1. ASTM International Overview John Pace Vice President, Publications and Marketing 

2. Overview of ASTM International
Organized in American Society for Testing & Materials
One of the worlds largest standards developing organizations
Publish standards, specifications, test methods, books etc..
Internationally recognized
Not for profit
HQ – Philadelphia, USA 2

3. ASTM International 30,000 Scientists and Engineers 120 Countries
144+ Main Technical Committees
100 Industry Sectors
12,800+ Up to Date Standards and Test Methods
165 Employees Worldwide

4. Part I - Differences in Standardization Systems U.S. vs Rest of World

5. U.S. Standardization Not better than rest of world
Not worse or more confusing than rest of the world
Just DIFFERENT !!

6. U.S. Standardization Multiple Path Process Many initiatives
U.S. SDOs more than 100 years old
Many U.S. SDOs had “international” status and recognition long before birth of ISO and IEC
The present European strategy really didn’t gain traction until EC ’92

7. U.S. Standardization IEEE – founded 1884 ASTM – founded 1898
ASME – founded 1880
NFPA – founded 1896
ANSI – founded 1918
ISO founded in 1947…CEN in 1961….BSI 1901….DIN 1917

8. U.S. Standardization - ANSI
American National Standards Institute
Serves as U.S. member body to ISO
Serves as U.S. national committee member to IEC
Produces ANS versions of ISO and IEC
But must deal with U.S. TAGs
No mandatory adoptions
….ANSI is not a standards developer !

9. U.S. Standardization - NIST
NIST – National Institute of Standards and Technology
U.S. Government organization for oversight/policy/guidance
Liaison between private sector SDOs and government public sector
NIST is not a consensus standards developer

10. U.S. Standardization
In U.S., there are various roles and missions of “SDOs”
Professional Engineering Societies (ASME, SAE)
Trade Institutes (API, ACI)
Certification Bodies (UL)
Professional Associations (EIA, NFPA)
Pure Standards Developing Organizations (ASTM)
Most operate independently from ANSI

11. ASTM and Other SDOs
ASTM Standards Referenced in numerous other SDO offerings
AWS – D1.1 Welding Handbook
56 ASTMs Refrenced
ACI 318 Concrete Manual
47 ASTMs Referenced
ASME Boiler/Vessel Code
Section II predominantly ASTM
ASTM key producer of Fire Standards

12. U.S. Standardization
The U.S. does not fall under the rules of guidelines of a regional body like CEN
Thus there are no mandatory requirements to adopt
Likewise, U.S. bodies cannot adopt ISOs/IECs without working thru ANSI

13. Standardization – Russia, Europe, and Rest of the World
More organized under national body scheme because of ISO
To Americans, confusing too!

14. Standardization – Russia, Europe, and Rest of the World
Germany – DIN (ISO)
UK – BSI (ISO and IEC)
Japan – JISC (JSA is publishing arm)
Russia – Federal Agency of Technical Regulating and Metrology (but produces GOST standards and sold by Interstandard)

15. Standardization – Europe & CEN
Very structured
Optional adoption of ISOs and IECs
Mandatory adoption of ENs
There is no published EN…it is published as a national adoption of an EN, i.e. DIN/EN, BSI/EN

16. Key Issues of Standardization Today
Free
Reference in Laws and Regulations
WTO and Branding
Equivalencies
Translations

17. One True Standard for World Use
In some cases a dream
In some cases impractical
In some cases impossible
Copyright Issues and Business Models of Organization work against this “DREAM”

18. Part II - ASTM Cooperation with National Standards Bodies Cooperation with ISO Partnership with Rosstandard in Russia

19. ASTM and “International”
US/International split right at 48/52 – more business from outside US
More than 80 MOU Agreements with National Standards Bodies
New Taxonomy
Portuguese
Spanish
Russian
Soon to add more

20. ASTM and “International”
Business agreements with over 100 national bodies
Translation agreements
Adoptions
Technical Training Assistance and Standards Expert Training Programs

21. ASTM and ISO Joint Standards PSDO Agreement
Case by case on other Adoptions

22. What is ASTM’s relationship with Russian Federal Agency of Technical Regulating & Metrology
MOU for Cooperation since 2006
Adoption and Official Translations
Normative Referencing
Sales (thru Interstandard)
Support of Labs via PTP and Training via VNICSMV

23. What is ASTM’s relationship with Russian Federal Agency of Technical Regulating & Metrology
More than 1200 GOST R Standards either based upon ASTM or referencing ASTMs
Now more than 1000 ASTMs officially translated into Russian Language
Russian Language Videos

24. Part III - ASTM Structure and Organization

25. What is an ASTM Standard
Developed through a consensus process
Meets the requirements of ASTM procedures/regulations
Approximately 48% are test methods which are supported by scientific and statistical studies
Ultimately to:
Improve product quality
Enhance safety
Facilitate market access & trade
Build consumer confidence

26. ASTM Technical Committees
Construction/Building Materials & Products
Road and Paving Materials
Consumer Products
Steel
Petroleum
Plastics and Paint
Textiles
Environmental
Medical Devices
Many, many more

27. ASTM Development Approach
Individual Volunteer Members
Consensus process
One vote per company
Every vote equal
Negative votes are addressed
Updating according to needs of members and their companies/industries

28. Principles that Guide ASTM International’s Standards Development Process
Transparency and Openness
Balance, Consensus and Due Process
Effectiveness and Relevance
Coherence – Non duplication
Aid to Developing Countries
…..compliance with WTO and TBT guidelines

29. TBT Agreement
The WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade tries to ensure that regulations, standards, testing and certification procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade and commerce.
The WTO promotes the use of International Standards, but does not define by organization name.

30. ASTM International’s Global Importance
ASTM is a TRUE International Organization – Various “world class” standards and test methods are relevant and used everywhere
Member/Industry driven, not influenced by trade institutes or politics
International membership/participation in committees
ASTM Standards and Test Methods work alongside and are often referenced by other collections such as API and ISO (sometimes the result may even be an adoption or a jointly produced standard)

31. Trends in Information Business
E-book transition (hardcover library collections replaced by “clouds”)
XML replacing SGML and “others”; ASTM completed XML conversion in 2012
Mobile Device format – ASTM standardizing on HTML 5
Advanced linking – Semantic Tagging (ASTM has prototypes)
Translations (importance) in supporting international penetration in certain countries; ASTM has more than 3000 translations in a number of different languages

32. Questions ??