ISO Focus

The Magazine of the International Organization for Standardization

Volume 1, No. 6, June 2004, ISSN 1729-8709

Fostering
environmental
sustainability
Digital rights management
Symbols database opens
for business

ISO Focus is published 11 times
a year (single issue : July-August).
It is available in English.
Annual subscription 158 Swiss Francs
Contents
1 Comment Ziva Patir, ISO Vice-President (Technical)
To be sorry may not be enough
2 World Scene
Highlights of events from around the world
3 ISO Scene
Highlights of news and developments from ISO members
4 Guest View
By Mr. Bertrand Collomb, Chair and CEO of Lafarge and Chair
of WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development).
7 Main Focus

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© ISO, 2004. All rights reserved. 31 Developments and Initiatives
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37 Coming up
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ISO Focus June 2004
Comment
To be sorry may not be enough
T
oday, there is a genuine con-
cern in the air, and everyone is
trying to do his share for the
environment. However, “ an economy
is sustainable only if it respects the
principles of ecology. Unfortunately,
by failing to reflect the full cost – the
social and environmental costs – of
goods and services, the market pro-
vides misleading information to eco-
nomic decision makers at all levels.1) ”
International standards can play a key
role in protecting our environment.
Why ISO, though ? Because
ISO can do for the environment what
it did for safety, and more. Safety
requirements become an intrinsic part
of the design of a product, and there-
fore, the cost of safety is reflected in
the price. ISO can duplicate this in the
area of environmental protection.
ISO’s activity in environmental
protection can be divided into three
areas: management systems, environ-
mentally friendly products, and envi-
ronmentally friendly technologies.
ISO/TC 207 on environmen-
tal management made important
strides towards a sustainable economy
through its development of the ISO
14000 series of standards and guid-
ance documents. The worldwide adop-
tion and implementation of ISO 14001
has brought environmental manage-
ment to all sizes and types of orga-
nizations throughout the world. But
are the other standards in the series as
well known ? Shouldn’t governments,
i.e., policy makers, implement envi-
ronmental management as part of their
decision-making process similar to the
way businesses act ? These are impor-
tant questions we must ask ourselves.
In 1997, ISO recognized the
need to address environmental issues
when writing product standards, so for
the benefit of our committee members
it published ISO Guide 64 : Guide
for the inclusion of environmental
aspects in product standards. This
was an important statement from ISO can and should play a leading role in
to the world, but I wonder how well environmental protection and sustain-
is this implemented ? Can we do bet- ability. Due to their global position-
ter ? What about all the standards ing they have the resources worldwide
published prior to 1997 ? We’re off to implement a unified policy, wheth-
on the right foot, but we must ensure er they are in a developed or develop-
that all of our stakeholders are familiar ing country.
with this guide and utilize it. I submit
that sustainability considerations must The environment is ours to
become part of the core approach of all protect, and ISO should play its global
ISO technical committees. role of preparing the needed standards
so as to make the goods and services
reflect the full environmental costs.
“ ISO has a proven ability This is why standards for a sustainable
to bring the key world is an integral part of ISO’s strat-
egy for the future.
stakeholders together to
prepare standards in those Because at the end of the day,
to be sorry may not be enough.
areas where there is
a global need.”
We must also look at the envi-
ronmentally friendly technologies,
those technologies that : conserve
natural resources, such as the use of
drip irrigation techniques to conserve
water ; reduce environmental impact,
such as filters on smokestacks ; recycle
goods, such as recycling waste water
or paper goods ; or replace existing
technologies, such as solar, wind and
water energy generation instead of
coal or gas.
Ziva Patir
Even in the current debate sur-
rounding Social Responsibility, and Vice-President,
what it entails, there is unanimous Technical Management
consensus that environmental protec- Director General,
tion is a key element. Standards Institution of Israel
ISO has a proven ability to
bring the key stakeholders (govern-
ment, business and consumer) togeth-
er to prepare standards in those areas
where there is a global need. We also
have been successful in facilitating
implementation. Sustainability must
become an important part of the deci-
sion-making process of governments
and businesses. Governments need to
consider environmental issues when
deciding on long-term strategies.
Businesses, in this global economy, 1) Lester Brown, Earth from Above
ISO Focus June 2004 1
World Scene
Global road safety
World leaders in health and
government came together for
a UN General Assembly plena-
ry session to address the road
safety crisis on 14 April 2004.
Speakers such as the WHO
Director-General Dr. Lee Jong-
Wook, Ireland Transport Min-
ister Seamus Brennan, USA
Transportation Secretary Nor-
man Mineta, and leaders of
governments and societal sec-
tors worldwide voiced unique
perspectives and a collective
commitment to change.
A resolution passed by the Gen-
eral Assembly invites the WHO,
working in close cooperation
with the UN regional commis-
sions, to act as a coordinator on
road safety issues within the
United Nations system.
A UN Stakeholders’ Forum on
Global Road Safety was held the
next day to mobilize action to
promote global road safety. The
Forum included road safety
stakeholders from non-govern-
ment organizations (NGOs), the
private sector, and others expect-
ed to take a lead role in global
road safety solutions. The two
meetings are an important step
in a coordinated global effort to
address the growing rates of
death and disability on interna-
tional roads and highways, espe-
cially developing countries.
For more information:
www.globalroadsafety.org
Meeting sustainable
development targets
Water, sanitation and human
settlements were the subject of
talks between UN Agencies,
government ministers and
representatives of civil society
at the UN Commission on
Sustainable Development’s 12th
session (CSD-12) in April 2004.
2 ISO Focus June 2004
The particular goals and targets
being reviewed at CSD-12
include halving by 2015 the
proportion of people without
access to safe drinking water
and basic sanitation, and sig-
nificantly improving the lives
of at least 100 million slum
dwellers by 2020.
Continuing challenges were
identified in the area of
improving access to safe drink-
ing water: ensuring effective
water sector management and
investment in infrastructure,
improving regulatory frame-
works and strengthening local
governance.
ISO/TC 224 is developing
standards providing guidelines
for service activities relating to
drinking water supply systems
and wastewater sewerage sys-
tems. (see page 19).
For more information:
www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/
csd12/csd12.htm
Mike Kelly elected
President of CEN
Mike Kelly (UK) was recently
elected President of the Euro-
pean Committee for Standardi-
zation (CEN). Mr. Kelly will
preside over the European
Committee for Standardization
until 31 December 2006.
Previously Mike Kelly was
Vice-President and President
of CENELEC, the European
Committee for Electrotechnical
Standardization. Furthermore,
he was appointed President of
the British Electrotechnical
Committee in 2003 where he
leads the UK delegation to the
International Electrotechnical
Commission and CENELEC.
The new CEN President is a
Member of the IEC Council
Board and of the BSI Stand-
ards Policy and Strategy Com-
mittee (SPSC).
For more information:
www.cenorm.be
China backs
International Standards
for oil and gas industry
Workshop presenters gather for a
group photo in Beijing.
Some 200 experts representing
the major players in the oil and
gas industry attended a work-
shop on International Stand-
ards for the sector in April in
Beijing, China. The workshop
was hosted by the Chinese
Petroleum Standardization
Committee (CPSC) and the
International Association of
Oil and Gas Producers (OGP)
Standard Committee, with sup-
port from China National
Petroleum Corporation, China
Petrochemical Group Corp.
and China National Offshore
Oil Corporation.
The workshop, which stated its
vision as, “ International Stand-
ards used worldwide ”, included
presentations focussing on the
rules, procedures, development,
and adoption of International
Standards for the oil and gas
industry. Group discussions
helped to further deepen under-
standing of ISO standards by the
Chinese oil and gas industry.
In 2003, CPSC announced its
full participation in the com-
mittee’s activities and that
most ISO/TC 67 standards will
be reviewed and adopted as
Chinese national standards or
petroleum industry standards.
Competing in
a changing Europe
In the light of the recent
enlargement of the European
Union to 25 member States, a
two-day Executive Forum on
“ Competing in a Changing
Europe ” was held in Geneva,
Switzerland in May 2004.
The Forum examined strategies
for trade and business in the
region and for integrating
regional markets through trade
facilitation and information and
communication technologies
(ICT) and for promoting agricul-
tural quality standards in inter-
national food-supply chains.
Participants highlighted factors
driving competitiveness, espe-
cially in the new member States
and the EU’s “ new neighbours ”,
including regulatory conver-
gence, good public and corpo-
rate governance, and promotion
of entrepreneurship.
ISO Secretary-General Alan
Bryden, who chaired the open-
ing session, recalled that the
increased competition entailed
by the enlargement of the Euro-
pean Union and associated
economies “ should result
in even greater participation in
international standardization
and use of International Stand-
ards, so that it really benefits
the European consumers and
citizens rather than give fuel to
the ‘ fortress Europe ’ syndrome.”
The two-day Executive Forum
was organized by the United Na-
tions Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE), in cooperation
with the United Nations Develop-
ment Programme (UNDP).
For further information contact :
Lorenza Jachia at
lorenza.jachia@unece.org
ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden
(centre) with (right) Executive
Secretary of the UNECE, Ms.
Brigita Schmögnerová and (left)
Ambassador Carlo Trojan.
ISO Scene
ISO Secretary-General
meets Indian stake-
holders and public
authorities
ISO Secretary-General Alan
Bryden paid an official visit to
India in April 2004 as guest of
the Bureau of Indian Standards
(BIS – www.bis.org.in), the ISO
member for the country.
ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden
with Dr. Nirmal Singh (second from
left), Director General of BIS, and
his principal directors.
His schedule of VIP meetings
included a visit to the Ministry
of Consumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution, where he
was received by the Indian
Government’s Secretary, Con-
sumer Affairs, Navin Chawla.
During his stay, he underlined
the need to communicate better
in India on ISO 9001:2000 and
ISO 14001 certification and to
improve monitoring of their
implementation, so as to avoid
misuse and misconceptions.
Mr. Bryden also addressed a
gathering at BIS of executives
of Indian industry associations,
consumer organizations and
government departments, plus
standardization experts and
media representatives, on issues
related to “ International Stand-
ardization – Challenges and
Opportunities ”. He underlined
the significant contribution of
ISO’s voluntary standards to
facilitating international trade,
for which they are recognized in
the World Trade Organization’s
Agreement on Technical
Barriers to Trade.
The BIS Director General,
Shri Nirmal Singh, has been
appointed Regional Liaison
Officer for the South Asia region
of ISO.
Director for the ISO
Development and
Training Programmes
Dr. Bernardo Calzadilla-
Sarmiento took up his position
as Director for the ISO Develop-
ment and Training Programmes
(DEVT) as of 1 June 2004.
Dr. Calzadilla will be in charge
of DEVT, a new unit at the ISO
Central Secretariat, which in
addition to the tasks already
being handled by the current
unit, i.e. implementation of the
ISO programme for assisting
developing countries and econ-
omies in transition, including
the DEVCO secretariat, will
further comprise within its
sphere of responsibilities the
development, implementation
and promotion of educational
and training material and
services.
Dr. Calzadilla will bring to ISO
a wealth of expertise and expe-
rience in technical cooperation
and assistance in the areas of
standardization and quality
infrastructure and practices.
Since joining the United
Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) in 1992,
he has participated in major
programmes to provide techni-
cal assistance and mobilize
funding for quality infrastruc-
ture, standardization and
accreditation in Latin America,
Africa, Asia and Eastern
Europe.
Dr. Calzadilla holds a Masters
Degree in industrial and process
organization and a Ph.D. in
economics, with special
emphasis on regional integra-
tion and local development.
Standardization
strategies for
the Azerbaijan economy
A set of strategies for improv-
ing the standardization infra-
structure in Azerbaijan was the
successful output of a recently
held workshop in Baku,
Azerbaijan.
The workshop was hosted by
the ISO member for Azerbaijan,
the State Agency on Standardi-
zation, Metrology and Patents
of Azerbaijan Republic
(AZSTAND), with the support
of the ISO Programme for
Developing Countries and the
United Nations Development
Programme.
The event addressed the best
ways of improving the Azerbai-
jan standardization infrastruc-
ture – standards, testing, inspec-
tion, metrology, certification
and accreditation activities –
designed to promote the com-
petitiveness of the economy and
improvement in the quality of
life. Workshop participants
produced a set of strategies/
recommendations for upgrading
the infrastructure of standardi-
zation and related activities in
Azerbaijan.
A two-day seminar on Quality
management and ISO 9000
followed suit which acknowl-
edged the use of ISO 9001:
2000 as one tool of doing busi-
ness in export markets. Eighty
people took part in one or both
events, including representa-
tives of AZSTAND and the
private sector. The seminar is
one of a series of seminars on
quality management and ISO
9000 implemented under the
ISO Programme for Develop-
ing Countries.
For more information :
E-mail dev@iso.org
Third ISO Networking
Conference
ISO is bringing together infor-
mation, marketing, training and
public relations managers and
experts of the ISO community to
establish contacts, communicate
and exchange experiences at its
Third ISO Networking Confer-
ence on 29-30 November in
Sydney, Australia.
With a number of communica-
tion and promotion related sub-
jects covered in The ISO Strate-
gic Plan 2005-2010, the Confer-
ence, entitled “ Strategic orienta-
tions for the ISO Community :
How do communication, mar-
keting and training fit in ? ” will
set out ways of implementing
the strategic plan with respect to
these subjects.
Participants will be able to
exchange their ideas and views
on the current situation, future
trends and implementation of
strategic objectives in five
sessions related to :
• Communication : getting the
message across to stakehold-
ers
• Education and training :
increasing the involvement of
ISO and its members
• Information : adding value to
standards
• Resources for the ISO sys-
tem : ensuring sustainability
• How to improve networking
within the ISO system ?
The conference is hosted by
Standards Australia Internation-
al, ISO member for Australia,
with sponsorship from SAI
Global Ltd, the publisher of
Australian Standards.
For more information:
www.iso.org
ISO Focus June 2004 3
Guest View
Bertrand Collomb
B
ertrand Collomb is
Chair and CEO of
Lafarge as well as Chair
of the World Business Council
for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD).
A graduate of the Ecole Poly-
technique and the Ecole des
Mines in Paris, he also holds a
French law degree and a PhD
in Management (University of
Texas).
From 1966 to 1975, he worked
with the French government
in various positions. He also
founded the Center for Man-
agement Research at the Ecole
Polytechnique.
He joined Lafarge in 1975.
After several positions in vari-
ous areas of the group, includ-
ing CEO of Lafarge Corpora-
tion, the North American arm of
the group (1985-1988), he was
appointed chair and CEO of
Lafarge in August 1989.
Bertrand Collomb is chair of
the World Business Council for Sus-
tainable Development (WBCSD),
vice-chair of the Global Business
Coalition against HIV/AIDS, and
Chair of IFRI (French Institute of
International Relations). He is on
the Board of Total, ATCO and Viv-
endi Universal. He is member of the
Supervisory Board of Allianz and of
the Unilever Advisory Board, and a
trustee of the International Account-
ing Standards Foundation (IASC).
Bertrand Collomb is a member
of the European Round Table of
Industrialists, as well as chair of
Association Française des Entreprises
Privées (AFEP). He is a member of
the “Institut de France” (Académie
des Sciences Morales et Politiques).
4 ISO Focus June 2004
“ ISO standards not only
help to manage quality
but also to manage
reputation.”
ISO Focus : How would you summa-
rize the mission of the World Business
Council for Sustainable Develop-
ment ?
Bertrand Collomb : The WBCSD
has come to exemplify the business
case for sustainable development. We
are a unique organization in terms of
the issues we address and the broad
cross-section of our members. Being
solution-driven and strong on imple-
mentation, we focus on issues
where business can truly make
a difference. In short, I feel the
WBCSD goes beyond rhetoric,
providing what I call a “reality
test case ”.
ISO Focus : What set of goals
would you like to accomplish in
your term as Chair of the World
Business Council for Sustain-
able Development ?
Bertrand Collomb : The
WBCSD has been instrumental
in showing that business is part
of the solution, so we need to
continue to argue the case by
demonstrating tangible results. I
hope more companies will real-
ize there is a business case for
sustainable development, and
join us in our efforts.
I also hope that as a
result of our contribution,
policy-makers will be quicker to
invite business to the table, that
the financial community will be
less skeptical of our endeavours
toward sustainability and the media
will understand this is not “ green-
wash ”.
Overall, I want us to be more
visible, and recognized as a progres-
sive, yet forceful, organization making
a difference.
ISO Focus : An increasing share of
a company’s market capitalization is
no longer based on fixed assets, but
on non-tangibles such as reputation,
brand management, ability to act
and respond to stakeholder concerns.
What role are ISO standards playing
in helping businesses deal with this
transition ?
Bertrand Collomb : Clearly the nature
of business assets has changed dra-
 matically in the past 25 years, shifting
the focus of the corporate sustainabil-
About the WBCSD ity debate from environmental issues
typically industrial production impacts
The World Business Council for to social and development issues. ISO
Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is has kept pace with this shift, expand-
a coalition of 170 international compa- ing beyond the product and process
nies united by a shared commitment to standards set forth in the ISO 9000 and
sustainable development via the three ISO 14000 series to begin considering
PSA Peugeot Citroën, Direction de la Communication
pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. social responsibility management.
Our members are drawn from more than 35 countries and 20 major industrial ISO standards not only help
sectors. We also benefit from a global network of 50 national and regional to manage quality but also to manage
business councils and partner organizations involving some 1 000 business reputation, for instance by providing
leaders. tools to scrutinize supply chains. This
is key in our globalized and transparent
Our mission world where reputation has become a
central element in managing a corpo-
To provide business leadership as a catalyst for change toward sustainable
ration.
development, and to promote the role of eco-efficiency, innovation and corpo-
rate social responsibility.

