The ISAN registry is administered by the ISAN International Agency (ISAN-IA) that coordinates the overall system and maintains a central register of all ISAN assignments (the ISAN registry). The ISAN International Agency appoints, and oversees the work of, individual ISAN registration agencies that are established to serve specific countries, regions or market sectors. These registration agencies receive and process applications for ISAN and assign the actual numbers to specific works and related versions.
ISANs can only be issued by appointed Registration Agencies (RAs) via the ISAN System following a set of guidelines to ensure data accuracy and system integrity.