British Standards and ISO standards demystified
25/06/2026
We are frequently asked how to find ISO (International Standards Organisation) standards. The best way to find them is to go straight to our British Standards Online (BSOL) service.
Why go to British Standards if you need an ISO? The reason is that many ISO standards have been adopted as British Standards, and often as Euronorms (EN) too. So if your ISO standard has been adopted, you can get the full text of it on BSOL!
The easiest way to check if your ISO standard has a BSI equivalent is to type the main number of the standard into the BSOL search box. So if you want to check for ISO 14620-1, just search 14620 in the search box:
You can see that a drop down menu of suggested standard numbers will appear – the prefix ‘BS ISO’ along with your number means that you have found an equivalent standard and you can download it.
British Standards Online can be accessed from the Databases A-Z on the Library Services website..
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