1. Existing product standards
Dr Tamale Andrew
Lecture notes

2. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDIZATION
International Standards, and their use in technical regulations on products, production methods and services play an important role in sustainable development and trade facilitation through the promotion of safety, quality and technical compatibility.
The benefits that are derived are significant. Standardization contributes to the basic infrastructure that underpins society including health and environment while promoting sustainability and good regulatory practice.

3. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDIZATION
The international organizations that produce International Standards are the International Electro technical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
IEC covers electro technology and related conformity assessment, ITU covers telecommunications and ISO covers nearly all other technical fields, a number of service sectors, management systems and conformity assessment.

4. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDIZATION
International Standards, or national or regional adoptions of International Standards, assist in the operation of domestic markets, and also increase competitiveness and provide an excellent source of technology transfer. They play an integral role in the protection of consumers and the environment.
With the increasing globalization of markets, International Standards (as opposed to regional or national standards) have become critical to the trading process, ensuring a level playing field for exports, and ensuring imports meet internationally recognized levels of performance and safety

5. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDIZATION
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the international organization dealing with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.
ISO - together with IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and ITU (International Telecommunication Union) - has built a strategic partnership with WTO.
The political agreements reached within the framework of WTO require underpinning by technical agreements. ISO, IEC and ITU, as the three principal organizations in international standardization, have the complementary scopes, the framework, the expertise and the experience to provide this technical support for the growth of the global market

6. THE AGREEMENT ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE (TBT
The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) - sometimes referred to as the Standards Code - is one of the legal texts of the WTO Agreement which obliges WTO Members to ensure that technical regulations, voluntary standards and conformity assessment procedures do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade.
one of the TBT Agreement is the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards which is known as the WTO Code of Good Practice. In accepting the TBT Agreement, WTO Members agree to ensure that their central government standardizing bodies accept and comply with this Code of Good Practice and agree also to take reasonable measures to ensure that local government, non-governmental and regional standardizing bodies do the same.
The Code is therefore open to acceptance by all such bodies

7. THE CONTRIBUTION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
The TBT Agreement recognizes the important contribution that international standards and conformity assessment systems can make to improving efficiency of production and facilitating international trade. Where international standards exist or their completion is imminent, therefore, the Code of Good Practice says that standardizing bodies should use them, or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for standards they develop.
It also aims at the harmonization of standards on as wide a basis as possible, encouraging all standardizing bodies to play as full a part as resources allow in the preparation of international standards by the relevant international body, including the ISO and IEC.

8. THE CONTRIBUTION OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS AND CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
In the interest of transparency, the Code requires that standardizing bodies that have accepted its terms notify this fact to the ISO/IEC Information Centre located at the ISO Central Secretariat in Geneva, either directly or through the relevant national/international member of ISONET.
At least once every six months, standardizing bodies having accepted the Code must publish their work programmes and also notify the existence of their work programmes to the ISO/IEC Information Centre.
Other important provisions relate to the preparation, adoption and application of standards

9. STANDARDIZING BODIES HAVING ACCEPTED THE WTO TBT CODE OF GOOD PRACTICE
The WTO TBT Standards Code Directory 2008 lists all standardizing bodies that have notified acceptance of the WTO TBT Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards.
The Directory, which is published annually, also contains the addresses of these standardizing bodies and information related to the availability of their work programmes

10. THE WTO AGREEMENT ON THE APPLICATION OF SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES (SPS)
The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) sets out the basic rules for food safety and animal and plant health standards.
It allows countries to set their own standards. But it also says regulations must be based on science.

11. THE WTO AGREEMENT ON THE APPLICATION OF SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES (SPS)
They should be applied only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant life or health.
And they should not arbitrarily or unjustifiably discriminate between countries where identical or similar conditions prevail.
The WTO Member countries are encouraged to use international standards, guidelines and recommendations where they exist. However, members may use measures which result in higher standards if there is scientific justification.
They can also set higher standards based on appropriate assessment of risks so long as the approach is consistent, not arbitrary.

12. WTO GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES (GATS)
The success achieved in areas concerned with trade in goods led the WTO to consider whether the methods used for goods, involving reference to International Standards, could be applied with equal success in the field of services. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is Annex 1B of the Uruguay Round agreements.
The GATS agreement covers all internationally-traded services (for example, banking, telecommunications, tourism, professional services, etc.) and was developed in response to the huge growth of the services economy over the past 30 years and the greater potential for trading services brought about by the communications revolution. .

13. THE WTO COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT (CTE)
The WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) has brought environmental and sustainable development issues into the mainstream of WTO work. The Committee's first Report, which was submitted to the WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore in 1998, notes that the WTO is interested in building a constructive relationship between trade and environmental concerns.
Trade and environment are both important areas of policymaking and they should be mutually supportive in order to promote sustainable development. The multilateral trading system has the capacity to further integrate environmental considerations and enhance its contribution to the promotion of sustainable development without undermining its open, equitable and non-discriminatory character.