Our aims
Our objectives and strategic directions, based on this dedication, include:

Business leadership
to be the leading business advocate on issues connected with sustainable devel-
opment ;

Policy development
to participate in policy development in order to create a framework that allows
business to contribute effectively to sustainable development ;

Best practice
to demonstrate business progress in environmental and resource management
and corporate social responsibility and to share leading-edge practices among ISO Focus : Corporate social respon-
our members ; sibility has moved from the fringe to
become a mainstream business issue.
Global outreach How do you think acting responsibly
to contribute to a sustainable future for developing nations and nations in positively affects the bottom line of
transition. companies ?
Bertrand Collomb: As CEO of
Lafarge, we agree that CSR has moved
into the mainstream – beyond a simple
equation of profitability plus compli-
ance plus philanthropy towards better
understanding the communities in
which our company operates. Increas-
ingly, we find ourselves dealing with
a wide spectrum of issues, including
greater accountability, human rights,
corporate governance codes, work-
place ethics, stakeholder consultation,
and sustainability strategies. More
specifically, acting responsibly affects
our bottom line in three ways.
ISO Focus June 2004 5
Guest View
First, it impacts our brand value
and reputation – by making us the
supplier and customer of choice in a
highly competitive business. Second,
it supports our efforts to build our
human capital – by enabling us to
develop competence and better man-
age our knowledge and innovation.
Third, it helps us to generate revenues
in large and as yet undeveloped mar-
kets – thus maintaining our competi-
tive advantage.

ISO Focus : What would you like to

see coming out of ISO’s Conference on
(Corporate) Social Responsibility ?
ISO’s June conference is one
step along the way to what will be
an important contribution to the field
of social responsibility performance.
More significant however is the work
of the ISO SR advisory group and the

“ Reputation has become

subsequent recommendations that will
largely be the focus of discussion in
Stockholm. I’d like to take this oppor-
tunity to elaborate on a few of these
recommendations and share what we
would like to see coming out of the
overall process.
First, the process will only be
credible if the participation and con-
sultation is transparent and inclusive.
6 ISO Focus June 2004
a central element
in managing
a corporation.”
competence of those involved in the
decision-making process to ensure
that there is an alignment between
skills and what it will take to get the
job done.
Finally, it is essential that ISO
builds on the numerous quality tools
that already exist for managing social
responsibility, and does not create
new ones. Then, we will be able to
see how they can be improved whilst
ensuring integration and complemen-
tarity. If these principles are main-
tained, the chances for up-take and
success within the private sector will
be greater.
In particular, ISO needs to ensure that
developing country perspectives as
well as the voice of the practitioner, i.e.
business and industry, are thoroughly
included.
Second, the issues included
in the social responsibility agenda
are unique and distinct from those
addressed by ISO in the past. As
such, there is a need to assess the
 Main Focus
Fostering
environmental
sustainability
Copyright BP Plc.
G
lobalization is a fact of life;
as it continues to progress,
the earth’s natural processes
transform local problems into inter-
national issues. Some of the largest
problems now affecting the world
are environmental challenges, such as
global warming, air pollution, energy
consumption, hazardous waste,
ozone depletion, smog, water pollu-
tion, overpopulation and rain forest
destruction.
According to the World Bank
2003 edition of Environment Matters,
half of the world’s wetlands disap-
peared over the last century, with some
rivers now no longer reaching the sea,
and 20 percent of freshwater fish now
endangered or extinct. If current trends
continue, 4 billion people will live
under conditions of severe water stress
by 2025, particularly in Africa, the
Middle East, and South Asia.
Concern over environmental
issues has significantly affected global
practices in recent years as organiza-
tions seek to be responsive to govern-
ment regulations, shareholder con-
cerns, and stakeholder expectations
– all at the same time.
Over the last decade, many
tools have been used by industry to
put environmental sustainability into
practice and one of the most effec-
tive of these, the ISO 14000 family of
standards for environmental manage-
ment systems (EMS), has become syn-
onymous with good business practice
and a competitive market advantage.
The work of the ISO technical com-
mittee responsible for its development,
ISO/TC 207, Environmental manage-
ment, has established itself as the cor-
nerstone of corporate concern for the
environment.
ISO’s commitment to the envi-
ronment does not stop with ISO/TC
207 or ISO 14000 for environmental
management. It is witnessed by a
large proportion of its committees
work, from aiding the creation of new
clean energies such as solar energy,
hydrogen and nuclear energy and
monitoring water, air or soil quality to
service activities related to drinking
water supply systems and wastewa-
ter sewerage systems and measuring
greenhouse gas emissions.
“ Every environmental
problem has causes,
numerous effects, and
most importantly,
a solution – International
Standards are helping in
a concrete manner.”
Every environmental prob-
lem has causes, numerous effects,
and most importantly, a solution
– International Standards are helping
in a concrete manner. Better natural
resource management increases the
income and nutrition of poor people.
Improved water and sanitation reduce
child mortality, and better drainage
reduces malaria. It also reduces the
risk of disaster from floods. Managing
and fostering environmental sustain-
ability thus concerns us all.
This dossier takes a closer
look at what ISO is trying to do in
some of these different spheres to
preserve the environment, and why
standards are first-rate tools to help
bolster efforts to promote fair trade,
ensure cleaner industry and contrib-
ute to global regulation-setting.
ISO Focus June 2004 7
Main Focus

Contributing
to a better
environment

by Ahmad Husseini, Secretary

ISO/TC 207, Environmental
management

T
he importance of the work from
TC 207 grows exponentially each
year ; ISO’s environmental man-
agements systems are known the world
over, and form the backbone of ISO’s
work on environmental issues, ably
complemented and completed by the
work of ISO technical committees in
manifold fields.
Below we look at the technical
committee’s present orientations and
what lies over the brow of the hill.

Where we stand
Environmental Management
Systems. ISO/TC 207/SC 1 working
groups met in Paris in March 2004 to
resolve comments received during the
public enquiry of ISO draft Interna-
tional Standard (DIS) 14001 and ISO/
DIS 14004 (see p. 11). It is expected
that vote results from the Final draft
International Standard (FDIS) ballot
are to be announced at the plenary in
Buenos Aires in August 2004.
Environmental Labelling. SC 3/
WG 4 met in the Washington DC area
in April to review the comments on the
first ISO committee draft (CD) 14025,
Environmental labels and declarations
– Type III environmental declara-
tions – Principles and procedures. As
there were still some issues not fully
resolved, notably the role of Type III
declarations in business to consumer
communications, it was recommended
by the WG that the second ISO/CD
14025 be released for comment only.
This happened later in April with a
closing date for comments of 21 July
2004. The comments will then be col-
lated and considered at the planned
meeting in Buenos Aires.
The possibility of voting at the
Buenos Aires meeting on elevating
the draft to DIS was considered but
it was felt that a more comprehensive
response from national mirror commit-
tees would be possible if a third CD,
this time for voting, was issued follow-
ing the Buenos Aires meeting.
Life Cycle Assessment. An ad
hoc group created by SC 5 recom-
mended to start the revision of ISO
14040, ISO 14041, ISO 14042 and ISO
14043, and issue the corresponding
new work item proposals (NWIPs).
ISO/TC 207/SC 5 approved the
report of the ad hoc group and decided
on the revision of ISO 14040, namely :
• to improve the readability of the
ISO 14040 standards, while leav-
ing the requirements and techni-
cal content unaffected, except for
errors and inconsistencies;
• to gather all requirements in one
new standard, keeping the structure
of “goal and scope”, “inventory”,
“impact assessment” and “interpre-
tation” as separate chapters;
• to maintain ISO 14040 as a frame-
work document, but transferring all
requirements to the new standard,
adding to ISO 14040 a general
requirement of compliance with
the new requirement standard.
These NWIPs were accepted on
15 October 2003. WG 6 has prepared
ISO/CD 14040 and ISO/CD 14044,
and these committee drafts have been
submitted for comments with a dead-
line of 15 July 2004.
In the meantime, Sweden
proposed to initiate the revision of
the Technical Sepcification, ISO/TS
14048, Life cycle assessment – LCA
data documentation format, and to
publish this document as an Interna-

