In their work monitoring and coordinating the terminology activity under the ISO/TC 59 umbrella, SC 2 "Terminology and harmonization of languages" made an important observation following the publication of the 2016 edition of the ISO/IEC Directives Part 2.
At the 2016 ISO/TC 59 Plenary in Berlin, the SC 2 Chair, Rodney McPhee, had raised the issue of what appeared to be conflicting approaches between the ISO Editors from ISO Central Secretariat and the ISO Directives regarding the normative status of terminology in ISO standards. In particular, this issue was resulting in no recognition of the general references to the ISO 6707 series as a normative reference within the different ISO/TC 59 standards. In response to this concern raised, the following resolution was adopted at the ISO/TC 59 Plenary and communicated to ISO CS:
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Resolution 353 (Berlin 7) (see doc. N 1222) Noting the provisions within the ISO Directives Part 2 (Clause 16.2) that the terms and definitions clause (Clause 3) is a normative element, and further noting that ISO Central Secretariat has advised that a reference to a general vocabulary in Clause 3 is not normative, ISO/TC 59 resolves to communicate our concerns in this regard to ISO/TMB as this may be seen as contradictory and creating confusion for committees in their terminology work. |
As part of their communication with ISO CS, a briefing note to explain the issue was developed for ISO/TC 59 by the SC 2 Chair.
As follow-up to the brief that was submitted, the ISO Coordinator for Part 2 of the Directives responded to the ISO/TC 59 secretariat, which read, in part:
After discussion with our colleagues, we accept your suggestion to put the references cited in the 1st sentence of the Terms and definitions clause in the Normative references clause. This ties in with feedback we have received since the implementation of the new Directives. I have noted your suggestions for possible clarification of the ISO/IEC Directives Part 2 in the future.
In light of this clarification, this confirms that normative reference listings must be included in Clause 2 of any ISO standard for any general vocabulary that is normatively referenced in Clause 3. This would include, for example, any one or all of the parts of the ISO 6707 series that can be cited in Clause 3 of any ISO standard related to buildings and civil engineering works as a 'normative' source of terminology data.
The photo above shows the SC 2 leadership. From left to right: Brian Edgill (UK), Convenor of SC 2/WG 4, Rodney McPhee (Canada), Chair of SC 2, Mike Roberts (British Standards Institution), Secretary of SC 2, and Andrey Kharitonov (Russia), Chair-Elect of SC 2.