Cooperation with ISO and IEC

Cooperation with ISO and IEC
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Cooperation with ISO and IEC Cooperation with international standards organizations
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) – non-governmental organization with its
seat in Geneva, established in 1947;
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)– non-governmental organization with its seat
in Geneva, established in 1906.
The aim of both organizations is to support and advance worldwide cooperation in all issues
connected with standardization, develop and promote international normative documents, mainly
International Standards.
ISO and IEC documents constitute recommendations to be applied worldwide. They are published as
International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports or Guides and are adopted by
member countries. ISO and IEC deliverables constitute the basis for national and regional standards,
for conformity assessment systems (certification) and technical agreements in international trade.
International Standards can also be used by governments in their legislative work, as the basis for
national technical regulations.
It is not obligatory for ISO or IEC members to implement ISO or IEC standards as national standards,
although this is recommended to facilitate international trade (e.g. such a recommendation is
included in Annex 3 to the WTO/TBT Agreement – “The Code of Good Practice for the Preparation,
Adoption and Application of Standards”).
ISO and IEC play an important role in the globalization process:
they satisfy needs of the global market for international normative documents and conformity
assessment systems;
they establish the conditions indispensable for interoperability of complexes and systems;
they help to improve the quality of products and services and the effectiveness of technological
processes;
they play an important role in international activities connected with protection of the
environment, health and safety.
The scope of interest of ISO includes various areas of science, technology and economics, with the
exception of telecommunications and sectors assigned to IEC – electrotechnology and electronics.
Although the electrotechnical sector is relatively new, it is the area where the need to cooperate
appeared first. IEC was established in 1906. The Polish Electrotechnical Committee joined IEC in
1923. This membership is still valid regardless of all organizational changes in the Polish
standardization system. . At present, the Polish Committee for Standardization (PKN) performs the
duties of the IEC National Committee of Poland.
Poland has also recognized need for international standardization in other areas. In 1947, PKN
became a charter member of ISO.
Our cooperation with IEC and ISO is similar as international standardization is based on the same
fundamental principles – internal regulations are shared by ISO and IEC (ISO/IEC Directives) and the
organizations follow similar procedures.
There are two levels of membership in ISO and IEC. The first level is to take part in overall activities
of the organization. A National Standards Body – NSB (in IEC it is the National Committee – NC) is a
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Cooperation with ISO and IEC
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member and its representatives can be elected for all management boards or other decision-making
bodies of the organization.
The second level concerns participation in technical work. Each NSB (NC) declares its membership
status in work of Technical Committees (TC) or subcommittees (SC), or alternatively, informs of the
lack of interest in work.
There are two categories of membership:
“P” membership (participating member) means active participation in the TC/SC work; this
gives the member both rights and duties, such as timely commenting on working documents
and voting on drafts of normative documents, as well as attending meetings.
“O” membership (observer) ensures access to working documents and possibility of attending
TC/SC meetings as observers – i.e. without the right to participate in decision-making processes.
Significant contributions have been made by PKN, and this is shown in the number of ISO and IEC
committees and subcommittees where PKN is a “P” and “O” member.
Polish experts actively participate in many Working Groups (WG) and other technical bodies. It
means that Polish experts, members of PKN Technical Committees (KT), are involved in international
cooperation. This involvement is realized by commenting on documents and taking part in meetings
of TCs/SCs and WGs. It entails considerable effort in terms of finance and planning.
As ISO and IEC have switched to the fully electronic circulation and processing of documents, current
cooperation and correspondence is exclusively carried out in the electronic environment.
Statistics of PKN participation in ISO and IEC TCs/SCs (December 2015):
Organization
Type of membership Number of TC and SC /
Percentage**
ISO*
IEC
P
206 / 31 %
O
457 / 69 %
P
50 / 29 %
O
124 / 71 %
*) including data of ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee JTC 1 and its SCs and Joint Project Committee
JPC 2.
**) Percentage of total active ISO and IEC TCs/SCs.
PKN is a member of the ISO policy development committees:
P member of DEVCO (Committee on Developing Country Matters);
O member of COPOLCO (Committee on Consumer Policy);
P member of CASCO (Committee on Conformity Assessment);
P member of REMCO (Committee on Reference Materials).
PKN, as an ISONET (ISO Information Network) member, plays an important role in shaping ISO
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Cooperation with ISO and IEC
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information policy.
Polish experts are delegated by PKN to Working Groups (WG), various task forces and working teams
(TF, MT, PT) of ISO and IEC. At present (December 2015), there are 99 experts in 126 ISO WGs, and
71 experts in 108 IEC WGs.
Each member of ISO and IEC has the right to run secretariats of TCs or SCs.
In these terms, a contribution of PKN is not significant. It is a consequence both of considerable
organizational and financial resources needed for this purpose and of tough competition (national
bodies from countries that are leaders in certain areas lobby to run secretariats, as this is beneficial
for manufacturers).
PKN is responsible for secretariats (in ISO also for chairmanship) of the following ISO and IEC TCs or
SCs:
ISO/TC 98
Bases for design of structures
Secretary
Joanna Warszawska
Polish Committee for Standardization
Standardization Department – Building and Construction Sector
Chairman
Dr Szymon Imiełowski
Warsaw University of Technology
ISO/TC 98/SC 2
Reliability of structures
Secretary
Joanna Warszawska
Chairman
Dr Szymon Imiełowski
IEC/ TC 27
Industrial electroheating and electromagnetic processing
Secretary
Dr. Piotr Ostrowski
Military University of Technology, Warsaw
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