8 ISO Focus June 2004


tional Standard. Ballot on this new
work item project was submitted to SC
5 members with a deadline of 28 July
2004. The results will be discussed at
the 14 th meeting of SC 5.
Environmental communica-
tion. ISO 14063 on environmental
communication is now more stream-
lined as redundant parts of the text were
cut out during the last international
meeting of TC 207 working group 4
in Paris in February 2004. Attended
by 23 participating experts from 13
different countries and liaisons, some
350 comments were considered dur-
ing the three days and substantial
changes made. This has resulted in a
more straightforward and user-friendly
document. The amount of comments
submitted this round was only half that
submitted to earlier meetings, though
the document had been circulated to a
larger group (the entire TC 207), sug-
gesting that the draft standard is get-
ting closer to a finalized format.
CD 2 has been circulated for
comments with a deadline of 18 June
2004. The next meeting of the TC 207
“ ISO/TC 207 approved
a new vision and scope
that puts its standard-
ization activities on
environmental manage-
ment in the perspective of
sustainable development.”
working group 4 will be in conjunc-
tion with the TC 207 plenary meeting
in Buenos Aires in August. It is likely
that the document will be advanced to
the DIS stage with a target for publica-
tion of October 2005.
Climate Change. In mid-2002,
a joint Malaysia-Canada proposal to
standardize aspects of greenhouse gas
(GHG) accounting and verification
was approved by ISO/TC 207 (see p.
13). Working group 5, Climate change,
was established to develop ISO 14064,
Greenhouse gases to support the cred-
ibility, comparability and environmen-
tal integrity of existing and emerging
GHG registry and emissions reduc-
tion schemes. Some 140 internation-
al experts from 24 countries and three
liaison organizations have participated
in working group 5 work to date.
Surveying environmental
horizons
Future Vision. At its plenary in
Bali in 2003, ISO/TC 207 accepted the
report of the Future Vision Task Force
which described a proposed strategic
planning process for the TC, approv-
ing a new vision and scope that puts its
standardization activities on environ-
mental management in the perspective
of sustainable development. A Strate-
gic Planning Group (SPG) has been
established to prepare the implementa-
tion of the strategic plan. The SPG has
met once since the last plenary session
and identified a number of actions
the
needed to implement the five strategic
goals identified in the strategic plan :
• ensure awareness of relevant inter-
national policy developments and
trends ;
• ensure that market needs are
served ;
• ensure global participation in the
development and maintenance of
the ISO 14000 series ;
• ensure the continual relevance of
the ISO 14000 series ; and
• ensure the protection of the ISO
14000 brand and the integrity of its
use.
The next step for the SPG is
developing ideas on how to moni-
tor the effectiveness of the proposed
implementation actions, e.g. by estab-
lishing performance indicators. The
work of the SPG should provide the
leadership of TC 207 with tools and
mechanisms to manage an effective
and continual planning process to
ensure the relevancy and timeliness of
its activities.
NGO-CAG Task Force. At
its 2003 plenary meeting, ISO/TC
207 formed the NGO-CAG (non-
governmental organizations – chair’s
advisory group) Task Force, through
a resolution. The TF is to consist of
eight members (four CAG representa-
tives and four NGO representatives).
The mandate of the Task Force is to
review the NGO Task Group report
on ISO/TC 207, and to provide recom-
mendations to the CAG – and via the
CAG, to TC 207 – on how to address
the specific recommendations within
the report.
By the end of October, the four
NGO representatives (elected by the
NGOs participating in TC 207) and
four representatives of the TC 207
leadership (chosen by the technical
committee’s chair) were selected to
serve on the Task Force. Since its
inception, the NGO-CAG Task Force
has met twice : in December 2003 in
Montreal, and in February 2004 in
Paris. It is anticipated that the NGO
TF will generate recommendations to
ISO Focus June 2004 9
Main Focus
the TC, setting the stage for a stronger
participation of NGOs within the work
of TC 207.
TC 207 Plenary in Bali, Indonesia, in 2003.
(From left to right) : Ahmad Husseini, Lianna
Bratasida, Deputy Minister of Environment
of Indonesia, Kevin Boehmer (CSA),
Dick Hortensius (NEN), Joe Casio (USA), and
Haroldo Mattos de Lemos (Vice Chair
ISO/TC 207)
From left to right : Ahmad Husseini (Secretary
TC 207 and author of this article) , Steve
Cornish (ANSI, ISO/ TMB Member), Run Sirvell
(SIS), Mary McKiel (US EPA), and Dan Gagnier
(Chair ISO/ TC 207)
Challenges that need
addressing
The challenges we face can be
summarized by posing the following
questions :
• Are we meeting our mandate ?
• Have we done enough to explain
our products ?
• Are developing countries contrib-
uting enough ? What about twin-
ning ?
• Are SMEs able to implement our
standards ?
• How are we handling new chal-
lenges (e.g. climate change) ?
10 ISO Focus June 2004
• Should we expand our mandate ?
• Should we get involved in “ softer ”
subjects such as CSR ?
• What about Integrated Manage-
ment Systems ?
• How are we handling the NGOs ?
• What about industry ? Are we cor-
rectly serving industry’s interests ?
TC 207 and
developing countries
ISO/TC 207 has been a pioneer
within the ISO system to positively
respond to the TMB and Council
direction regarding “ twinning ” its
leadership positions with members
of the developing countries. Our
ISO/TC 207 Vice-Chair, Haroldo
Mattos de Lemos, comes from
Brazil. Haroldo has a long history
of environmental management
positions, including senior posi-
tions in Brazil, and UNEP. He ran
an excellent meeting in Bali last
year, when Dan Gagnier, Chair
of TC 207, with his extensive
background in high-level positions
in both government and industry,
had to cancel at the last minute.
Our subcommittees and working
groups have put plans together to
“ twin ” their leadership positions.
ISO/TC 207 Chair’s Advisory
Group (CAG) has always had
members from developing coun-
tries, and NGOs. The ISO/TC 207
leadership feels that because of the
impact that our products have on
the environment, we need to reach
out to all stakeholders. Industry is
well represented across the com-
mittee and takes on the lion’s share
in contributing to the work done.
Or are we standards writers and
consultants pushing for new prod-
ucts that lead to third party certifi-
cations? Where is the balance ?
• Are we serving consumers?
• Are we losing human resources ?
Can we continue to carry out our
mandate with our existing experts,
or do we need new blood ?
• Can we continue to have large
plenary sessions? Who will host
them ? Do we need to help finance
plenaries ? Big plenaries cost mon-
ey. Will we be able to find sponsors
to host our future sessions ?
• How can we work better to align
ISO 14001 and ISO 9001?
ISO/TC 207 has been a pioneer
in including elements of sustainable
development in its products. We do
understand that we still have a long way
to go to meet our mandate, respond to
our stakeholders, and ensure that our
environment becomes healthier after
our standards are applied. We also
accept the new challenges coming
our way. Our future vision, and ISO’s
Horizon 2010 will be our guide in the
coming years.
About the author
Ahmad Husseini
s the Pro-
ramme Man-
ger, Business
Management
nd Sustaina-
ility at the
Canadian
Standards
Association
(CSA) with more than 38 years of
experience in the engineering field,
including environmental, industrial
utility, water treatment plant design
and construction management, oil and
gas and production management.
He is Secretary to ISO/TC 207,
and author of various papers on Life
Cycle Assessment, Packaging,
Environmental Labelling and Design
for the Environment.

Yet more robust :
revised ISO 14001
and ISO 14004
By Oswald A. Dodds, Chair
ISO/TC 207/SC 1, Environmental
management systems
I
SO 14001, Environmental manage-
ment systems – Specification with
guidance for use, and ISO 14004,
Environmental management systems –
General guidelines on principles, sys-
tems and supporting techniques, were
published together in September 1996.
Although entirely compatible and con-
sistent with each other, they are sepa-
rate standards with different intended
audiences and uses. That said, users can
easily use ISO 14004 as an aid to estab-
lishing an Environmental Management
System (EMS) and then use ISO 14001
if they wish to claim that they meet its
requirements – either through self-dec-
laration (first party), a declaration by a
customer (second party) or by an inde-
pendent assessment body (third party).
Part of the ISO rules provides
that all ISO standards must be reviewed
every five years to ensure that they
are still necessary and relevant. This
review process determines whether
the document is still satisfactory and
can be confirmed for a further period,
is no longer necessary in which case it
can be cancelled/withdrawn, or that it is
still necessary but needs to be amended
or revised to ensure it meets the ongo-
ing needs of the user community.
The review of ISO 14001 and
ISO 14004 began in 2000, as subcom-
mittee 1 of ISO/TC 207, Environmental
management systems, that is responsi-
ble for both standards, wished to ensure
its ongoing relevance following their
initial use around the world and to fur-
ther improve the compatibility between
ISO 14001 and the then newly approved
and published ISO 9001:2000.
Close cooperation for
compatible standards
It should be noted that the two
subcommittees that are responsible for
ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:1996
had been cooperating closely through-
out the initial development processes
for both standards, and this cooperation
was enhanced to aid the compatibility
improvement goal through the prepara-
tion of ISO 9001: 2000 and the current
the
revision of ISO 14001:1996. As well as
a joint group to oversee the activities,
each subcommittee has had experts
working with their opposite numbers
during the detailed technical discus-
sions that produced/will produce the
new versions of each standard.
As far as the revisions of ISO
14001 and ISO 14004 are concerned,
an initial review questionnaire to all
member bodies that are part of ISO/TC
207/SC1 produced overwhelming sup-
port for revising both documents. The
two working groups that dealt with the
detailed technical work of creating the
two standards were tasked to deal with
the revisions to each, again working in
parallel to make sure that internal con-
sistency continued. The work of revis-
ing ISO 14001 was dealt with by ISO/
TC 207/ SC 1/WG 1, Specification.
Circumscribing
the revision activity
In each case, initial comments
from member bodies received during
the review phase have been used as the
starting point for the revision activity.
ISO Focus June 2004 11
Main Focus
Both revisions have progressed in paral-
lel with working drafts becoming com-
mittee drafts (CD) for comments, then
committee drafts for ballot and com-
ment, Draft International Standards
(DIS) and now Final Draft International
Standards (FDIS). In all, around 1700
comments have been considered as the
revisions have moved forward with
many hours of debate on details.
The scope of the ISO 14001
revision was, at the request of member
bodies, limited to
• Clarification of the existing (1996)
text (both in meaning/intent and for
translation reasons);
• Changes to further improve com-
patibility with ISO 9001:2000.
In the case of ISO 14004, the
scope of the revision was limited
essentially to following the changes
in ISO 14001 – to keep the two docu-
ments consistent and changes designed
to make the standard more user-
friendly for small and medium sized
enterprises. A series of criteria were
adopted to guide the experts through
their task and all involved have been
really diligent in their work.
The FDIS documents were sent
the forest
of difficulties
to ISO Central Secretariat towards
the end of April 2004 and have been
approved for circulation to the member
bodies for the two-month “Yes/No” vote.
The subcommittee and working group
experts will be meeting in Argentina in
late August 2004 and have expressed the
hope that the results of the ballot will be
available by that meeting.
The project plan shows final
publication by the end of 2004 – assum-
ing a favourable FDIS ballot result!
Making the standard
easier to understand
It is not possible to detail all of
the changes that have been proposed
to either standard but as a taster, the
main changes proposed to ISO 14001:
1996 are:
• An explanation of “Plan, Do,
Check, Act” has been added to fig-
ure 1 (the EMS improvement spi-
12 ISO Focus June 2004
“ The new versions of both
standards will be seen as
improvements over the
first editions and be easier
to understand and use
than their predecessors.”
ral) closely modelled on that con-
tained in ISO 9001: 2000.
• Six new definitions have been add-
ed and several have been changed
(to both enhance compatibility and
to improve clarity).
• There is now an explicit require-
ment to define the scope of the
EMS and to then include all activ-
ities products and services that are
within the scope within the system.
• The requirements for legal and other
requirements have been clarified.
• It is now clearer that significant envi-
ronmental aspects are to be taken
into account in developing imple-
A set of criteria menting and maintaining the EMS.
provided a clear
• The reason for identifying and having
path guiding access to legal and other requirements
the experts through is now clearly stated (i.e. to determine
how they apply to the organization’s
environmental aspects).
• The sub-clause on Programmes
has been absorbed into that deal-
ing with Objectives and targets
and the text has been modified to
clarify the intent and purpose of the
requirement.
About the author
Oswald A.
Dodds, MBE is
former Director
f a large local
uthority in the
United Kingdom
who now has a
ortfolio of busi-
ess and other
nterests as well
s standards
development roles in the UK, Europe and
internationally. Mr. Dodds is Chair of ISO/
TC 207/SC1, as well as leader of the UK
delegation to ISO/TC 207.

