Where to Buy ISO, IEC, and EN Standards
Buying standards regularly causes confusion and frustration. Besides the question of where to get them, the price, which many consider rather high, is always an issue. This article shows where you can obtain which standards legally and which provider is the cheapest.
National and international standards
You can buy ISO, IEC, and ITU standards from the online stores of these organizations (for example the ISO store and the IEC webstore). They are also sold by the national member bodies and their publishers. In Germany, for example, the national bodies are DIN (German Institute for Standardization) and DKE (German Commission for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies). Their publisher is DIN Media, formerly Beuth Verlag.
National standards are different. As a rule, only the national organization that publishes them sells them. For German DIN standards, for example, this is DIN Media.
For international standards, prices usually do not differ between providers. The situation changes if a standard has been adopted in Europe, that is, published as an EN.
European standards
European standards (EN) and other deliverables (prEN, TS, TR, CWA, and so on) are officially sold by the national members of CEN and CENELEC and their partners. CEN and CENELEC do not sell standards themselves.
CEN and CENELEC publish an overview of their members and partners: Obtaining European standards.
Since the standards are usually available in English, it makes no practical difference which provider you buy from, unless you need the translation into a particular national language.
If you compare the providers, you quickly notice that prices for the same standard vary widely.
| Country | Price |
|---|---|
| Germany (DKE / DIN Media) | EUR 124.24 |
| Bulgaria (BDS) | EUR 78.48 |
| Estonia (EVS) | EUR 32.24 |
| Poland (PKN) | PLN 312.30 (~EUR 71) |
| Cyprus (CYS) | EUR 92 |
| Serbia (ISS) | RSD 6,205 (~EUR 53) |
| Slovakia (UNMS) | EUR 21.96 to EUR 31.72 |
| Switzerland (Electrosuisse) | CHF 290 (~EUR 311) |
Example comparison of selected providers for EN IEC 62443-4-1
In our comparison, the Slovak standards body UNMS has so far been the cheapest.
Its search function and website are cumbersome, however. We therefore prefer the store of the Estonian standards body EVS. It is slightly more expensive but much easier to use. Our recommendation is to order the standards you need directly from EVS: EVS search for IEC 62443
Standards are a central tool for regulatory compliance, but they are rarely self-explanatory. If you need support in classifying, selecting, or making good use of standards in the context of the CRA, the RED delegated act, or NIS2, we can clarify this in a no-obligation call.