14. THE WTO COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT (CTE)
Many delegations in the CTE have welcomed the ISO eco-labelling standards ISO and ISO 14024) and have expressed the hope that national (or regional) eco-labelling systems be developed using these multilaterally agreed ISO rules

15. ISO PORTIFOLIO
ISO develops International Standards for all industry sectors (with the exception of electrotechnology, covered by IEC, and telecommunications, covered by ITU), as well as for a variety of cross-sector, horizontal themes (such as metrology and generic management systems).
Given the level of specialization that characterizes ISO’s technical work regarding both the structure of ISO’s technical bodies and ISO’s deliverables, it is often not easy for the non-expert (and sometimes for the expert as well) to identify the scope and extent of ISO activities in a given field and from a general perspective.

16. ISO PORTIFOLIO
Most ISO standards are highly specific and require specialized knowledge to develop. Therefore, the technical committees that develop these standards are also specialized in a specific area of technology or business activity. Despite this, the aggregated work of several technical or subcommittees can often provide a complete offering for a broad sector of activitiy.
The ISO sectoral portfolio is an information tool that provides aggregated information on the ISO work covering selected areas of activities. It includes summaries and hyperlinks to the relevant ISO technical committee Web sites and highlights some of the most important relevant  ISO standards and related bibliographical information.
ISO plans to expand significantly the ISO sectoral portfolio over time. However, to a certain extent, it will always be "work in progress". We are therefore most grateful to all ISO Online users who would like to share their views, feedback and suggestions that will help us to modify, expand and improve this section.

17. ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004
provides general terms and definitions concerning standardization and related activities.
It is intended to contribute fundamentally towards mutual understanding amongst the members of ISO and IEC and the various governmental and non-governmental agencies involved in standardization at international, regional and national levels.
It is intended also to provide a suitable source for teaching and for reference, briefly covering basic theoretical and practical principles of standardization, certification and laboratory accreditation.

18. ISO essentials
The ISO family addresses various aspects of environmental management. The very first two standards, ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 14004:2004 deal with environmental management systems (EMS).
ISO 14001:2004 provides the requirements for an EMS and ISO 14004:2004 gives general EMS guidelines.
The other standards and guidelines in the family address specific environmental aspects, including: labeling, performance evaluation, life cycle analysis, communication and auditing

19. ISO 14001:2004 INDICATIONS
An EMS meeting the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 is a management tool enabling an organization of any size or type to:
identify and control the environmental impact of its activities, products or services, and to
improve its environmental performance continually, and to
implement a systematic approach to setting environmental objectives and targets, to achieving these and to demonstrating that they have been achieved.

20. HOW ISO 14001:2004 WORKS
ISO 14001:2004 does not specify levels of environmental performance. If it specified levels of environmental performance, they would have to be specific to each business activity and this would require a specific EMS standard for each business. That is not the intention.
ISO has many other standards dealing with specific environmental issues. The intention of ISO 14001:2004 is to provide a framework for a holistic, strategic approach to the organization's environmental policy, plans and actions.

21. HOW ISO 14001:2004 WORKS
ISO 14001:2004 gives the generic requirements for an environmental management system. The underlying philosophy is that whatever the organization's activity, the requirements of an effective EMS are the same.
This has the effect of establishing a common reference for communicating about environmental management issues between organizations and their customers, regulators, the public and other stakeholders.
Because ISO 14001:2004 does not lay down levels of environmental performance, the standard can to be implemented by a wide variety of organizations, whatever their current level of environmental maturity. However, a commitment to compliance with applicable environmental legislation and regulations is required, along with a commitment to continual improvement – for which the EMS provides the framework.

22. ISO 14001:2004 ACHIEVEMENTS
ISO 14001:2004 is a tool that can be used to meet internal objectives:
provide assurance to management that it is in control of the organizational processes and activities having an impact on the environment
assure employees that they are working for an environmentally responsible organization.
ISO 14001:2004 can also be used to meet external objectives:
provide assurance on environmental issues to external stakeholders – such as customers, the community and regulatory agencies
comply with environmental regulations
support the organization's claims and communication about its own environmental policies, plans and actions
provides a framework for demonstrating conformity via suppliers' declarations of conformity, assessment of conformity by an external stakeholder - such as a business client - and for certification of conformity by an independent certification body.

23. ISO 9000 essentials
The ISO 9000 family of standards represents an international consensus on good quality management practices. It consists of standards and guidelines relating to quality management systems and related supporting standards.
ISO 9001:2008 is the standard that provides a set of standardized requirements for a quality management system, regardless of what the user organization does, its size, or whether it is in the private, or public sector. It is the only standard in the family against which organizations can be certified – although certification is not a compulsory requirement of the standard.
The other standards in the family cover specific aspects such as fundamentals and vocabulary, performance improvements, documentation, training, and financial and economic aspects.