• The (old) structure and respon-
sibility requirements have been
changed to improve compatibility
with ISO 9001.
• The (old) Training, awareness
and competence clause has been
reworked to (hopefully) improve
understanding of its intent.
• The Communications clause has
been revised.
• Documentation and control of
documents requirements have been
simplified.
• The standard now only requires
one documented procedure (in the
sub-clause dealing with operational
control).
• Compliance evaluation has been
split into two elements and the text
has been amended to improve clar-
ity of intent/purpose.
• The Non-conformity, corrective
action and preventive action sub-
clause has been revised.
• The Internal audit (was EMS audit)
clause has been revised with new
text added relating to “objectivity
and impartiality”.
• The Management review clause
has been extensively changed to
clarify its intent and to improve
compatibility.
• Annex A (the guidance annex) has
been extensively revised.
• Annex B has been updated to
reflect the new version of ISO
14001 and ISO 9001:2000.
Space prevents me from listing
more. Similarly I could list a significant
number of changes to ISO 14004.
I believe that the new versions of
both standards will be seen as improve-
ments over the first editions and hope-
fully they will be easier to understand
and use than their predecessors.
Once published, please let us
have your views and comments – posi-
tive or otherwise as we will be build-
ing these up, with any other ideas for
change/improvement ready for a fur-
ther review in the future. My E-mail :
oad.osanda@btinternet.com
Greenhouse gas
accounting
and verification
By Kevin Boehmer, Secretary,
ISO/TC 207, Working Group 5,
Climate Change and Dr. Aleg
Cherp, Central European
University, representing NGOs in
ISO/TC 207/ WG 5
I
n mid-2002, ISO identified a need
to standardize aspects of green-
house gas (GHG) accounting and
verification to support the credibil-
ity, comparability and environmental
integrity of existing and emerging
GHG registry and emissions reduction
schemes. With the approval of a joint
Malaysia-Canada proposal, ISO/TC
207 on Environmental management
established its working group 5 on Cli-
mate Change to undertake the work.
Some 140 international experts from
24 countries and three liaison organi-
zations have participated in working
group work to date.
ISO’s goal in developing a
standard for GHG accounting and
verification is to provide a set of
unambiguous, verifiable requirements
or specifications to support organiza-
tions and proponents of GHG emission
the
reduction projects in using quantifica-
tion, monitoring and verification that
ensures “ a tonne of carbon is always
a tonne of carbon ”. The ISO standard
could be used also to enable GHG
scheme administrators to design sys-
tems using standardized ‘ building
blocks ’, which support the compat-
ibility of rules and comparability and
credibility of GHG quantification.
“ ISO’s goal is to provide
a set of unambiguous,
verifiable requirements
or specifications to
support organizations
of GHG emission
reduction projects.”
Governments, companies and
voluntary initiatives currently use a
number of approaches to account for
GHG emissions and reductions. The
most widely used approach for corpo-
rate GHG inventories is the Greenhouse
Gas Protocol : a Corporate Accounting
and Reporting Standard, which was
developed by the World Resources
Institute (WRI) and the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD)1). This, and other efforts,
provides useful best practice guidance
1) See www.ghgprotocol.org. A GHG project
accounting module is also under development by
the same initiative.
ISO Focus June 2004 13
Main Focus
but are not verifiable international stan-
dards. Moreover, no internationally rec-
ognized guidelines on GHG emissions
verification exist at present.
A standard to enhance
environmental integrity
ISO’s GHG accounting and ver-
ification standard (ISO 14064) aims to
be of interest to companies and organi-
zations, GHG scheme administrators,
project proponents, validation and/or
verification bodies and environmental
NGOs, among others. ISO envisages
that the standard will:
• Enhance environmental integrity
by promoting consistency, trans-
parency and credibility in GHG
emissions quantification, monitor-
ing, reporting and verification ;
• Enable organizations to identify
and manage GHG-related liabili-
ties, assets and risks through the
systematic development and main-
tenance of GHG inventories ;
• Facilitate the trade of GHG allow-
ances or credits ; and
• Support the design, development
and implementation of comparable
and consistent GHG schemes or
programmes.
ISO’s GHG accounting and veri-
fication standard will have three parts :
• Part 1 : Greenhouse gases : speci-
fication for the quantification,
monitoring and reporting of orga-
nization emissions and removals,
will specify verifiable require-
ments for organizations to design,
develop, maintain and report on
organizational-level GHG invento-
ries. This part will be of interest to
organizations participating in vol-
untary GHG registries, regulatory
allowance-based schemes or GHG
scheme administrators designing
such programmes or schemes.
• Part 2 : Greenhouse gases : speci-
fication for the quantification,
monitoring and reporting of project
emission reductions and removal
enhancements, will specify verifi-
14 ISO Focus June 2004
able requirements for GHG project
proponents to plan, monitor, quanti-
fy and report on projects, including
resultant GHG emission reductions.
This part of the standard is aimed
at project proponents participating
in voluntary programmes, regula-
tory credit-based schemes or GHG
scheme administrators designing
such programmes or schemes.
• Part 3 : Greenhouse gases : specifi-
cation and guidance for validation
and verification, will specify veri-
fiable requirements for validators
and/or verifiers in providing assur-
ance against GHG claims from
organizations, for example in Part
1, or projects, for example in Part
2. This aims to be applicable to any
GHG scheme and will be of inter-
est to validation/verification bod-
ies, validators/verifiers and GHG
scheme administrators.
Recently, the South African
Bureau of Standards in partnership
with the Standards Council of Canada
submitted a proposal to ISO/TC 207
members to develop Part 4 of ISO
14064. If approved, Part 4 would detail
guidelines for the accreditation of bod-
ies providing greenhouse gas valida-
tion and verification services.
We recently distributed a sec-
ond committee draft of all 3 Parts of
ISO 14064. The standard is planned for
publication in late 2005/early 2006.
About the authors
Kevin Boehmer
s manager of
he health care
nd community
ublic safety
rogramme with
he Canadian
tandards Asso-
iation in Toron-
o, Canada, and
ecretary of ISO
Working Group 5 on Climate Change.
E-mail : kevin.boehmer@csa.ca
This article was adapted from “An emerging global
standard ” originally published by the authors in Carbon Finance (December 2003).
Guiding principles
ISO/TC 207 working group
5, while taking advantage of ISO’s
reputation and process strengths, is
not immune from the complexities
and politics of developing climate
change standards. They have therefore
established four guiding principles to
adhere to through the standard’s devel-
opment process.
First, ISO 14064 will be GHG
regime or scheme neutral. While being
scheme neutral, ISO 14064 must main-
tain its applicability and relevance.
This means the developers of ISO
14064 need to balance being ‘scheme
sensitive ’ with becoming ‘scheme
selective ’ or being ‘policy relevant’
with becoming ‘policy prescriptive’.
“ The timely publication
of its GHG accounting and
verification standard
will encourage its wide
application.”
Second, it is realized that any-
thing short of a technically rigorous
standard will lose market credibility
and relevance. To this end, we will aim
to align with the WRI and WBCSD
GHG Protocol. Ongoing discussions
with the WRI (World Resources
Institute) and WBCSD (World Business
Aleg Cherp is
n assistant
rofessor at the
Central European
University in
Budapest,
Hungary, is
olicy advisor to
he non-govern-
mental organiza-
on (NGO)
ECOLOGIA and represents the NGO in
ISO working group 5 on Climate Change.
E-mail : cherpa@ceu.hu

Council for Sustainable Development)
on compatibility with this Protocol
will continue as the ISO standard is
developed. Other relevant technical
best practices, including IPCC meth-
odologies and Kyoto Protocol’s Clean
Development Mechanism require-
ments, are being considered by the
ISO standards developers.
Third, ISO recognizes that
the credibility of ISO 14064 may be
impacted by the extensiveness of par-
ticipation in the standards development
process. The participation of various
countries, regions, stakeholder groups
and technical experts is important to
ensure different perspectives, needs
and expertise is accounted for.
Fourth, in recognition that
much of GHG accounting and verifi-
cation best practice is relatively new
and evolving, the working group
has committed to an aggressive, but
responsible, schedule to complete the
standard. As a variety of GHG emis-
sions reduction schemes are under
development or are being planned,
ISO hopes that the timely publication
of its GHG accounting and verifica-
tion standard will encourage its wide
application.
By regularly revisiting these
four process principles – regime
neutrality, technical rigour, extensive
participation, speed-to-market – ISO/
TC 207 working group 5 on Climate
Change aims for an ISO 14064 that
will provide many users with a flexi-
ble, credible, verifiable standard appli-
cable across a variety of voluntary or
regulatory GHG emissions reduction
schemes. However, ISO is under no
illusion that the standard will represent
a ‘total solution’ to GHG accounting
and verification needs. It is confident
that ISO 14064 will provide an impor-
tant ‘building block’ for participants in
voluntary or regulatory initiatives or to
administrators responsible for design-
ing and implementing GHG emission
schemes or programmes.
Common ground
By Gerrald Goselink, Secretary
ISO/TC 190, Soil quality
D
oes it matter if the soil is pol-
luted ? Are our children safe
playing in the sandbox ? How
do we know if the soil is polluted ? Can
we sustain growing crops or should we
care about potentially limiting factors
like nutrient levels, declining organic
matter content, erosion, moisture con-
tent, etc.? To provide answers to these
questions, methods on measuring and
testing are required. Good standards
are essential for a good standard of liv-
ing. Standards developed by ISO/TC
190, Soil quality, assist in providing
clarity for agricultural, biological and
environmental users.
Historically, legislation is an
important driving force behind the
development of reliable environmental
measurement methods. Exposure to
potentially harmful substances that are
present in the environmental matrices
soil, water and air can only be quali-
fied using information on dose-effect
relationships. ISO/TC 190 focuses on
providing methods to quantify a wide
range of substances present in the
soil matrix. However, the determined
(total) amounts or concentrations only
have real meaning if these can be relat-
ed to target issues like adverse effects
(on organisms) or growth requirements
the
(for crops). For this purpose, the work
programme of TC 190 includes toxic-
ity testing methods for biological sys-
tems as well as standards for measur-
ing nutrient cycling in soils.
Bettering health
protection and boosting
crop yields
Whether air, water or soil, if
exposure to harmful substances needs
to be limited, threshold values are
required. Different techniques, how-
ever, give different results. In order for
threshold values not to vary according
to the technique being used, threshold
values need to be assessed using the
same techniques and the same analysis
protocols. Protection of health is thus
a major incentive to come to agree-
ments that are laid down in standards.
Because of the obvious public interest
of standardization of environmental
parameters, it is not surprising that
governments are important stakehold-
ers when it comes to the initiation of
– and participation in – standardization
work. Soil is no exception to that rule.
Legislation, however, is not the
only impetus behind the development
of standards on soil. Boosting agricul-
tural production is another important
factor. In order to maximize crop yield
it is important to know the potential of
the soil through accurate information
of parameters like nutrient status, acid-
ity (pH), water retention and activity of
soil organisms.
ISO Focus June 2004 15
Main Focus
Technical advances
Since its establishment in 1985,
ISO/TC 190 has produced more than 70
standards. Over 40 are currently being
developed. Traditionally, the subjects
had a more descriptive nature with a
central role for physical parameters and
‘ hard core ’ analysis : how to take a sam-
ple and how to determine the concentra-
tions in it. Through the years, a shift in
subjects has becomes apparent: increas-
ingly, more complex subjects are char-
acterized, including effect assessments,
quantification of organisms living in
soil, and the availability of nutrients or
potentially harmful substances. New
insights on issues like sampling strate-
gy continue to develop. Also, technical
innovations lead to new analytical tech-
niques that require incorporation into
the latest versions of the standards.
User requirements
Important users of the standards
that are produced by ISO/TC 190
include laboratories and consultancies.
Moreover, “ third
parties ”, like many
corporations and
governments, use
standards in an
indirect way.
These users do
not work direct-
ly with the
standards them-
selves but by
referring to
standards in
a prescriptive
manner, they
use standards
as quality assurance doc-
uments.
The quantity of soil that is
transported across borders (other than
through “ natural ” phenomena like
sediment transport or erosion) is not
very large. Hence, cross-border trade
is not a major initiator for internation-
al standardization. However, products
(partly) derived from soil, like potting
soil and compost for use in horticul-
ture, are being traded internationally.
Those products too, are chiefly char-
16 ISO Focus June 2004
acterized by the standards developed
by ISO/TC 190.
Laboratories and consultancies
are increasingly becoming international
players. By using ISO standards outside
their country of origin, multinational
companies set an important example.
Subsequently national users have fol-
lowed this example, especially if there
are no national standards in place in the
country of operation (which is often the
case). In this way, ISO members active-
ly contributing to the development of
soil standards play a role in expanding
the geographical area where standards
are being used, improving local quality
by disseminating knowledge.
A global lead
for a European need
A good example of the close
link between soil standardization and
legislation can be seen in Europe.
The European Commission (EC) has
recently adopted a communication on
soil protection 1) that is expected to
lead to a European-wide legislation
on soil. The EC increasingly relies
on CEN (the European Committee for
Standardization) to develop the stan-
dards to meet the technical require-
ments for its legislation. In order to
actively respond to an anticipated
request by the EC, CEN established
TC 345, Characterization of soils in
2002. Since ISO/TC 190 has a full set
of standards on soil, it is important to
avoid overlap and divergence between
ISO and any European standards; close
collaboration between the two TC’s is
important. It was agreed that ISO/TC
190 should take the lead to develop soil
1) “ Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil
Protection ”. COM(2002)179
standards for European use. Existing
TC 190 standards will be used as start-
ing point. CEN/TC 345 will have no
working groups of its own. Instead, the
subcommittees and working groups of
ISO/TC 190 will be requested to deal
with any concrete problems to address;
the fact that chair and secretary of the
CEN/TC and the ISO/TC are the same
should further ensure a joint track.
Hence, European Union devel-
opments boost the advance of ISO
standards on soil.
The European need for stan-
dards is illustrated by the fact that data
gathered by individual EU members
states on heavy metal content in soils
cannot be compared because different
countries use different methods for
sampling, for sample pre-treatment as
well as analysis. As a consequence,
the European soil map on heavy metals
sharply shows the borders of individual
states, not as a result of differences in
concentrations but as a result of the use
of different methods.
About the author
Gerrald Goselink
s a standardiza-
on consultant
within the
epartment of
nvironment at
he Netherlands
tandardization
nstitute (NEN),
where he is
nvolved in
issues related to soil and the use of stand-
ards as policy instrument. Mr. Goselink is
secretary of ISO/TC 190, Soil quality, as
well as its European counterpart CEN/TC
345, Characterization of soil.
 the

