thomas west, for example
rules of conduct, safety standards, technical standards

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In one example, "norms" may be guidelines (in the EU, a norm or directive passed by the European Commission cannot be imposed on a country, for example); the more usual meaning is "rules". If the application of such rules is difficult to measure, these are usually guidelines.

Normas = standards

Everything the other answerers have said is correct.

But the term "norm/s" does exist in English -- and it has connotations beyond "standard" or "rule".\

It often occurs in contexts relating to commonly held expectations about proper human conduct.

The following short text should interest you:

DEFEND LABOUR RIGHTS
Labour Rights and Human Rights
The Links

Rights in the world of work - eg the right to organise in unions, the right to collective bargaining, health & safety etc, are governed by legal codes which must conform with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions that reflect the accepted international norms. In civil and political affairs, in social, cultural and environmental matters, the international minimum standards for rights we should all enjoy are framed in conventions based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/tunion/1998/article3.htm

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Note added at 2002-07-23 10:39:31 (GMT)
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Also, see The Blackwell Dictionary of Twentieth Century Thought p. 425:-

NORM: At its most general the idea of a norm is the idea of a pattern. There are two main ways in which this idea has been developed in social theory, where social norms have been the focus of concern. First, there is the idea of a norm as an actual pattern of behaviour, as what is \'normal\' in the sense of being regularly or standardly done by members of a population. (...) Second, there is the idea of a norm as a prescribed pattern: as what is considered in a given population to be the thing to do. (...) Social norms are often associated with expectations. Two different kinds of expectation need to be distinguished: predictive expectations about what in fact will be done by members of a population, and normative or deontic expectations. Normative expectations involve a belief that the \'expected\' behaviour ought to occur, in some more than merely predictive sense .... (etc.)