National standards body

Standard grain tests have been established by various national standards bodies and by some pharmaceutical authorities. The most important of these... 

The integration of analytical methods in European standards requires their acceptance by several national experts within special working groups and in a final weighted vote of National Standards Bodies. Therefore, there needs to be very high confidence in the performance of methods. Consequently, methods should be tested in inter-laboratory method validation studies, with the exception of those multiresidue methods which are widely used throughout Europe. In the case of CEN methods there is no doubt about residue definition but detailed requirements about the number of matrices and concentration levels in validation experiments do not exist. Eor this reason it may be that CEN methods are validated for important crops only. 

These notes and comments on different sections of the standard should be read in conjunction with the standard. The standard is available from ISO or from a national standards body in countries that have adopted the standard as part of a national program. (For example, in Australia ISO/ IEC17025 is known as AS17025 and has been adopted without change.) ISO/IEC 17025 is a full international standard, but for many years its predecessor, Guide 25 was used, and many analysts and texts still refer to it as a guide. A detailed discussion of the sections of the standard follows. 

The work of ISO is administered by a permanent central secretariat with headquarters in Geneva and has as members more than 140 national standards bodies, one body per country. Apart from central committees concerned with planning, certification, etc., the technical work of ISO is carried out by technical committees, each relating to a particular area of industry. The secretariat of each technical committee is held by a member country and each member may join any committee either as a participating... 

The ISO committee for Rubber and Rubber Products is TC45 with Malaysia holding the secretariat, and plastics is covered by TC61. TC45 normally meets once per year, member countries acting as hosts in a sort of rotation. The delegates to the technical committee are nominated by the relevant committees of the national standard bodies. 

There are at present approaching 400 ISO standards published in the rubber field. These are listed in the ISO Catalogue which can be accessed on the web site. Additions during the year are publicised in national body newsletters such the British Standards publication Update Standards. ISO standards are usually obtained from your national standards body and there is likely to be a large discount if you become a subscribing member. 

There are a number of regional standards organizations which vary in their constitution and scope but are basically cooperation between a number of national standards bodies in a particular geographical area. Lusby8 rather neatly likened their position to halfway down the stairs as in a poem by A A Milne. They sit between the national and the International bodies but one... 

European countries have to take note of The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) which was founded in 1961 and comprises the national standards bodies of EC and EFTA plus some eastern European countries. CENELEC is the equivalent body in the electrical field. To many people, the concept of European standards, or any other national grouping, is an unnecessary complication, it being argued that there is no need for any activity in between ISO and the national bodies. However, the work of CEN assumes great commercial importance because EC countries are bound to adopt them to replace national standards and they can be used to demonstrate compliance with EC Directives. The CEN web site can be found at www.cenorm.be. 

The operations of the British Standards Institution (BSI) will be outlined which, apart from being of particular interest to those trading in Britain, serves to illustrate how the process of generating standards at a national level can be undertaken. BSI is one of the longest established and most highly rated of national standards bodies. Many other countries operate in a roughly similar manner but others will be totally different American standards are also considered, not only because of the importance and widespread use of ASTM standards, but to illustrate some of the differences in approach. 

The national standards system in the USA differs in many respects from the British, in particular the organisation which publishes the standards of most interest, ASTM International, is not the official national standards body having ISO membership. That function is fulfilled by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). 

This is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies drawn from 130 countries. It was established in 1974 and is based in Geneva, as a... 

National standards body Primary method Procedure... 

A standard method consists of a set of instructions about how to carry out a method issued by a national standards body. A national standards body is a standards body recognised at the national level - in the United Kingdom it is the British Standards Institution (BSI). The standard method will have undergone a process of public consultation with the aim of producing a clear, concise and complete method. The precision of the method will have been checked, e.g. by collaborative study (see Section 5.6). To prevent a proliferation of standard methods, a standard method may be issued by more than one body, e.g. BSI, ISO and CEN. 

Significant differences in fuel standards also exist among different countries (2, 14-18 Table 1). In the European Union (EU), member countries have adopted a standard requiring an iodine value of less than 115 (15, 16), 120 (14), or 125 (18). This iodine value reflects the upper extreme iodine value of canola (low erucic acid rapeseed) oil. The American Society for Testing Measures (ASTM) and Italian National Standards Body (UNI) standards do not include iodine value (2, 17) and thus allow higher iodine value oils such as soy and sunflower. 