Standards of yet higher

Photo : P. Granier
quality
Soil is part of the environmental
matrix that requires protection. In order
to obtain and maintain sustainable use
of soil, environmental awareness must
become more and more integrated into
daily practice. This brings in greater
involvement of private parties. The
interest of governments will increas-
ingly meet up with those of private
stakeholders.
Tomorrow’s soil standards need
to be of a yet higher quality ; users pri-
marily define that quality. Legislators
for example, increasingly want stan-
The air
dards that can be applied to several in air quality
environmental matrices. This requires
increased communication between
TC’s. Liaisons and active cooperation
with other fields will become more
By Paul Fransioli, Secretary,
important.
The issue of risk assessment ISO/TC 146, Air quality,
will gain in importance, raising the SC 5, Meteorology
need for interpretational documents on
the real meaning of the measured fig-
ures (like, for instance, bioavailability).
The concept of uncertainty of mea-
surements has “ matured ” sufficiently
and deserves to be incorporated into
the future generation of soil standards.
Also, individual standards may require
adaptations to enable our customers to

enjoy the full breadth of the standard
spectrum from sampling strategy to
reporting of (analysis) results.
An important test will be how
ISO/TC 190 manages to respond to a
European request for soil standards.
European and non-European countries
alike will have to respond adequately
to any such request.
A brochure explaining the rela-
tion between ISO/TC 190 and CEN/
TC 345 in the light of the develop-
ment of European legislation on soil,
entitled “ Characterization of soils
– the essential role of standardiza-
tion in the characterization of soils ”
is available from the secretariat. For
more information, please contact the
secretariat: E-mail : milieu@nen.nl
Web site : www. iso.org/tc190.
L
ike the air we study, our Meteorol-
ogy subcommittee may not be the
most visible group within ISO.
(No, we did not misspell Metrology,
and we rarely study meteors). Weath-
er is recognized as an important influ-
encing factor in many applied science,
engineering, and environmental fields.
The potential benefits are large to the
international community from stan-
dardizing methods to observe, analyze,
and document meteorological condi-
tions in this truly global economy and
environment. Basic climate measure-
ments require consistent and compa-
rable information worldwide and over
long periods of time. Economically uti-
lizing weather-related energy resourc-
es such as wind and solar radiation
depend heavily on accurately know-
ing characteristics in specific locations.
Research, applied science and oper-
ational monitoring programmes can
reference standardized equipment and
methods instead of constantly need-
ing to “ reinvent the wheel ” in procure-
ment specifications and operating pro-
cedures. At the risk of sounding pre-
sumptuous, without the gaseous envi-
ronmental medium we call “ air ”, all
the rest of air quality endeavors would
be relegated to laboratories and com-
puters. Air motions and the sun trans-
port, disperse and modify the chemical
constituents comprising the “ quality ”
part of air quality.
The need for
meteorological standards
Some simple examples may
add insight into the need for meteo-
rological standards expressed by the
international scientific and engineer-
ing communities. The most basic and
prolific meteorological measurements
ISO Focus June 2004 17
Main Focus
are air temperature and precipitation.
The measurements themselves are
deceptively simple. All you need is a
simple thermometer and an open-top
waterproof container. But there are a
few important points that can make
measurements comparable in time
and space, without which their value
is seriously compromised. One is
the measurements must be consis-
tently accurate enough for the purpose
intended. Even the basic terminology
describing the instrument character-
istics must be commonly understood
by manufacturers and users to make
appropriate procurement decisions.
Glass thermometers are relatively easy
to check, and rarely change response
characteristics. Electrical sensors and
display or recording equipment are not
so fortunate. And rainfall can be done
with a pail and a ruler, but wind and
evaporation can have significant effects
on the total measured. Once acquired
and tested, the sensor must be exposed
to the conditions you want to measure.
Air temperature varies significantly
depending on the surface below and
surroundings, and the height above the
surface at which the measurement is
made. Likewise, precipitation gauges
are susceptible to efficiency problems
depending on wind and surrounding
obstacles. These issues multiply quick-
ly when using more complex sensors
and when measuring more complex
phenomena, like wind.
Increasing attention to
international needs
During the late 1980’s, applied
meteorology in the environmental field
was making great strides toward formal-
izing and improving quality assurance
in meteorological measurements and
dispersion modelling. With increas-
ing attention to the international needs
to understand atmospheric processes
in other fields as well, the concept of
an ISO subcommittee on meteorology
made good sense to enough people in
the international meteorological com-
munity to form a subcommittee. Much
of the vision and initial effort to make
this happen is gratefully attributed to
the late Tom Lockhart, an independent
18 ISO Focus June 2004
“ Economically utilizing
weather-related energy
resources such as wind
depend heavily on accu-
rately knowing characteris-
tics in specific locations.”
consultant in quality assurance for
meteorological measurements from the
USA. Subcommittee 5, Meteorology,
was founded in 1994 as part of techni-
cal committee 146, Air Quality. Tom
Lockhart served as the first Secretary
with the new Chair, Professor John
Snow, of Oklahoma University. SC 5
maintains a liaison relationship with the
World Meteorological Organization, an
obvious partner in the effort to obtain
high quality meteorological informa-
tion globally. WMO provides excellent
guidance on observation practices, but
it cannot produce the type of standards
that can come from ISO.
Wind and temperature
measuring devices
The initial standards being writ-
ten by TC 146/SC 5 remind one of the
first day of soccer practice with young-
sters. The coach holds the curious
sphere made of pentagonal patches and
authoritatively states : “ This is a soccer
ball ”. Likewise the founding members
of SC 5 decided to start with the basics
– test methods to determine fundamen-
tal instrument characteristics. Know-
ing the instrument is an essential step
to making proper use of it.
Progress in producing stan-
dards was slow at first ; the first ISO
standard from SC 5 was released in
2002 (ISO 16622:2002, Meteorology
– Sonic anemometers/ thermometers
– Acceptance test methods for mean
wind measurements). These modern
wind and temperature measuring
devices may not seem like the most
basic start, but crossing the finishing
line first indicates the perseverance of
the authors to complete the work.
Two standards from SC 5 are
currently under review at the DIS stage.
ISO/DIS 17713-1, Meteorology – Wind
measurements – Part 1: Wind tunnel
test methods for rotating anemometer
performance. This draft standard will
standardize testing of cup and propeller
anemometers (wind speed sensors). It
also establishes the critical wind tun-
nel characteristics that will also be the
foundation for Part 2 on wind vane
performance for the wind direction sen-
sors using a movable vane. The other
draft in review from SC 5 is ISO/DIS
17714, Meteorology – Air Temperature
Measurements – Test methods for com-
paring the performance of thermometer
shields/screens and defining important
characteristics.
About the author
Paul M.
Fransioli is a
Certified
Consulting
Meteorologist
nd a Qualified
Environmental
rofessional
working as an
ir quality and
meteorology
consultant for over 30 years, working
largely with Bechtel SAIC Co., LLC.
Paul Fransoli is secretary of the ISO/TC
146, Air Quality, subcommittee SC 5,
Meteorology. He is also the chair of
the similar subcommittee D22.11 within
ASTM International in the USA.
He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
 the

Basic meteorological
measurements
Water – Following the third World

Members of SC 5 are pleased

with the recent progress in reaching
the goal of International Standards
for meteorology. Further work is
foreseen in the basic meteorological
measurements such as air temperature,
humidity, barometric pressure, and pre-
cipitation. And just when you get com-
fortable with the basic type of measure-
ments, someone suggests standardiza-
tion in the area of remote sensing, that
is, measuring wind, air temperature and
humidity structure aloft.
Chair John Irwin (National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
a worldwide
challenge
By Laurence Thomas, Secretary,
ISO/TC 224, Service activities
relating to drinking water supply
systems and wastewater systems
– Quality criteria of the service
and performance indicators,
AFNOR, France
Water Forum in Kyoto in March
2003, the international community has
committed to improve governance of
drinking water and wastewater serv-
ices and, to this effect, has made it a
priority to build capacity with local
governments.
In 2001, an ISO technical com-
mittee was launched, ISO/TC 224,
that has been developing standards
providing guidelines for service activi-
ties relating to drinking water supply
systems and wastewater sewerage
systems.
These standards are designed to

W
ater is a worldwide chal- help water authorities and their opera-
tration on loan to the Environmental lenge for the 21st century, tors to achieve a level of quality that
Protection Agency) from the USA and the international com- best meets the expectations of consum-
strongly supports the efforts to stan- munity is striving to meet the Millen- ers and the principles of sustainable
dardize the measurement process. He nium Development Goals. development.
also has a vision of bringing together
atmospheric transport and diffusion
modellers to write standards on how to
evaluate the performance of air quality
models that are used to assist the envi-
ronmental characterization and risk
assessment tasks facing nations glob-
ally. Secretary Paul Fransioli (Bechtel
SAIC Co., LLC, the US engineering
and construction firm of Bechtel and
its scientific wing, SAIC) from the
USA has a background in both meteo-
rological and air quality measurements
and analysis. The primary technical
contributions have come from rep-
resentatives from France, Germany,
United Kingdom, and the USA. We
currently have nine participating coun-
tries and eleven observer countries.
SC 5 is anxious to open an
invitational challenge to scientists and
engineers working either in meteorol-
ogy or the related applications to work
with us to develop more ISO standards
in meteorology. We recognize the
high value of involving the people
who not only generate data but who
use the information in diverse ways.
It is though this partnership that we
believe the subcommittee can produce
the most useful standards in the most
timely manner. Please contact the
Chair or Secretary of SC 5, or your
national standards organization for
further contact with us.
ISO Focus June 2004 19

Main Focus
Improving governance,
quality and efficiency
of water services
These ISO standards will help:
• Further the dialogue among stake-
holders, including consumers, local
or national water authorities, public
or private water utilities, research
departments, laboratories;
• Develop a mutual understanding of
responsibilities and tasks;
• Provide methods and tools to
define, at local scale, objectives
and specifications, and assess per-
formance;
• Monitor performance for possible
benchmarking among water utili-
ties.
TC 224 standards are to be
applied on a voluntary basis, in indus-
trialized countries as in developed
countries, in big cities or small towns,
and irrespective of whether the utility
operator is public or private.
20 ISO Focus June 2004
Examples
of application
• For consumers : flagging
delays by the utilities in
fixing leaks or process-
ing complaints or claims.
• For operators : creating
a common vision with
authorities, clarifying
tasks to be shared and
the means of measuring
results, detecting weak
points.
• For local authorities :
provides transparency
in terms of quality and
efficiency of the service
while taking into account
the interests of users ;
data to communicate to
the public.
What the programme
covers
• The definition of a terminology
common to the different stakehold-
ers;
• The clarification of the consumer
expectations, specifying the ele-
ments of the service as well as the
manner in which to express the per-
formances awaited by the users;
• The drawing up of a list of actions
for an optimized management of
these services, in agreement with
the regulation;
• Methodical proposals of measur-
able service quality criteria and
performance indicators allowing
to compare, at a local scale, the
observed results with targets set by
the water authority.
Future ISO standards will not
specify the respective roles of stake-
holders, nor define targets or manda-
tory requirements.
They will not supersede the
choice of local authorities regarding
general organization and manage-
ment, particularly the choice of having
recourse or not to management con-
tracts with private operators.
Participation in the
North-South equilibrium
AFNOR (Association française
de normalisation), ISO member for
France, holds the secretariat of the
technical committee ISO/TC 224,
that presently includes 22 participat-
ing countries and 18 observer coun-
tries. Among the developing coun-
tries, Argentina, Malaysia, Morocco
and Nigeria attended the first meetings
of the technical committee.
The committee has active
liaisons with international organiza-
tions like AIDIS (Asociación Intera-
mericana de Ingeniería Sanitaria y
Ambiental), Consumers International,
EUREAU (European Union of Nation-
al Associations of Water Suppliers
About the author
Laurence
Thomas, who
olds an MSc
n Innovation
materials option)
oined AFNOR in
December 1987
s a standards
ngineer. From
990 to 2004 she
worked in the
field of environmental analysis and more
particularly that of water (she was in charge
of standardization in the field of water quali-
ty (French national level,
ISO and CEN) and, in particular, was
the Secretary of ISO/TC 147/SC 5, Water
quality – Biological methods.
Since January 2004, Ms. Thomas has been
Secretary of ISO/TC 224, while continuing
to deal with all aspects of microbiological
analysis of water (French national level,
ISO and CEN).
ISO takes to the water
ISO/TC 224 and its working
groups met in the Republic of Korea
from 13 to 16 April.
The third meeting of ISO/TC 224
attracted more than 70 representa-
tives from 17 countries at Daejeon.
Under the chairmanship of Jean-Luc
Redaud, representing the French
government for Agriculture and
Environment, the technical commit-
tee establishes standards intended
to facilitate understanding between
interested parties (consumers, nation-
al and local authorities responsible
for water services, public or private
operators, international investors,
etc.), to provide methods and tools
for setting objectives and assessing
the performance of these services
and to facilitate the monitoring of
progress achieved.
The interest of this work lies in its
ability to provide good practice rec-
ommendations for the management
of water supply and wastewater sys-
tems, as well as a general methodo-
logical framework intended to apply
in most situations in the world, for
assessing the services provided.
WG 1, Terminology, (Secretariat
AFNOR, France) is defining a set
of terms to be used in the three draft
standards: user, operator, supply point,
service provider, etc. Working group
WG 2, Service to users, (Secretariat
AENOR, Spain), is drawing up an
inventory of user expectations and
providing for each one a performance
indicator and/or a recommendation
for meeting that expectation. Aspects
considered include service continuity,
time required to provide a connection
to the network, cost of service, infor-
mation on the organization of billing
services, etc. WG 3, Drinking water,
(Secretariat SCC, Canada, and DSM,
Malaysia), deals with all aspects
linked with the supply of drinking
water, from the catchment of the
resource to the supply outlet at the
user end. The draft covers the man-
agement of drinking water supply
systems and the aims of such serv-
the
ices, i.e. to provide adequate amounts
of good-quality water to meet public Water Bureau), the nongovernmental
needs, to provide reliable service organisation pSEau (water solidar-
under normal circumstances and in ity programme) and ISO/TC 224 will
take place in Marrakech at the end
crisis situations, etc., with due respect
of September, in parallel with the
to the principle of sustainable devel-
annual congress of the International
opment. It gives examples of service
Water Association (IWA). The World
quality criteria and methodological
Bank (WB) and the World Health
proposals for performance indica-
Organization (WHO) will be invited
tors for assessing service perform-
to take the floor at that meeting. A
ance. WG 4, Wastewater systems,
report conveying the needs and pro-
(Secretariat ON, Austria, and KATS,
posals of developing countries result-
Republic of Korea), follows the same
ing from these fora will be submitted
lines as WG 3. The Daejeon meeting
to the Technical Committee at its
resulted in enlarging the scope to the
meeting in Rabat so that their con-
management of autonomous waste-
tributions can be integrated into the
water systems. The three drafts will
Draft International Standards.
be circulated for internal consultation
among the TC members in early June,
together with a question-
naire on the need for
harmonization among the
drafts. The decision on
the follow-up to be given
to these documents will
depend on the comments
made by the members.
These will be reviewed
at the next ISO/TC 224
plenary meeting, planned
to take place in Rabat
(Morocco) from 27 to 29
September 2004.
In connection with the
last meeting of ISO/TC
224 in Korea, an Asian
Forum was organized
to gather the views and
experience of developing
countries in that region
of the world (Mongolia,
Myanmar, etc.) on water-
and wastewater-related
problems they encounter. A Latin An ISO/TC 224 resolution sug-
American Discussion Forum, where gests that the ISO Central Secretariat
the activities of ISO/TC 224 will be and the World Bank should take
presented and discussed, is further- appropriate steps to facilitate the
more scheduled to take place in Puerto access of developing countries to this
Rico at the end of August in connec- work. Should this materialize, the
tion with the AIDIS Congress (Inter- aim of ISO/TC 224 to develop “glo-
American Association of Sanitary and bally relevant” standards representing
Environmental Engineering). Finally, the consensus between interested par-
an African Forum organized jointly by ties at international level will be all
ONEP (Moroccan National Drinking the more easy to achieve.
ISO Focus June 2004 21