24. WHY ISO 9000?
Without satisfied customers, an organization is in peril!
To keep customers satisfied, the organization needs to meet their requirements. The ISO 9001:2008 standard provides a tried and tested framework for taking a systematic approach to managing the organization's processes so that they consistently turn out product that satisfies customers' expectations

25. HOW ISO 9000 WORKS
The requirements for a quality system have been standardized - but many organizations like to think of themselves as unique. So how does ISO 9001:2008 allow for the diversity of say, on the one hand, a "Mr. and Mrs." enterprise, and on the other, to a multinational manufacturing company with service components, or a public utility, or a government administration?
The answer is that ISO 9001:2008 lays down what requirements your quality system must meet, but does not dictate how they should be met in any particular organization. This leaves great scope and flexibility for implementation in different business sectors and business cultures, as well as in different national cultures

26. ISO 9000 CHECKS/AUDITS
The standard requires the organization itself to audit its ISO 9001:2008-based quality system to verify that it is managing its processes effectively - or, to put it another way, to check that it is fully in control of its activities.
In addition, the organization may invite its clients to audit the quality system in order to give them confidence that the organization is capable of delivering products or services that will meet their requirements.

27. ISO 9000 CHECKS/AUDITS
Lastly, the organization may engage the services of an independent quality system certification body to obtain an ISO 9001:2008 certificate of conformity. This last option has proved extremely popular in the market-place because of the perceived credibility of an independent assessment.
NB The organization may thus avoid multiple audits by its clients, or reduce the frequency or duration of client audits. The certificate can also serve as a business reference between the organization and potential clients, especially when supplier and client are new to each other, or far removed geographically, as in an export context.

28. Food technology
ISO prepares standards, for example, on test methods to assist stakeholders along the whole food chain to fulfil both the statutory and regulatory requirements, as well as the requirements of consumers of these products.
The work in this field, is mainly carried out by the technical committee for food products, ISO/TC 34, which was established in 1947.

29. Food technology
All strata of society are concerned in the standardization of agricultural and food products, either in a direct or indirect way. In most countries governmental regulations determine provisions with respect to the hygienic and nutritional quality of food, including microbiological standards, limits for food additives, pesticide residues, contaminants, etc. Governments ensure compliance with the regulations by applying internationally accepted methods, which are specified in International Standards.
The main stakeholders of ISO/TC 34 directly concerned with its work are as follows: - agricultural producers; - food manufacturers; - animal feed producers; - private independent laboratories; - merchants/retailers; - consumers

30. Environmental protection
ISO has developed a three-pronged approach to meeting the needs of business, industry, governments and consumers in the field of the environment.
Firstly, it offers a wide-ranging portfolio of standardized sampling, testing and analytical methods to deal with specific environmental challenges. It has developed more than 560 International Standards (out of a total of over ) for the monitoring of such aspects as the quality of air, water and soil. These standards are a means of providing business and government with scientifically valid data on the environmental effects of economic acitivity. They also serve in a number of countries as the technical basis for environmental regulations.
Secondly, and more recently, ISO is leading a strategic approach by developing environmental management system standards that can be implemented in any type of organization in either public or private sector (companies, administrations, public utilities). To spearhead this strategic approach, ISO established a new technical committee, ISO/TC 207, Environmental management, in This followed ISO's successful pioneering experience in management system standardization with the ISO 9000 series for quality management.

31. Environmental protection
In addition to standards on environmental management systems and supporting tools, TC 207 works on documents to facilitate the fusion of business and environmental goals by encouraging the inclusion of environmental aspects in product design - which represents the third axis of ISO's environmental approach. An example is a technical report which promotes the convergence of environment-friendly products with company profits.

32. Environmental protection
The management of environmental aspects and impacts has established itself as a cornerstone of effective organizational practice alongside the management of quality, security, and health and safety issues. Ongoing concern about environmental issues and sustainable development has significantly affected global practices in recent years as organizations strive to be responsive to government regulations, shareholder concerns and interested parties’ expectations all at the same time. The work products of ISO/TC 207 – the basic standard for environmental management, ISO 14001, standards for environmental auditing and performance evaluation, product labelling and declarations, lifecycle assessment, greenhouse gas emission reporting, and others – provide effective management tools for organizations to better manage and communicate about their environmental aspects and to work towards improving their environmental performance and contributing to sustainable development. When used properly, these tools can provide significant advantages and benefits to users in both the private and public sectors.

33. Environmental protection
ISO/TC 207 is not alone in developing standards for the protection of our environment. Three other ISO technical committees deal with the quality of three important elements of our planet:
ISO/TC 146 Air quality
ISO/TC 147 Water quality
ISO/TC 190 Soil quality
Another related technical committee is ISO/TC 224 Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems - Quality criteria of the service and performance indicators.

34. Agriculture
The importance of agriculture dates back thousands of years. Human survival depends on it, and the current climatic change taking place in our world has brought the issue to the front burner.

35. Agriculture
Climate change is pushing agricultural practices to the limit, as factors such as soil erosion and drought render the land less fertile. However, the way we farm can also affect the climate itself. Deforestation and greenhouse gases produced by farming have a negative impact on the climate. Therefore, ISO standards for the protection of the environment, and its management, can be applied in agriculture.
ISO has produced standards dealing with the tools and machinery used for farming purposes. Standards for crop protection, as well as irrigation and drainage equipment are also available. State of the art technology is being applied, such as standards in the field of agricultural electronics, which include radio frequency identification of animals.