FORMULATION OF NATIONAL

AND INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDS
BY
Eng. M S S Fernando
Senior Deputy Director
Sri Lanka Standards Institution.
2015-02-13 (IESL)

STANDARD
Document established by consensus and
approved by a recognized body, that provides
for common and repeated use, rules,
guidelines or characteristics for activities or
their results.

Level of Standardizations
Individual
Company
Association
National
Regional
International

Standards are established by:

Manufacturer/Service provider for their

customers
Purchasers
Voluntary co-operative bodies for specific
sectors
National bodies established for that purpose
Regional economic bodies at the global level
International bodies at the apex level
Regulatory bodies

Standards formulation in SLSI

Standards required by trade & Industry and for consumer protection

and development activities

Works handled by two Divisions

- Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical & Electronics including IT)

- Scientific (Food & Agri, Chemical & Cosmetics, Textile & Garments)
International standards adopted whenever applicable.

The objective of SLSI shall be

(as per the Act.)
To prepare standards on national and
international basis relating to structures,
commodities, products, materials, practices
and operations and from time to time revise,
alter and amend the same and promote the
general adoption of such standards.

Standards formulation
process
The standards are established by a process of

consultation with consumers, manufacturers,

technologists scientists and officials through
duly constituted committees.

Formulation project stages

Proposal acceptance and allocation of project
Planning stage
Committee stage
Circulation stage
Final committee approval stage
Council approval stage
Printing

Proposal stage
Requests may come from:
Ministries
Consumers
Producers
Industries/Associations
Other divisions of SLSI
Members of WG/SC
Sister organizations

Sectoral Committees
Sectoral Committees are approval by the council of SLSI
Members from:

-Manufacturers
-Users/consumers
-Government departments
-Technologists
-Testing experts
-Consultants / universities
-Other experts

Role of Standards
Engineers /Officers
For effective & efficient functioning of Working Group
and Sectoral Committees:
Planning
Organizing & coordinating activities
Collection & presentation of data from industry,

international or other national standards, and books

web sites or any other relevant sources.

Role of Standards Engineers /

Officers (Contd)
Arranging laboratory tests, trials and

investigations
Conducting industrial surveys
Arranging meetings
Submission of documents
Preparation of minutes
Provide executive assistance to each Sectoral
Committee / Working Group

Committee Stage
Preliminary draft shall be circulated to all

members of the Sectoral Committee/Working

Group and shall be discussed and get their
comments.

The decision to approve the Working Draft

shall be taken on the basis of the consensus

principle. Once it approved, it goes for public
circulation as a draft standard.

Public circulation stage

Public circulation

Dinamina Daily News Thinakaran

Two calendar months
A copy of the draft standard is available for public

on request
Comments received are complied and put up to
the committee.

Review of Comments
The Sectoral Committee reviews all comments

on the draft standard and decides

incorporation of comments

The decision to approve the Working draft

shall be taken on the basis of the consensus

principle

Approval Stage

- The draft approved by Sectoral Committee is

submitted for the Council approval

- After the Council approval it become a

National Standard of Sri Lanka and allocate a
unique No. to it with the year of publication

Amendments

The issue of amendments to Sri Lanka

Standards is kept to the minimum for the

maintenance of clear and correct publication
However if it is essential to correct error or
technology enhancement, amendments could
be made

Amendment procedure
- Typographical errors and reference changes are
corrected as a matter of routine by issue of Corrigendum
- The technical amendment which alters and/or adds to
previously agreed technical provisions in an existing Sri
Lanka Standard requires Committee approval
- The amendments require approval of the relevant
Sectoral Committee

Revision of Standard
When no of Amendments are made, then the use of

standard becomes difficult. Then it should be revised

incorporating all amendments (generally after five
amendments)
And also when the technical provisions needs
considerable changes committee decide to revise the
standard.
Revision also follows routine procedure for new

project.

Systematic review
Every standard needs to be reviewed periodically after
publication. When reviewing a standard committee has the
following options:
Reaffirmation indicating continuing current standard without

change

Amendment and reaffirmation indicating the continuing current

standard after necessary changes to bring it up date

Revision involving the routine procedure for new project.

Withdrawal indicating that the standard is no longer needed.

CONTENTS AND
PRESENTATION OF
STANDARD

Scope

Every standard commence with a Scope

Indicate the form of standardization

Define subject of documents and aspects covered

Limit of applicability

Shall not contain requirements

References
A complete list of other standards and

documents which are indispensable for the

application of the standard. It shall include
the designation number and the title of the
standard.
For dated reference, only the edition cited
applies. For undated references the latest
version of the reference document (including
any amendment) shall apply.

