After some years of drafting it's finally there: ISO 20282, the ISO standard for the ease of use of everyday products. It contains the following elements:
- Design requirements for context of use and user characteristics
- Test method for walk-up-and-use products
- Test method for consumer products
- Test method for the installation of consumer products
If I sum it up, the standard is relevant for physical interactive products for personal (and not professional) use or in the public domain, but because ISO standards are made by committees you get sentences like these:

[The standard is] applicable to mechanical and/or electrical products with an interface that a user can operate directly or remotely to gain access to the functions provided. These products fall into at least one of the following categories: consumer products intended for some or all of the general public which are bought, rented or used, and which may be owned by individuals, public organizations, or private companies; consumer products intended to be acquired and used by an individual for personal rather than professional use (e.g. alarm clocks, electric kettles, telephones, electric drills); walk-up-and-use products that provide a service to the general public (such as ticket-vending machines, photocopying machines, fitness equipment); products used in a work environment, but not as part of professional activities (e.g. a coffee machine in an office); products including software that supports the main goals of use of the product (e.g. a CD player).

Wonderful, isn't it? If your not that big a fan of Academic-speak, Userfocus' David Travis gives a good, plain language overview of what the new standard is about. Much more usable than the ISO standard.

See also:
> More information on usability standards: overview at usabilitynet.org

[illustration found here]