The International Commission on Illumination (abbreviated as CIE from its French title) is an organization devoted to international cooperation and exchange of information among its member countries on all matters relating to the science and art of Iighting.

The objectives of the CIE are

• to provide an international forum for the discussion of all matters relating to science, technology and art in the fields of light and lighting and for the interchange of information in these fields between countries;
• to develop basic standards and procedures of metrology in the fields of light and lighting;
• to provide guidance on the application of principles and procedures in the development of international and national standards in the fields of light and lighting;
• to prepare and publish standards, reports and other publications concerned with all matters relating to science, technology and art in the fields of light and lighting;
• to maintain liaison and technical interaction with other international organizations concerned with matters related to science, technology, standardization and art in the fields of light and lighting.

 Within these objectives, light and lighting embrace such fundamental subjects as vision, photometry and colorimetry, involving natura1 and man-made radiations in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared regions of the spectrum, and also applications covering all uses of light, indoors and out, including environmental and aesthetic effects, as well as means for the production and control of light and radiation.

Standards produced by the CIE are a concise documentation of data defining aspects of light and lighting for which international harmony requires a unique definition. CIE Standards are therefore a primaty source of internationally accepted and agreed data, which can be taken, essentially unaltered, into universal standard systems.

For the development of some standards in the field of light and lighting, ISO has established a working relationship with the International Commission on Illumination, which has been recognized by the ISO Council as an international standardizing body.