The International Organization for Standardization known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Organization_for_Standardization[/ame]
they're responsible for the standards of pretty much everything...
in this case i think the code relates to the information for the ECU variant that's relayed over CAN, different types of CAN systems have different ISO numbers too.
on a side note, i regularly deal with SAE J1939 (a CAN system used on trucks, its a part of ISO 11992) they work by all the ECUs constantly transmitting data on the network, each ECU filters out its relevent info from the data stream and discards the rest... for instance the dash module will transmit all of its info and the engine ECU will also transmit all of its info, the dash module will send a signal requesting activation of the lights... the engine ECU doesnt control lights so ignores this portion of the data stream... if the dash sends info about a cruise control setting, the engine ECU recognises that as something it can do and makes the required adjustments. ALSO theres a fast and slow CAN system, slow for non critical things like lights and radio on/off signals, auto rain sensors and the likes, and a fast for things like ABS and stability control... its all a little more complicated than that but you get the idea.