Abstract: The international basic safety standards for protection against ionizing radiation and for the safety of radiation sources (referred to as the international basic safety standards,IBSS) have gone through three generations of evolution in more than half a century. This paper first briefly reviews the origin,history and progress of the IBSS. The emphasis is put on eight aspects of the system introducing the outline of the 2014 newly published the third generation IBSS for its overall framework,main contents and arrangement characteristics. Finally,the formulatim of the fifth generation of ionizing radiation protection basic standards of China is discussed to promote better the development of radiation protection and nuclear science & technology and its application.

Key words: protection against ionizing radiation, the safety of radiation sources, international basic safety standards, evolution, infrastructure of radiological protection