Implementation of statistical algorithms for international dependability-standards

The Technical Committee 56 of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) produces technical and management standards in the dependability field. As such, many of these documents are of statistical nature. Some recent controversy has arisen on whether such standards should be produced at all and why should international bodies, such as the IEC or ISO, waste valuable resources elaborating these standards. The purpose of this presentation is twofold: 1) we attempt to clarify the role and justification for the need of such standards, and 2) the criteria for the selection of algorithms included in statistical standards is defined in view of these needs