What is ISO's relation to governments?

ISO is a non-governmental organization (NGO). Therefore, unlike the United Nations, the national members of ISO are not delegations of the governments of those countries. Our national members are the national standards bodies, or equivalent organizations, in their country. Some of them are wholly private sector in origin, others are private sector organizations but have a special mandate from their governments on matters related to standardization, and others are part of the governmental framework of their countries. In addition, government experts often participate in ISO's standards' development work. So, while ISO is an NGO, it receives input from the public sector as it does from the private sector.