The first standardization work in Poland was carried out at the beginning of the 20th century in the electrotechnical and engineering fields. In 1923, the Council of Ministers set up a technical committee, which became the Polish Committee for Standardization in 1924. Polish Standards were voluntary and concerned industrial products and their delivery requirements. In 1945, the Committee was reinstated. It underwent subsequent reorganizations and became the Polish Committee for Standardization and Measures (in 1972) and the Polish Committee for Standardization, Measures and Quality Control - PKNMiJ (in 1979). All Polish Standards were mandatory at that time. In 1993, PKNMiJ was dissolved and the Polish Committee for Standardization (PKN) was reinstated.

In 2002, the Parliament passed a new Law on Standardization (effective as of 2003-01-01). In accordance with this Law, PKN is a state organizational unit financed from the state budget. Standards work is carried out by Technical Committees (KTs) and Polish Standards (PNs) are voluntary. PKN is supported by the Standardization Council consisting of representatives of all parties interested in standardization. PKN is the National Standards Body for all fields of standardization.

PKN is a member of ISO, IEC , CEN and CENELEC. It is also signatory (as NSO) of the MoU with ETSI.