The full-on corruption by Secretary-General Sergio Mujica continues, as we now learn that ISO is dropping crucial standards due to purely financial motivations. Specifically, ISO is threatening to delete standards when they can’t find enough consultant volunteers to form a committee to update them, even if the standards don’t require updating, and no one wants the revisions in the first place.
Corruption in Full View
In an article in the November 2025 issue of Labmate UK & Ireland, Jacqueline Balian, Head of Laboratories, Test and Measurement Sectors at GAMBICA, a UK laboratory trade association, wrote how ISO was preparing to revoke a crucial lab equipment standard because of an inability to issue an updated version:
One of the more disheartening topics discussed during last month’s meeting was the potential revocation of a key standard concerning the design and test methods for density hydrometers. Despite its widespread use across the laboratory industry, ISO 649 parts 1 and 2 are currently under review. Unfortunately, there are insufficient experts from the requisite number of countries willing to participate in the revision process. If no-one can review it, the standard will be withdrawn.
Balian notes that the standard remains crucial for industry, however, saying “this poses a serious challenge for manufacturers of density hydrometers. What will they do without a standard to work to? Will this be another race to the bottom?”
It’s one thing to allow a standard to languish without updates, but to revoke a known-good standard simply because you can’t sell a pointless revision is fraud. The WTO should step in, but it has opted to go all-in on supporting ISO, no matter what barriers to trade it creates.
Balian then relates how ISO’s bulldog BSI is involved in the same game, threatening to delete standards that cannot be updated needlessly:
This issue is mirrored in UK standards development as well. The British Standards Institution (BSI) has recently approached GAMBICA for assistance in identifying experts in a number of specialisms, including the safety of laboratory centrifuges, furnaces, and refrigerators. If we are unable to recruit individuals to serve on the committees responsible for drafting and updating standards, it is inevitable that more standards will be withdrawn.
International Sightseeing Organization
Saying the quiet part out loud, Balian then tempts people to join ISO, calling it — in the article’s headline, no less! — the “International Sightseeing Organization.”
[ISO] was once affectionately dubbed the “International Sightseeing Organisation” by committee members, owing to its tendency to hold meetings in highly desirable locations. This certainly added an element of enjoyment to participation.
Balian might have missed the memo, but no, ISO didn’t earn that name “affectionately.” It was meant as a criticism of its dubious practices, which allow participants to violate tax laws by writing off expensive beach resort vacations as work expenses.
Climate Change, Shmimate Change
Turning a tone-deaf ear to the climate change crisis that ISO has been bleating about for the past few years, Balian bemoans the lack of sightseeing and tax-dodging opportunities: “Today, in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of standards development, in-person meetings are less frequent.”
Well, that’s not entirely true. ISO still insists on holding in-person meetings for high-selling standards, like ISO 9001 and 31000, ignoring their own cloud-shouting about the need for everyone else to worry about the environment. It’s just the lower-tier standards that Balian is involved in, which (I’m guessing) no longer have in-person meetings. And ISO doesn’t coordinate those anyway; they are coordinated by host nations, who foot the bill. ISO doesn’t spend a dime on standards development work.
Balian does identify a major risk: China is not affected by the predatory capitalist leaning of so-called “non-profits” like BSI and ISO. She runs to the sinophobia trope to frighten folks about that self-induced reality:
In contrast, Chinese organisations are actively seizing them. For example, they have recently established new committees focused on laboratory design, gradually encroaching on areas covered by existing standards. Whenever a committee chair or secretariat position becomes available, they are quick to volunteer. This presents a clear risk: those who set the standards ultimately shape the market. Would you prefer that to be your organisation – or the Chinese?
Frankly, at this point, the Chinese are putting out standards that are superior to those of ISO and BSI, so if standards are bout improving industry, then who cares? This is only a problem if we admit that standards exist to put money in the pockets of the execs at ISO and BSI.
So, there’s a lot to find both hilarious and troubling in Balian’s article, but aside from all of that, she does reveal the corruption at ISO and its willing footsoldiers, like BSI, as plain as day. She doesn’t know it’s corruption, because she’s been a personal beneficiary of it, but the rest of us can read.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
