The standardization activity, covering the whole of the national economy, began in 1928 when Romania became a member of the IEC. The Standardization Commission of the Council of Ministers of Romania was created in 1948 and marked the activity deployed in an organized manner. In 1970, the national standards body was the Romanian Standards Institute (IRS), a specialized institution of the central public administration.

Starting on 31 October 1998, the Romanian Standards Association (ASRO) has taken over this position as a specialized private body of public interest in the standardization area, a not-for-profit association authorized by the Government, replacing, in this respect, the former Romanian Standards Institute.

In conformity with Law 355/2002, the Romanian Government granted ASRO governmental recognition as a National Standardization Body developing standardization activities in all the fields of European and international standardization as member of ISO, the IEC, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.

ASRO represents Romania in the international standardization process by co-ordinating the national input, by organising the assurance of standards information as well as of a wide range of services, both for the distribution of standards and accredited certification activities. It also issues (in printed form and on electronic media) various publications and performs training courses.

ASRO members represent the industry, the economy, the research and development area, consumers, national authorities, university media, certification bodies and various other stakeholders, all standards users and developers.