The development stages of a standardization document as illustrated in the figure below start with an idea or initiative. This first step may be triggered by any part of the interested public, or even by an individual.
All subsequent development stages are performed within the standardization organization, while the remarks of the rest of the public to the document are addressed in a public inquiry procedure.
Standardization work is carried out at several levels, with the national level, which is represented and coordinated by SIST, being combined and complemented by that of the European organizations (CEN, CENELEC, ETSI) in the case of European standards, and the international organizations (ISO, IEC, ITU) when preparing International Standards.