The second of the voluntary standards is IS 13408, applying to both medical devices and to pharmaceuticals according to the International Standards Organization (ISO) definition of healthcare products. Here, it should be explained that the ISO is a voluntary body whose membership is drawn from national standards organizations. ISO standards have no legal authority in any country or territory unless the national standards body elects to adopt the ISO standard instead of publishing its own standards. 

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was founded in 1946 and holds consultative status as a nongovernmental organization with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It has as members the national standardizing bodies of 33 countries. Its work is carried on in technical committees, of which there are now 76. One of these, the Technicalobjectives the... 

Standard specifications are very important sources of chemical and occupational health and safety information. Most countries have a standardization body which prepares, organizes and promulgates national standards. It is usually the national standardization body which is represented on international bodies for standardization, thus ensuring harmonization and cooperation of action. The standards produced are usually listed in an annual catalog, which is updated by a monthly newsletter or journal. Very often the catalog will be computerized and available either online or on a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM). 

Standardization on a Emopean level is the responsibility of CEN. Standardization on an international level is the responsibility of ISO. Today, some 120 national standardization bodies cooperate in activities that aim to stimulate cooperation in the scientific, technical, and economic spheres across national frontiers. Generally, European standards (EN) are based on ISO standards (DIN, 1998). 

The development of methods of test for polymers and national and international standards are closely linked. Whilst testing of natural polymers predates modern work in standards as we understand it, the period between the start of the formation of national standards bodies at the beginning of this century, and of similar international bodies from the midpoint of the century, was a time when many test methods for synthetic polymers were being developed. 

Other countries throughout the industrialized world, and eventually in most of the developing nations also, followed these early examples and established their own national standards bodies, with the result that at the present time there are more than 110 such bodies in existence. 

The international standards produced by the ISO are not legally binding on any member nation. Their implementation is entirely voluntary, but in order for them to have any value at all it is important that this implementation be as wide and as full as possible. The only means that the ISO has to try to ensure this implementation are persuasion and encouragement. However, the national standards bodies have an important role to play here. In some countries it has been policy for many years to adopt, totally unaltered, as a national standard, any International Standard on which that country had submitted a positive vote. Unfortunately, this policy is not followed in many countries, with the result that differing national standards effectively contribute to barriers to international trade. It is obvious, therefore, that for International Standards to become more effective they need to be adopted nationally by more and more countries. 

With regards to the relationship between national standards and national legislation, practice varies enormously between countries, according to the connection between the national standards body and the government. In many countries, although they may be widely used, national standards are of a voluntary nature. In some cases, however, parti-... 

Both ASTM standards and, particularly in the British Commonwealth countries. British Standards are widely used throughout the world, as are the DIN standards produced in Germany. Although ISO standards are increasingly recognized as the world-wide reference for testing purposes, the wide acceptance of standards from the major national standards bodies can sometimes lead to confusion. This can only be resolved by the adoption by all national bodies of ISO publications as their national standards. 

Figure 5-25. Membrane force due to P,. (Extracts from BS 5500 1985 are reproduced by permission of British Standards Institution, 2 Park Street, London, W1A 2BS, England. Complete copies can be obtained from national standards bodies.)...

There are at least two industry consensus standards for injury and illness prevention programs. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) have published a voluntary consensus standard, ANSI/AIHA ZIO—2005 Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (ANSI/AIHA 2005). The Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) Project Group, a consortium of selected Registrars, national standards bodies, professional associations and research institutes, has produced a similar document, OHSAS 18001—2007 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSAS Project Group 2007). These consensus-based standards have been widely accepted in the world of commerce and adopted by many businesses on a voluntary basis. 

Issuance by the International Organization for Standardization, a worldwide organization of national standards bodies, of... 

OHSAS 18001 was created via a concerted effort from a number of the world s leading national standards bodies, certification bodies, and specialist consultancies. A main driver for this was to try to remove confusion in the workplace from the proliferation of certifiable occupational health and safety specifications. 

ISO 9000 series standards—A set of five individual but related international standards on quality management and quality assurance developed to help companies effectively document the quality system elements to be implemented to maintain an efficient quality system. The standards, initially published in 1987, are not specific to any particular industry, goods or service. The standards were developed by... a specialized international agency for standardization composed of the national standards bodies of 91 countries. 

Association), NSPA (National Soybean Processors Association), CGSB (the Canadian Government Specification Board) and the American Fats and Oils Association. Examples of the specifications for a few of the major oil types are set out in Table 5.2. The FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission have published Recommended International Standards for individual oils, and national standards bodies, for example the British Standards Institute, issue specifications. 

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