Main Focus
and Waste Water), IWA (International
Water Association), NORMAPME
(The European Office of Crafts, Trades
and SMEs for Standardization), WHO
(World Health Organization), and the
World Bank.
ISO/TC 224 wishes to develop
standards that can be used/implemented
as broadly as possible so as to take into
account the specifications of Southern
countries and of rural areas.
To ensure the broadest possi-
ble dissemination of information and
exchange on the committee’s work,
three regional fora were organized
for 2004, the first of which has already
taken place in the Republic of Korea
in April 2004 (see p. 21). Another two
are to be held in Puerto Rico (August
2004), and in Morocco (September
2004).
For information, contact Lau-
rence Thomas, Secretary ISO/TC 224,
at AFNOR, e-mail : laurence.thomas
@afnor.fr.
22 ISO Focus June 2004
Monitoring water quality
Monitoring water quality is of key
interest to society – including gov-
ernments, drinking water suppliers,
organizations monitoring waste-
water and surface water quality, as
well as industries using water for
chemical reactions, for power supply
or for cooling processes.
Water pollution may often be a
trans-frontier problem. Accepted
International Standards allow a com-
mon understanding on water quality
problems among several countries
sharing the same water body (river,
lake, sea). In addition to this, the
scarcity of (clean, fresh) water sup-
plies makes water quality monitoring
a global problem, for drinking purposes and for agricultural needs. Water not
complying with the demands for drinking water or for irrigation processing
needs treatment, and analytical methods are necessary in order to check the
suitability of this treatment.
Monitoring water quality can be achieved only if standardized, validated
methods are available and ISO technical committee ISO/TC 147, Water qual-
ity, is at the forefront of this development. ISO/TC 147 sets up methods for
monitoring water quality which often serve as the basis for national legisla-
tion on water quality control. Guidelines set up in TC 147 on sampling tech-
niques, on analytical quality control or validation help to set a basis for good
laboratory practice in water monitoring. Terminology set up in TC 147/SC 1,
Terminology, allows for a clear and unambiguous understanding of technical
terms related to water analysis.
The work of TC 147 allows national governments to refrain from the time-
consuming and expensive elaboration of national analytical methods by offer-
ing International Standards.
More information on ISO/TC 147 : www.iso.org
 the

Nuclear energy
– an outstanding
safety record

By Jean-Louis Nigon, Chair

ISO/TC 85, Nuclear energy

S
afety, Security, Environment
Protection… can you imagine
how far standardization can
help in keeping nuclear energy and
non-energetic nuclear activities at the
top level ?
ISO/TC 85, the ISO technical
committee on nuclear energy, has been
developing International Standards
for more than 20 years, and still has
a wide range of activities which con-
tribute to the continuous improvement
of practices.
Nuclear energy has, at the
present time, an outstanding safety
record. Its environmental impact as
evaluated by international studies (such
as ExternE, launched by the European
Commission) is realtively low, and
comparable to wind energy – far low-
ISO/TC 85/SC 2/WG 21, for instance, ed (Tokyo plenary, 2000). At work for
er than most other energy-generation
is developing standards applicable to over two years, the advisory group con-
systems. Thus increasing nuclear ener-
aircraft crews. clusions led SC 2 to set up a new work-
gy’s share in the overall generation of
energy is beneficial to both the envi- ing group, WG 22, on Radiation pro-
tection in medical protocols (Buenos
ronment and to human health. Through “ ISO/TC 85 standards Aires plenary, 2004). Among other
their impact on the various aspects of
design, operation, commerce, and
provide positive support new work items, the one below illus-
public confidence, the standards from for nuclear energy and trates this trend.
Intra-vascular brachytherapy
TC 85 provide positive support for help to develop its has dramatically increased in the last
nuclear energy and help to develop
its penetration. Moreover, standards
penetration.” few years.
initially developed for nuclear ener- In 1999, more than 600 000 cor-
gy applications may be redirected to The “ ALARA principle ” onary angioplasties were performed in
or applied to other nuclear activities. (ALARA means “ as low as reasona- the USA alone, and more than one mil-
bly achievable ”) applies to every step lion treatments per year are estimated
of the nuclear energy activities, design, in the future worldwide. The success
Radiation protection operation, dismantling, waste manage- of the intra-coronary treatment heavily
Let us look at some exam- ment. Exposure of workers and the depends on the correct dose determina-
ples from subcommittee 2, Radiation public alike should be as low as is rea- tion in the injured region of the treat-
Protection. sonably achievable. Standards describe ed vessel.
The protection of workers good practices consistent with this Several protocols for beta radi-
against radiation is subject to the principle. Should this principle apply ation treatment planning have been
same rules whatever their occupation. to other activities ? Yes, of course ! developed in different countries. As
But their exposure cannot be evaluat- With this in mind, and with these protocols are sometimes incon-
ed via the same methods; the practic- other objectives as well, an Advisory sistent in dose definition, reference
es have to be adapted to each context. Group for ISO/TC 85/SC 2 was creat- conditions, etc., obviously a strong
ISO Focus June 2004 23
Main Focus
need exists for a single International
Standard covering all fields of dose
measurement in beta radiation brachy-
therapy. Of course, other standards
development bodies concerned, such as
IEC SC 45B and IEC SC 62C, are kept
informed through our liaisons, and are
associated when necessary.
Another example deals with
radioactive sources. During the 2004
plenary. Dr. Brad McRee from IAEA
(International Atomic Energy Agency)
made a presentation of the context
relative to the new work item proposal
“A new warning sign for dangerous
radioactive sources” (see p. 25). This
new work item needs the support of
the national bodies during its formal
approval. The heads of delegations
were requested to forward the agree-
ment reached during the SC 2 ple-
nary to their national bodies for each
national vote to TC 85.
Environmental protection
In terms of environmental
protection, measurements of radioac-
tivity in soil, air and water represent
an important field. Again, these have
to be developed in harmony with the
activities of many other ISO and IEC
24 ISO Focus June 2004
committees. The methodology for
sampling, the measurement method
itself, and the qualification of the
results – that is, the way they have
to be interpreted – are of the utmost
importance to guarantee the reproduc-
ibility of the results, their credibility,
thus to enforce the emergency deci-
sions needing being taken, or the reme-
diary actions to be decided, or even to
simply increase public confidence.
SC 2/WG 17 has undertaken several
actions in this field : measurement of
radioactivity in soil, surface contami-
nation, and others…
“ Five criteria have to be
satisfied by any systems :
sustainability, economy,
safety, environment and
proliferation resistance.”
Working Group 18 is more
focused on radiation dose evaluation,
one application of which is the selec-
tion of contaminated people after an
accident in order to decide quickly
who has to be sent to hospital, and
who doesn’t need to be.
Waste management and
safety
Working Group 5 of subcom-
mittee 5 on Standardization of meas-
urement methods for the characteriza-
tion of solid and solidified waste forms
and for the corrosion of their primary
containers, has produced a number of
standards on the characterization of
the radioactive waste, and continues
developing new standards for low
and intermediate waste produced at
the nuclear plants, for the chemical
durability of high-level vitrified waste,
and for their alpha irradiation stability.
These standards do not supersede the
requirements of the safety authority
in each country, but they are there to
help the operator to comply with them.
They also are consistent with IAEA
recommendations.
Relationship between
IAEA and ISO/TC 85
Each subcommittee of ISO/TC
85 has one liaison officer with IAEA,
and IAEA sends one observer to each
ISO/TC 85 committee or subcommit-
tee meeting. Moreover, ISO sends
an observer to every safety standard
committee: NUSSC for nuclear instal-
lations, RASSC for radiation protec-
tion, WASSC for radioactive waste
and TRANSSC for nuclear material
transportation.
The four safety standards com-
mittees are in charge of the orien-
tation and the review of the safety
standards under development with-
in the framework of IAEA ; a safety
standard commission reviews the final
draft of the documents before they are
presented to the Board of IAEA for
final approval. The documents, organ-
ized into “ fundamentals ”, “ require-
ments ” and “ guides,” mostly remain
“ high-level ” standards, describing
best practices as far as possible. They
should become the safety reference
objectives for most countries once
the national authorities have adopted
them in their regulations.
About the author
Jean-Louis
Nigon, chair of
SO/TC 85,
Nuclear energy,
was Director for
trategy and
Development
or the fuel and
ecycling
ivision at
COGEMA,
France, before becoming Deputy Vice-
President for Research and Development
there, his present position. He was Deputy
Vice-Pesident for Fuel Division within
CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Ato-
mique), and head of the Core and System
development Service. He is a member of
WATAC (AIEA Waste Management Tech-
nical Advisory Committee), and President
of the French Section of ANS (American
Nuclear Society), a member of the Board
of the ANS Planing Committee.
 the

An important strategic orienta-

tion given to ISO/TC 85 subcommit-
tees and working groups is to evaluate
the possibility in every safety aspect of
developing technical standards with
a view to complementing the IAEA
safety standards. Of course, such an
orientation is under discussion with
IAEA correspondents and with some
national safety authorities. Although
some existing ISO standards already
help the operator to comply with the
safety requirements, the develop-
ment of additional new standards in
the fields of safety methodology, of
operating practices, or of measure-
ment techniques would be useful;
they should support the general trend
towards harmonization of many safety
rules, and contribute to a better percep-
tion among the general public and to
an increase in acceptance.
With regard to further devel-
opments, these are expected mostly
in the framework of international
collaboration such as GENERATION
IV or INPRO 1). It is too early to think
about the standardization of future
nuclear systems that will not have got
to the stage of industrialization before
2030. However, a consensus exists that
five criteria have to be satisfied by any
such systems : sustainability (mostly
for nuclear material resources), econo-
my, safety (another Tchernobyl simply
cannot happen !), environment (mostly
of the waste aspect) and proliferation
The graphical the trefoil indicate hazard or prompt
a protective action from someone not
resistance. These criteria are excellent symbol for radio- trained to its meaning, such as a small
child or an illiterate scrap scavenger ?
guides for our present standardization
work, for application to present oper-
activity is not In a word, ‘ no ’. This dilemma has
ating installations, and for application, recognized resulted in tragedy in many areas of
the world. There have been numerous
too, to the new installations – generally
called “ GENERATION III ” reactors radiation accidents involving orphan
– under construction in Asia and in sources resulting in death and/or radia-
Europe, and which, we hope, will be tion injuries. In all cases, one of the
By Brad McRee, Radiation Safety identified root causes was that those
ordered soon in America.
and Security Specialist, harmed did not recognize the trefoil
International Atomic Energy as a hazard. As a result, the Agency is
Agency, Vienna, Austria taking action to develop a new warn-
1) “ GENERATION IV ” is the name given to ing symbol for dangerous radioactive

those projects of future nuclear energy generation
systems which 10 countries (USA, Canada,
Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, South Korea,
Japan, France, UK, Switzerland) and
EURATOM are developing through a coordi-
nated R&D programme. INPRO is an IEAE
programme evaluating the needs and criteria for
further systems, particularly with regard to
proliferation resistance.
W
hat does the trefoil sign sources that will, ideally, remedy this
represent ? This is a simple
undesirable situation. The challenge is
question to answer for most in creating a sign that will be meaning-
anyone at the International Atomic ful regardless of culture or educational
Energy Agency (IAEA) or anyone
level.
trained to work with radiation sources.
What about everyone else ? Would
ISO Focus June 2004 25
Main Focus
A technical meeting was held
in June 2003 to begin the process of
developing a new sign. International
experts from Agency Member States
utilized ISO specifications and expe-
rience to date to create a process for
development and requirements for the
new sign. Outcomes of this meeting
were proposed sign shapes, colours
and icons and a process outlining
future actions. These actions include
development of a New Work Item
(NWI) with ISO, an evaluation of
proposed signs by a Human Factors/
Ergonomics (HF/E) Panel, and evalu-
ations in at least ten countries that will
be selected to provide a comprehen-
sive cultural cross-section. In addi-
tion, arrangements have been made
to test the country evaluation method
at Vienna International School (VIS)
with 90 first-graders, which provides
a sample that is cross-cultural with
limited education.
“ If at least one life
is saved, the new sign
for dangerous radiation
sources is well
worthwhile.”
26 ISO Focus June 2004
A symbol not
recognized
universally.
Author Brad
McRee pleads
for the devel-
opment of a
new symbol
at the Buenos
Aires meeting
of TC 85/SC 2
in April 2004.
The new work item was submit-
ted in December 2003 and presented to
ISO/TC 85/SC 2, Radiation protection,
and to TC 85 in April 2004 at the ple-
nary in Buenos Aires. The HF/E evalu-
ation is currently underway with over
50 experts participating worldwide.
Results from the HF/E evaluation
will be combined with those of the
technical meeting. The highest rated
signs will be included in evaluations at
Vienna International School scheduled
for June 2004, where the country test-
ing process will be evaluated. Country
testing is then scheduled to begin in
July 2004 with plans to complete this
testing within the calendar year. A
final report and proposed sign should
be prepared to submit to ISO by the
end of the first quarter of 2005. With
ISO approval, the Agency would begin
implementation steps with member
states to incorporate the new sign into
regulations and subsequent utilization
in industry.
The new sign project is one
of many initiatives by the Agency to
improve radiation source safety and
security, including efforts to bring
current orphan sources under regula-
tory control. The new sign project
cannot impact the risk of existing
orphan sources ; however, it can pro-
vide a relatively low cost means of
adequately marking future sources
that may become orphaned. Although
other Agency programmes focus on
improving regulatory control, the risk
of a source becoming orphaned will
always remain. Evaluations of radia-
tion accidents have clearly shown us
the devastating impact of orphan
sources. We must learn and adapt from
this experience so as not to repeat it.
As such, if at least one life is saved,
the new sign for dangerous radiation
sources is well worthwhile. The only
real risk is doing nothing.
About the author
Brad McRee is
certified health
hysicist with 24
ears’ experience
n health phys-
cs, emergency
lanning, and
ndustrial
ygiene and
afety. Currently
working as a
radiation safety and security specialist with
the International Atomic Energy Agency in
Vienna, Austria. He has previous experi-
ence with the US Enrichment Corporation,
Bowman Gray School of Medicine at
Wake Forest University, Duke Energy Cor-
poration, and as an independent consultant
to the Federal Emergency Management
Agency in the USA.

