FAQ

FAQ

WHAT ARE ISO CODES

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), an "assistive product" is "any external product (including devices, equipment, instruments or software), especially produced or generally available, the primary purpose of which is to maintain or improve an individual’s functioning and independence, and thereby promote their well-being".

The most widespread method to classify assistive technology products is the ISO 9999 international standard. All products and associated information in the EASTIN databases are classified according to the latest version of this standard, which was published in 2022 (ISO 9999:2022)

The ISO 9999 is a three-level classification system that clusters AT products round "CLASSES" (e.g. mobility, communication, recreation, etc.), then round "SUBCLASSES" (e.g. within class "mobility": powered wheelchairs, cars adaptations, etc.), eventually round "DIVISIONS" (e.g. within subclass "powered wheelchairs": electric motor-driven wheelchair with manual steering, electric motor-driven wheelchair with powered steering, etc.). Each ISO 9999 classification item has a numerical code: for instance, item "electric motor-driven wheelchair with powered steering" has the code 12.23.06, where the first two digits stand for Class 12 "mobility", the following two digits stand for subclass 12.23 "powered wheelchairs" and the last two digits stand for this specific division.

If you are not yet familiar with the ISO 9999 classification system, we suggest to take some minutes and have a look at it: finding your way in the world of assistive technology will become much easier. The best way is to click "Guided search by ISO product classification code" in the "Assistive Products" section of this website, and freely browse the various classes and subclasses to see what kind of products are covered by each classification item.