This International Standard is applicable to measurement technology. It defines rules for the unambiguous designation of different types of measuring instruments and of measuring instrument features with the intention of enabling unambiguous technical communication over language boundaries. The scope of this International Standard is - the adaptation of the designation of measuring instruments and of measuring instrument features to the state of science by designating them according to the measuring quantity or the measuring task instead of the unit, and - the adaptation of the designation of measuring instruments and of measuring instrument features to the terms given in the ISO/IEC Guide 99 (VIM). It is strongly recommended that "........ measuring instrument" is used as secondary component in compound terms. This is consistent with the objective of standardization, namely uniformity, especially since the meaning of other secondary components, e.g. "indicator", "gauge", "meter", is no more descriptive than that of the standard component in this context. For exceptions see 4.1 and A.2. The ambiguous secondary component "... sensor" shall not be used. In its place one of the secondary components "... sensing element", "... detector", "... transformer", "... transducer", "... transmitter", "... measuring instrument" or "... measuring chain" shall be used, depending on the task of the functional unit being termed. The definitions for detector (detecting device), transformer, transducer and transmitter are given in IEC 60050-351.