Terms and definitions

Give definitions necessary for the

understanding of certain terms used in the

standard.
In some cases it shall referred to definitions
given in another standard

Requirements
Raw materials

Characteristics required

Limits for these characteristics

Reference to the test methods to be used to

determine the characteristics.

Marking and Labeling

Contents

Manufacturers name and address and/or trade mark

Model or type

Lot no. for traceability

Sizes and grades

Requirements for labeling (e.g. handling instructing, hazard warnings, date of

manufacture)

The means of presentation of such markings (name plates, labels, stamps etc)

Location of marking

Methods of test
In a specification any description of a test

method comprising no. of paragraphs should

preferably be given in an appendix rather
than in the text.

Sampling

The definition of Lot and other terms pertaining to

sampling

Scale of sampling and the procedure to be adopted in

drawing samples.

Conditions for maintaining samples till the time of testing

Number of samples to be tested with respect to each

characteristic

Criteria for conformity

Standards shall be so written that conformity

can be assessed by a manufacturer or

supplier (first party), a user or purchaser
(second party) or an independent body (thirty
party).

The worlds largest development of voluntary

Standards
OBJECTIVES
To promote the development of standardization and related activities
in the world with a view to facilitating international exchange of
goods and services, and to developing cooperation in the spheres of
intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity

WHY ISO STANDARDS?

ISO standards make the development, manufacturing

and supply of products and services more efficient, safer

and cleaner.
They make trade between countries easier and fairer
They provide governments with a technical base for
health, safety and environmental legislation
They furnish tools for meeting the challenges of
sustainable development
They aid in transferring technology to developing
countries
They safeguard users and consumers, and make many
aspects of their lives simpler

DIVERSIFIED SCOPE
Published more than 19000 International Standards,

including the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families

Includes entire range of business and technology from
standards for traditional activities, such as agriculture and
construction, through mechanical engineering, to medical
devices, banking cards and toys, to the latest information
technology developments.
Develops standards to meet market requirements. The
work is carried out by more than 3000 technical bodies,
involving some 35 000 experts coming from government
agencies, consumer organizations, educational
establishments and testing laboratories

Experience of International
Consensus
Building
ISO standards are voluntary, the facts that

they are developed in response to market

demands, and are based on consensus among
the interested parties, ensures widespread
use of the standards.

Experience of International
Consensus
Building
ISO standards are voluntary, the facts that

they are developed in response to market

demands, and are based on consensus among
the interested parties, ensures widespread
use of the standards.

International & Regional

Acceptance
and
Networking
ISO is
able to act as a bridging organization in
which a consensus can be reached on
solutions that meet both the requirements of
business and the broader needs of society,
such as the needs of stakeholder groups like
users including consumers

Members
The national body of each country is accepted

for membership of ISO. Member bodies are

entitled to participate and exercise full voting
right on any technical committee of ISO, are
eligible for Council membership and have seats
in the General Assembly.
More than 70% of the ISO member bodies are
governmental institutions or organizations
incorporated by public law. The remainder have
close links with the public administration in their
own countries.

A correspondent member is usually an

organization in a country which does not yet

have a fully developed national standards
activity. Correspondent members do not take
an active part in the technical and policy
development work of interest to them.

Subscriber membership for countries with

very small economies.

These subscriber members pay reduced
membership fees nevertheless allow them to
maintain contact with international
Standardization

Technical Work
A proposal to begin work in a new field of

technical activity normally comes from within

ISO itself, but it may also originate from some
other international organization.
The decision to establish a Technical Committee
is taken by Technical Management Board.
Each technical committee may, in turn, establish
Subcommittees (s) and Working Groups (WG) to
cover different aspects of its work.

Member bodies which decide to take an active

participation in the work of a technical committee or

subcommittee are designated as P-members
(participating members) of that committee or
subcommittee. They have an obligation to vote and,
whenever possible, to attend meetings.

One of the P-members is designated to act as the

secretariat of the committee or subcommittee.

Member bodies which wish only to be kept informed of

the work of a technical committee or subcommittee are

registered as O-members (observers)

How an international
Standards
are
A result of an agreement between the
Developed?
member bodies of ISO
Confirmation of the market requirement for

such a standard.
ISO Central Secretariat register the item.

The committee draft (CD) a document

circulated for study within the technical

committee or subcommittee.
This document must pass though a number of

stages before it can be accepted as an

international Standard.

