The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to “achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals”. Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 28 members from 20 countries, mainly practicing zoological taxonomists. Members are elected by zoologists attending General Assemblies of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) or other international congresses. The work of the Commission is supported by a small Secretariat based at the Natural History Museum in London, and funded by the International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature (ITZN), a charitable organization. The Commission assists the zoological community “through generation and dissemination of information on the correct use of the scientific names of animals.”

The ICZN publishes the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (a.k.a. “The Code”), containing the formal rules “universally accepted as governing the application of scientific names to all organisms which are treated as animals.” The Commission also provides rulings on individual problems brought to its attention, as arbitration may be necessary in contentious cases, where strict adherence to the Code would interfere with stability of usage (e.g., see conserved name). These rulings are published in the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature.

ZooBank – a proposed register of the scientific names of every animal species known was launched on 10 August 2006.