In March 2003, based on the Law on Standardization ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia" no. 54/02) and the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia no. 23-1031/1 dated 24.02.2003 ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia" no. 14/03), the Institute for Standardization of the Republic of North Macedonia - ISRSM was established as a separate public institution, separating from the Institute for Standardization and Metrology. The Law on Standardization regulates the goals and principles of the Macedonian national standardization, the status of ISRSM as well as its obligations, membership, and its financing, preparation, adoption, and publication of the Macedonian national standards and their application. The Statute of ISRSM regulates the name, the seat, and the organization of ISRSM, its activity, representation, and representation, the bodies and their competencies and responsibilities, the rights and obligations of the members of ISRSM, the financing, and other issues related to its work.
In accordance with Article 73 of the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the Republic of North Macedonia and the European Community and its countries (SAA, April 2004), the Republic of North Macedonia takes the necessary measures in order to accelerate the development of standardization as one of the pillars of quality, to encourage participation in the work of European standardization bodies (CEN, CENELEC, ETSI) as well as to encourage the use of Community technical regulations and European standards, testing and conformity assessment procedures.
In March 2003, the membership in ISO (International Organization for Standardization) was transferred from the Bureau of Standardization and Metrology of ISRSM. In 2005, ISRSM was accepted as an associate member of the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), and since July 2012 ISRSM has been a full member of CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization). ETSI (European Institute for Telecommunication Standards) in December 2006 recognized ISRSM as NSB (National Standardization Body).