 Simultaneous Interpreting Delivery Platforms DRAFT

This document specifies requirements and recommendations for platforms used for the delivery of simultaneous interpreting services in settings/situations where the interpreter may not be located in the same room with both participants and speakers at a communicative event, but delivers the interpreting services from a distant site.

In conjunction with ISO 20108 this document provides the relevant requirements and guidelines for the quality and transmission of sound and image provided to interpreters and for the configuration of the interpreter’s workplace.

ISO 21720 XLIFF (XML Localization Interchange File Format) PUBLISHED

XLIFF is the XML Localisation Interchange File Format designed by a group of multilingual content publishers, software providers, localization service providers, localization tools providers and researchers. It is intended to give any multilingual content owner a single interchange file format that can be understood by any localization provider, using any conformant localization tool. While the primary focus is on being a lossless interchange format, usage of XLIFF as a processing format is neither encouraged nor discouraged or prohibited.

ISO 20539 Translation, Interpreting and Related Technology — Vocabulary PUBLISHED

This document provides the vocabulary for translation, interpreting and related technology standards.