Hydrogen,
an environmentally
benign energy
carrier
By Randy Dey, Chair, ISO/TC
197, Hydrogen technologies
H
ydrogen is the simplest and
most abundant element in the
universe. Under normal atmo-
spheric conditions, it is an odourless,
colourless, tasteless, and non-poison-
ous gas that could meet most of our
future energy needs.
Hydrogen is carbon-free and is
therefore considered as a “ clean fuel ”
that can greatly improve the urban air
quality. Hydrogen-powered fuel cell
vehicles hold great promises. They are
virtually noise and pollution free. When
hydrogen is used in a fuel cell, the
only by-product is heat and pure water.
This is a major advantage over fossil
fuels, which produce many pollutants,
including soot, noxious nitrogen, sul-
phur gases and carbon dioxides, when
burned in internal combustion engines.
the
The need for clean urban air
combined with the growing concern
gen via water electrolysis. Hydrogen
then acts as a storage medium for the
with regard to global climate change is electricity produced by the intermittent
forcing society to move toward energy
resources that minimize the emissions
renewable energy sources and can be
reconverted on demand to electricity
of atmospheric pollutants. Hydrogen
produced from renewable energy
using fuel cells, ensuring an uninter-
rupted supply of power. Similarly,
sources such as solar energy, hydro- hydrogen can be stored onboard and
power, wind power, biomass, and geo- used as a clean fuel for transportation.
thermal energy is the ultimate solution
to this problem. For power generation,
the electricity generated by the renew-
able energy sources can be used to dis-
“ When renewable energy
sociate water into hydrogen and oxy- sources are fully exploited,
a virtually inexhaustible
source of environmentally
benign energy will be
Hydrogen available.”
technologies
Putting into place
ISO/TC 197 is the ISO techni-
cal committee on hydrogen a hydrogen infrastructure
technologies. Created in 1990
When renewable energy sourc-
to develop standards in the field
es are fully exploited, a virtually inex-
of systems and devices for the
haustible source of environmentally
production, storage, transport,
benign energy will be available. Unfor-
measurement and use of hydro-
tunately, the transition to a hydrogen
gen, the TC secretariat is with
based renewable energy economy is still
the Bureau de normalisation du
far away. Most of these technologies
Québec (BNQ), (www.bnq.qc.ca)
are not sufficiently mature and further
acting on behalf of the Standards
development needs to be carried out to
Council of Canada (SCC), with
Sylvie Gingras as secretary. ISO Focus June 2004 27

Main Focus
reduce the cost of the technol-
ogies and increase their per-
formance.
In the meantime,
considering the long-term environ-
mental benefits of hydrogen, coupled
with the immediate need for improv-
ing urban air quality, efforts should
be made to put in place a hydrogen
infrastructure with the aid of fossil
fuels as a first step. In fact, most of the
hydrogen produced today is generated
from fossil fuel sources. Only limited
quantities of hydrogen are produced
from the electrolysis of water. Unless
cheap sources of electricity are avail-
able, water electrolysis is presently an
expensive process that is restricted to
applications requiring extremely pure
hydrogen, for example, hydrogen
used in manufacturing and in space
programmes.
Today, the cheapest way to pro-
duce hydrogen is from steam reforming
of natural gas. In this process, thermal
energy is used to separate hydrogen
from the carbon components of natural
gas, leading to the emission of carbon
dioxide. Efforts should therefore be
made to sequester the greenhouse
gases generated from the production
of hydrogen from fossil fuels, should
we wish to improve the environmental
performance of these technologies.
Agreeing on a common
set of International
Standards
ISO/TC 197, which is the tech-
nical committee of ISO on hydrogen
technologies, can play a role in facili-
tating the advancement of the hydrogen
economy for a clean energy future. By
having the major players in the hydro-
gen industry (manufacturers, users,
regulatory bodies, laboratories, etc.)
agree on a common set of International
Standards, ISO/TC 197 actively pro-
motes technical cooperation.
Technical cooperation is essen-
tial for the development of safe and
environmentally friendly technologies
that will meet the needs of all interest-
ed parties. As an example, should the
new research indicating that hydrogen
28 ISO Focus June 2004
ILT hydrogen filling station. Hydrogen generator
and modified Fiat people carrier, running on
gazoline and hydrogen.
emissions present an environment
hazard 1) prove to be true, ISO/TC 197
could guide the technological devel-
opment by requiring designs that
minimize leakage. On the other hand,
should hydrogen be shown to be envi-
ronmentally friendly in every aspect,
ISO/TC 197 could avoid that severe
requirements pertaining to leakage
be imposed on the manufacturers and
users of hydrogen technologies.
“ ISO/TC 197 is the ideal
forum for resolving all
the technical barriers
that need to be overcome
before hydrogen becomes
a major energy source.”
ISO/TC 197 is the ideal forum
for resolving all the technical barriers
that need to be overcome before hydro-
gen becomes a major energy source.
As standardization is undertaken
simultaneously with technology devel-
ISO/TC 197
Survey
ISO/TC 197 is currently in
the process of revising its
business plan. As part of
this exercise, a worldwide
survey is being carried out
to assess the needs of the
hydrogen industry in the
area of codes and standards.
All interested parties are
invited to fill in the ques-
tionnaire that is available
on the ISO web site at :
www.iso.ch.
© ILT Technology
opment, the ISO/TC 197
work should preclude poten-
tial problems that could arise
from the implementation and
widespread use of a hydrogen based
energy system.
It is only with the input of all
players that we will be able to meet
the challenges ahead. In order to
ensure that its work meet the needs
of all stakeholders, ISO/TC 197 is
currently in the process of revising its
business plan. As part of this exercise,
a worldwide survey is being carried
out to assess the needs of the hydro-
gen industry in the area of codes and
standards. All interested parties are
invited to fill in the questionnaire that
is available on the ISO web site at :
www.iso.ch.
1) Refer to the article “ Hydrogen economy might
impact Earth’s stratosphere, study shows,” June
12, 2003, released by Caltech Media Relations
(www.caltech.edu).
About the author
Randy Dey,
Chair of ISO/
TC 197, Hydro-
en technolo-
ies, is a profes-
ional engineer
n Ontario,
Canada. He is
he president of
The CCS Global
Group Inc., in
Oakville, Ontario, a consulting firm he
established in 1977. Mr. Dey is an expert
in International Standards and codes devel-
opment and compliance with a special
focus on hydrogen, fuel cell and alternate
fuel sectors. He also holds leadership posi-
tions in other codes and standards commit-
tees related to hydrogen and fuel cell tech-
nologies, and chairs the Canadian National
Committee of ISO (CNC/ISO).
Contact : Randy Dey, The CCS Global
Group Inc. E-mail : rdey@ccsglobalgroup.
com

