It is designed to cover every economic sector and virtually every activity of humankind where technical standards may be used.
Developed and maintained by the International Organization for Standardization, the ICS is intended to be a continuous work in progress and is updated when necessary.
The latest edition of the ICS can be downloaded free of charge from the ISO web site.
The ICS rules however allow users of the classification system to subdivide the official ICS sub-groups into so-called units, making them a Level 4 component of the International Classification for Standards.
This is accomplished by adding a two-digit number to the notation of the sub-group being subdivided.