When agreement is finally reached within the

committee, the committee draft is sent to the

Central Secretariat for registration as a draft
International Standard (DIS) The DIS is then
circulated for voting.
In many countries, the DIS is made available

for public enquiry thereby ensuring the widest

possible consultations

If 75% of the votes cast are in favour of the DIS, it is

accepted for further processing as a Final Draft

International Standard (FDIS) which is circulated to all
member bodies for formal adoption by ISO.
Again 75% of the votes cast must be in favour of the
FDIS in order for the International Standard to be
published.
Normally the fundamental technical issues are resolved
at committee level.
However, the member body voting procedure provides
assurance that no important objections have been
overlooked.

Most standards require periodic revision. Several factors

combine to render a standard out of date:
Technological evolution
New methods and materials
New quality and safety requirements.

To take account of these factors, ISO has established the

general rule that all ISO standards should be reviewed at
intervals of not more than five years.

Popular ISO standards

ISO 9000 Quality management
ISO 14000 Environmental management
ISO 26000 Social responsibility
ISO 50001 Energy management
ISO 22000 Food safety management

There are many standards in the ISO 9000 family, including:

ISO 9001:2008 - sets out the requirements of a quality
management system
ISO 9000:2005 - covers the basic concepts and language
ISO 9004:2009 - focuses on how to make a quality management
system more efficient and effective
ISO 19011:2011 - sets out guidance on internal and external
audits of quality management systems.

ISO 9001:2008
ISO 9001:2008 sets out the criteria for a quality management

system and is the only standard in the family that can be

certified to. It can be used by any organization, large or small,
regardless of its field of activity. In fact ISO 9001:2008 is
implemented by over one million companies and organizations
in over 170 countries.

ISO
14001:2004

ISO 14001:2004 sets out the criteria for an environmental

management system and can be certified to. It does not state

requirements for environmental performance, but maps out a
framework that a company or organization can follow to set up an
effective environmental management system. It can be used by any
organization regardless of its activity or sector. Using ISO
14001:2004 can provide assurance to company management and
employees as well as external stakeholders that environmental
impact is being measured and improved.

The benefits of using ISO 14001:2004 can include:

Reduced cost of waste management
Savings in consumption of energy and materials
Lower distribution costs
Improved corporate image among regulators, customers and the
public

ISO 26000:2010
ISO 26000:2010 provides guidance rather than

requirements, so it cannot be certified to unlike some

other well-known ISO standards. Instead, it helps
clarify what social responsibility is, helps businesses and
organizations translate principles into effective actions
and shares best practices relating to social responsibility,
globally. It is aimed at all types of organizations regardless
of their activity, size or location.
The standard was launched in 2010 following five years of
negotiations between many different stakeholders across
the world. Representatives from government, NGOs,
industry, consumer groups and labour organizations
around the world were involved in its development, which
means it represents an international consensus

ISO 50001:2011
Energy Management
System

ISO 50001 is based on the management system model of

continual improvement also used for other well-known

standards such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. This makes it easier
for organizations to integrate energy management into their
overall efforts to improve quality and environmental
management.
ISO 50001:2011 provides a framework of requirements for
organizations to:
Develop a policy for more efficient use of energy
Fix targets and objectives to meet the policy
Use data to better understand and make decisions about
energy use
Measure the results
Review how well the policy works, and
Continually improve energy management

ISO 22000:2005
ISO 22000:2005 sets out the

requirements for a food safety

management system and can be certified
to. It maps out what an organization
needs to do to demonstrate its ability to
control food safety hazards in order to
ensure that food is safe. It can be used by
any organization regardless of its size or
position in the food chain.

IEC International
Electrotechnical Commission
Mission

To promote international cooperation in all

issues of Electrotechnical standardization

Assessment of conformity to standards in

electrical, Electronics and related
technologies.

Scope
Electrical,
Electronics,
Magnetic and electromagnetic,
Electroacoustics,
Energy production and distribution.

Why IEC Standards are so

Important?
Facilitate world trade by removing technical barriers

to trade
Represent the core of WTOs agreement on TBT
To industry:
Greater product and services quality;
More interoperability;
Framework for economies of design;
Better production and delivery efficiency;
Safety-human health and environment.

International
Telecommunication
Union
(ITU)
Established
as an impartial, international
organization within which governments and
the private sector could work together to
coordinate the operation of
telecommunication networks and services and
advance the development of communications
technology

The Unions Standardization

activisies

Designing advance multimedia systems which

handle a mix of voice, data audio and video

signals.
Development partnerships between
government and private industry is helping
bring about rapid improvements in
telecommunication infrastructure in the
worlds under-developed economies.

Managing the radio-frequency

spectrum

Radio-based systems like cellular phones and

pagers,
Aircraft and maritime navigation systems,
Scientific research stations,
Satellite communication systems
Radio and television broadcasting
Continue to function smoothly and provide
reliable wireless services to the worlds
inhabitants