Clause 3.3: Quality-in-use terms
The quality-in-use terms define the characteristics seen when the system is used in its context.
What clause 3.3 is
The quality-in-use terms define the characteristics seen when the system is used in its context. The first edition defines societal and ethical risk mitigation. The second edition adds environmental risk mitigation and restates the societal and ethical term as potential societal or ethical risk, a wider idea than risk to society.
What the 2023 edition said
The first edition described societal and ethical risk mitigation as how far a system lowers the risk it poses to society.
What the second edition changes
Environmental risk mitigation is added. The societal and ethical definition is widened to potential societal or ethical risk. Both sit under the relabelled risk mitigation characteristic.
The FDIS text is not public. The change line above is read from the public draft, which is not the FDIS and may differ. No clause level diff is invented here. The ISO stage record is the authority for the dates.
Why it matters to the buyer
Quality in use is where an AI system meets the people affected by it. The widening from risk to society to societal or ethical risk brings risks to individuals and groups inside the definition, not only risks to the public at large.
What to write in the requirement
State the context of use first, then write the quality-in-use requirements against it. A requirement written without a context cannot be evaluated, because the same system can be acceptable in one setting and not in another.
Evidence a reviewer asks for
A reviewer will ask whose context of use the requirements assume and who was left out.
- Context of useA description of the users, the task, the setting and the affected groups
- Quality-in-use requirementsOne requirement per characteristic in scope, with a measure and a threshold
- Affected groupsThe groups considered in the societal and ethical assessment, and how each was consulted
Where it commonly fails
- The context of use is a single sentence
- Only the direct user is considered
- The ethical position is a policy statement, not a requirement
What to do before publication
Write the context of use before the second edition publishes. It is the input every quality-in-use requirement depends on.
Read across
Source for clause 3.3: ISO/IEC 25059, Clause 3.3, retrieved 20 October 2026. The change line rests on the public draft of the second edition and ISO page 88234. The requirement, evidence and gaps are written from our record. Every source.