Power generation
and the
environment
By Alberto Pigini, Director of
the Business Unit for Generation
aspects, CESI 1), Milan, Italy
O
ver the next decades, all the
energy scenarios foresee an
important development of the
electrical system and, in particular, the
electric generation system, still strongly
based on combustion of fossil fuels by
conventional combustion cycles, with
natural gas playing the major role, but
with a significant role played by coal.
Power generation has an impact on the
environment both in terms of natural
resource exploitation and of the quality
of the environment itself. Environmen-
tal impact has to be weighed up against
the other positive impacts of power
generation within the framework of a
sustainable development approach.
Increasing generation
efficiency
The exploitation of natural
resources has to be minimized by
increasing generation efficiency.
The efficiency of the combustion
process is still somewhat limited ; the net
generation efficiency is even lower, owing
to the loss of all auxiliary apparatus,
including those of fuel treatment, flue
gas and waste treatment. A further
decrease in efficiency occurs in during the
transmission and distribution of energy.
The components of the electrical
system itself are of concern in terms of
consumption of resources : attention has
to be paid to the full life of components
when taking a “ life cycle assessment ”
(LCA) and “ design for the environ-
ment ” (DFE) type approach.
1) www.cesi.it, Tel : + 39 02 21251 (centralino) ;
Fax : + 39 02 2125 5440 ; E-mail : info@cesi.it
Minimizing environmental
impact
The combustion process leads
to direct environmental impact, with
generation of emissions to air, water
and soil (Fig.1, overleaf).
The impact on the quality of air
rates highest, with a significant pro-
duction of different pollutants, such as
SOx (sulphur dioxide), NOx (nitrogen
oxides), particulate matters, heavy
metals, as well as greenhouse gases,
CO2 (carbon dioxide), in particular.
The impact is local, certainly,
and close to the generation plant, but
significant impact is also caused at the
national and global levels. Large com-
bustion plants contribute to about 65 %
of total SOx emissions and about 20 %
of the total NOx emissions. SOx and NOx
are subjected to complex evolutions all
along their paths, leading to impacts in
terms of acid rain, soil quality, ozone
formation and depletion. The emission
of particles is an important issue, repre-
senting a risk to human health, with the
majority of particles from combustion
processes in the 0,1 µm to 10 µm range.
While larger particles only have an
impact close to the power plant, small-
er particles may travel several hundred
kilometres.
Tonnes of heavy metals accom-
pany flue gas, and their precipitation
may cause an accumulation in the soil,
thereby entering the food chain.
the
There can be an influence on
the quality of water. Owing to the
intrinsic restricted efficiency of com-
bustion cycles, some energy gets lost
through heat energy that needs to be
released. Many combustion plants
make considerable use of water for
cooling ; the compatibility of the
released water at high temperature
with the flora and fauna is of concern,
and may set a limit on exploitation of
the plant. Water is also used in flue
gas treatment and/or in the cleaning
of the various auxiliary apparatus, that
require purifying by using different
types of chemical pollutants.
“ Research,
communication,
standardization and
regulation contribute
significantly to
sustainable development.”
Finally, the combustion of fos-
sil fuels leads to a significant portion
of combustion residues, such as bot-
tom and fly ash, flue gas desulphuri-
sation by products, which need to be
dealt with in the most proper way, and
possibly reused.
An aspect of particular con-
cern is that of greenhouse gases.
Combustion plants contribute to
about 30 % of the total CO2 (carbon
dioxide) of anthropogenic origin, thus
ISO Focus June 2004 29
Main Focus
contributing to the increase of the CO2
concentration in air, as shown by long
term recordings (Fig. 2, opposite).
Reaching for
sustainability
Care for the environment is
certainly of prime importance, but
needs to be considered within the
framework of the more complex
concept of “ sustainability ” when we
take account of the huge benefits of
electrical energy to human, social and
economic development. A balance has
to be found between the needs of the
various stakeholders : the energy nec-
essary for a sustainable economic and
social development has to be provided,
respecting the environment to the high-
est degree possible.
Four tools contribute signifi-
cantly towards sustainable develop-
ment: research, communication, stan-
dardization and regulation.
Research and development help
to find the best solutions in terms of
sustainability.
An important lever to obtain
higher efficiency comes with the
increase in temperatures of the com-
bustion cycle well beyond the present
ones, with targets of 1400 oC for gas
turbines and 700 oC for steam turbines.
New materials are under study to ensure
compatibility with the higher tem-
peratures foreseen for the combustion
cycles. Different, improved combined
cycles are also under study, including
fuel cells and the adoption of hydrogen
as a fuel (see p. 27), with attention, too,
being given to different types of genera-
tion concepts (distributed generation).
Optimized integration of gas turbines,
steam turbines, co-generation, as well
as diffusion of fuel cells can lead to
overall perspective efficiency far higher
than at present, over 65 %.
Studies are underway to
improve the combustion and the
post-combustion process towards the
target of level zero – or nearly level
zero – pollutant emission. Attention
to the control of the different kinds
of emissions is increasing : with the
new technologies developed and under
development, it is nowadays possible
30 ISO Focus June 2004
Fig.1 – Monitoring the emission of a power plant.
Fig. 2 – Evolution of CO2 concentration. Recording
by CESI at Plateau Rosa (3800 m a.s.l.).
to achieve very limited emissions,
compatible with stringent environmen-
tal regulations, even for the most envi-
ronmentally critical fossil fuel–coal.
About the author
Alberto Pigini,
works with CESI
about 1 000
mployees),
ealing with
ervices, consult-
ng and research
n the frame of
he electrical
ystem. He is
resently Direc-
tor of the Business Unit looking after gen-
eration aspects. He was previously in
charge of various Business Units, dealing
with environmental aspects, transmission
and distribution studies, high voltage and
high power testing. He is past chair of IEC
Italian national mirror committee CEI/TC
17, Switchgear and controlgear) and
present chair of CEI/TC 42, High-voltage
testing techniques.
R&D is in progress to evaluate
the CO2 evolution, its consequences
on the environment, the best method-
ologies to limit CO2 emissions and for
CO2 capture, separation and storage.
A lot of R&D effort is put
into methodologies to assess the
externalities of the electrical system
experimentally and to evaluate them
in detail with suitable models, together
with the benefits of the system in
terms of economic and social develop-
ment. Methods have been developed
to rank the degree of sustainability
of the various generation scenarios.
Similar approaches can be very useful
in supporting the important choices of
governments, stakeholders, and deci-
sion-makers, and in ensuring maxi-
mum sustainability for the electrical
system right from its “ conception ”,
in the evaluation of its strategic impact
assessment, for instance.
Communication and exchange
of the experience is fundamental,
facilitated and promoted at interna-
tional level by various organizations.
A clear role for
International Standards
Standardization is deeply
involved in environmental themes
related to power generation. Many
ISO committees work in the field
(see pp. 23-28). IEC long ago set
up a horizontal Advisory Committee
on Environmental Aspects (ACEA).
Specific documents have been devel-
oped, such as the Guide for the inclu-
sion of environmental aspects in elec-
trotechnical standards. A new technical
committee on environmental aspects is
also under consideration, looking to
aspects specific to the electrical sys-
tem. The creation of a CENELEC mir-
ror committee could follow.
Finally, Directives from regula-
tory bodies play a fundamental role,
prescribing regulations which may
have a definite influence on a sus-
tainable development of the electrical
system, such as the European Union
Directives, both developed and under
development.
Developments and Initiatives
What you cannot protect,
you cannot own
Howard Paul, Executive
General Manager, SAI Global –
Business Publishing, Australia
D igital Rights
Management :
a revolutionary
copyright protection
system to benefit
both the owners
and users of
digitized
intellectual
property 1)
Bring back the lash ?
Suppose for every banknote
issued by Treasury, a counterfeit note
was also put into circulation. It’s easy
to predict the outrage at the devalua-
tion of the currency, the doom-laden
editorials, the fulmination of radio
shock jocks, and the cries for the
return of capital punishment and the
lash. Those counterfeiters would soon
get their comeuppance, and the world
would again become a safe place for
central bankers.
So our passive acceptance of
the devaluation of intellectual property,
where similar levels of counterfeiting
are common, is both perplexing and
disturbing. It suggests that, although
economically we have moved into a
post-industrial world where knowl-
edge is the greatest creator of wealth,
our social psyche has not yet caught
up with this revolution ; we still place
far higher value on tangible rather than
intangible property, despite the equal,
or greater human effort that goes into
the latter.
The abuse of intellectual
property (IP) rights in general is well
documented, and applies equally in the
world of technical standards. Based on
some work done in the US, and sup-
ported by anecdotal evidence in Europe,
for every dollar we earn from the sale
of standards, we lose a further dol-
lar to illegal copying, transmission or
unlicensed use. And that’s probably a
conservative estimate. Some years ago,
before the digital revolution, British
Standards Institution in the UK did
research suggesting that every printed
standard they sold was illegally photo-
copied an average of five times.
Theft costs
the community
Creating, maintaining and
distributing a contemporary, techni-
cally valid collection of standards is
an expensive exercise, sustained by
the dedication and altruism of the
many thousands of experts who freely
contribute their time and expertise. So
every time an illegal copy is made, or
a single-user electronic document is
passed on or networked, it increases
the cost to legitimate purchasers, and
the volunteer experts have their contri-
bution devalued.
We are not alone
The scale of copyright abuse
is enormous. Based on some recent
industry estimates, the US dollar losses
from illegal use of material are :
Music Industry – USD 5 billion
Software Industry – USD 13 billion
Movie Industry – USD 4 billion
Standards Industry – USD 1 billion
This article is about emerg-
ing technologies in the area of digital
products in general, and digital docu-
ments in particular, that will affect the
way standards are licensed and used in
an electronic environment.
1) Article reproduced with kind permisssion from
the The Global Standard (Australia), February 2004
ISO Focus June 2004 31
Developments and Initiatives
Digital Rights
Management –
the emerging solution
A powerful long-term solution to
this widespread devaluation of intellec-
tual property, now being explored within
the international standards community, is
the coordinated use of a Digital Rights
Management (DRM) strategy.
What is DRM ? A definition
offered by the American National
Institute of Standards and Technology
is that “ DRM is a system of IT com-
ponents and services, along with cor-
responding law, policies and business
models, which strive to distribute
and control intellectual property and
its rights. Product authenticity, user
charges, terms-of-use and expira-
tion of rights are typical concerns of
DRM.”
In practice, it is a way of indel-
ibly encrypting digital ‘ content ’ so
that its future use can be inextricably
tied to a particular piece of hardware, a
specific user, a defined set of licensing
conditions, or a pay-per-use financial
arrangement.
Solving the Davy
Crockett problem
Why is DRM so important
to standardizers ? Because standards
organizations have been world leaders
in moving away from paper and mak-
ing their intellectual property available
via advanced technologies. Virtually
all major national and international
collections are now available for
instant access via the web – standards
which less than five years ago would
have required days of waiting by post,
or the inconvenience of a visit to a spe-
cialist bookshop are now on line. But
being the leader has its problems – the
Davy Crocket syndrome, with the pain
of arrows in our back. The problems
can best be summed up as follows :
• In a booming global economy,
where standards are being used
to an ever-increasing extent, com-
mercial revenue from the sale of
standards worldwide has been flat
or falling.
32 ISO Focus June 2004
• A lack of understanding – a lack of
education – amongst users on the
nature and economic importance
of copyright in general, and in par-
ticular where electronic documents
are concerned
• Confusion and differences amongst
copyright owners as to how to edu-
cate and enforce copyright (a lack
of standardization ! )
These are challenges that will
not go away, and in the longer term
they represent a danger to the health,
even the very existence of standardizing
organizations and the current commer-
cial model. If nothing is done to protect
against the current devaluation of copy-
right, then the existing ‘from the few to
the many’ model could wither, at very
high cost to the general community.
By deploying Digital Rights
Management systems, the industry
may help both itself and its custom-
ers in ensuring an equitable long-term
outcome for both.
DRM – a speed camera
for intellectual property
One of the problems with
any new concept is trying to find a
simple, and instantly comprehensible
definition. That is not easy with Digital
Rights Management. In some ways, it
is easier to define what it is not.
DRM is not a single technol-
ogy, but an aggregation of several
intermeshed technologies.
DRM does not replace or sub-
stitute for copyright and legal con-
straints.
Perhaps the best comparison is
to speed cameras. Like it or not, they
help motorists comply with their driv-
ing license conditions. DRM is a tool
that will help users avoid contravening
their copyright licence obligations.
DRM has two aspects. Firstly,
there is the Management of digital rights
– how a digital product (book, film,
music, software), with rights attached,
can be managed. Effectively, this is the
definition and licensing of rights
A brief history
of copyright
Intellectual property is ful-
ly recognized in law, and afforded
extensive protection. It wasn’t always
so. Scholars in ancient Greece were
the first to be concerned about being
recognized as the authors of their
works, but they had no economic
rights. It was only with the inven-
tion of printing in the late 15 th cen-
tury that any form of copyright was
devised. Before that, there was lit-
tle need ! Copying of manuscripts
was a painstakingly slow process.
And with a largely illiterate popula-
tion, demand was small. In English
law the first copyright act was only
enacted in 1710.
Copying and distribution out-
side of the provisions of the current
copyright legislation is illegal. It is
theft. But people who would never
dream of breaking into a home and
stealing the family silver often don’t
think twice about misappropriat-
ing the intellectual family silver
though illegal copying, transmis-
sion and use. It deprives the intel-
lectual property owner in no less a
tangible way.
Secondly, there is the Digital
Management of Rights. This focuses
on protection; how the rights attached
to the object can be enforced by pro-
cesses such as encryption, watermark-
ing and other types of access and usage
control.
The other major characteristic
of an effective DRM system is that it
must be a unique and indelible part
of the intellectual property it protects.
Effectively it is a digital fingerprint,
so that whenever that document is
accessed, its DRM system ensures that
only licensed use is permitted.
Powerful technology
– how to use it ?
In the era of paper, defining
user rights was relatively easy, even if
enforcement was difficult. With digi-
tal systems, defining a dramatically
extended range of potential rights,
and how they may be licensed, has
not been easy, and the issues continue
to be discussed. Ironically, once these
rights are embedded, enforcement will
be much easier in a digital universe
Where IP owners have to be
careful is in not going overboard. They
need to define a business model that
balances their needs with the legiti-
mate expectations of the consumer.
Excessive or intrusive use of DRM
technology would lead to considerable
consumer resistance.
So managing the transition
from a hard-copy universe to a digi-
tal universe is hard going: at its most
basic, the new business models direct-
About the author
Howard Paul is
Executive
General
Manager of SAI
Global Ltd, the
ew company
ow responsible
or the distribu-
on and sale of
Australian
tandards. Prior
to joining SAI Global he had been
General Manager of Standards Australia
Publishing since 1988. His previous 25
years had been spent in the TV and com-
puter industries in the UK and Australia.
He is currently a member of the ISO
Commercial Policy Steering Group and
ISO ITSIG.
Author’s acknowledgement
The recent ISO Copyright Workshop was
the catalyst for this article. In particular, I
should like to acknowledge material pre-
sented at that Workshop by Professor
Alain Strowel, Universities of Brussels
and Liège, Chris Barlas of Rightscom Ltd,
John Pace of ASTM International, and
Alan Maislisch from the IEC.
ly conflict with the old. In many busi-
nesses, successfully embracing digital
distribution has meant sacrificing the
favourite children of the old world.
But it works. SAI Global’s digi-
tized services now generate over 45%
of its publishing revenue, with massive
cost savings and improved customer
service. In other areas of digital distri-
bution, the success of Itunes and Real-
Networks shows that sensible DRM can
work. Even the much-maligned Napster
service has gone legal.
Defining appropriate
Rights – a brave new
world
The potential for DRM technol-
ogy to control rights is extraordinarily
powerful, and although there are a num-
ber of weaknesses and incompatibilities
in currently available systems, experi-
ence shows that these will be ironed
out, and that sophisticated, fundamen-
tally transparent systems will emerge.
The object of all such systems
is never to come between the user
and their legitimate use of the digital
product they have acquired rights to. It
is to simply ensure that the user does
not go beyond those rights they have
acquired through appropriate payment
and licensing. The only time a user
should be aware of a DRM system is
when they breach their licensed rights.
What are the digital rights? As
with any emerging technology, the
difference between the original theory,
and what actually emerges in practice
can be great. It is often pointed out
that when the distribution of electrical
power was first developed, few would
have anticipated its social effects, such
as high-rise building elevators and its
contribution freeing women from the
all-embracing drudgery of housework.
So with Digital Rights. We cannot
know the ultimate form, but as a start-
ing point, some of the rights that could
be managed include :
• Limiting document to one PC or
one user ;
• Specifying the number of times
document can be opened ;
• Time restrictions - view from date
X to date Y ;
• Limit document lifetime (minutes,
days, months) ;
• Enable or disable printing ;
• Define number of printed copies
allowed ;
• Enable or disable copy/pasting
facilities ;
• Enable or disable saving to file ;
• Protection against file copying ;
• Expiry at certain date and time ;
• Expiry after x hours of reading ;
• Allow x sections copied every y
days ;
• Allow x sections printed every y
days.
The possibilities are consider-
able, and the introduction of DRM
systems also offers the opportunity
for new business models and new cus-
tomer services, far more in tune with
customer usage patterns and needs.
The danger –
throwing out the baby,
not the bathwater
Electronic sale and distribu-
tion of standards has been the greatest
single advance in the popularization
and use of standards. It provides 24/7
access, and more importantly, legal
networking. And although not yet
apparent, it has significant potential for
reducing end user cost. These benefits
must not be compromised. But there
are downsides from the IP owner’s
viewpoint. While it is easy to control
initial access to a document, it is dif-
ficult to control what people do with
it afterwards. Users poorly understand
that they are in serious breach of copy-
right when sharing files. Perfect copies
can be made at the click of a mouse,
and networking allows infinite, instan-
taneous sharing of digital content at
virtually zero marginal cost.
ISO Focus June 2004 33
Developments and Initiatives
The need for user
education MPEG rights expression
But a heavy-handed approach
to these issues could turn back the
clock and even sacrifice revenue. The
language to fuel delivery
progressive introduction of DRM
systems will be both a learning pro-
cess for intellectual property own-
of multimedia resources
ers, and require extensive education •

programmes for users. IP owners,
especially in the standards world, have
been culpable in failing to regularly
and systematically educate their users
in the value and community benefit of
copyright, and the illegality and eco-
nomic losses where breaches occur.
ISO and its members are committed to
rectifying this omission, and to provide
much clearer education and guidance
as DRM systems begin to move into
the mainstream of our distribution
systems.
All saints and sinners
Copyright abuse is an area
in which we are all saints and sin-
ners. Few of us have not copied
something that clearly has the
© mark on it. Or taped a piece
of music for a friend. No harm
in that. Except that the recorded
music industry estimates its annual
losses in billions of dollars to ille-
gal copying, exacerbated by the
advent of digital systems where the
definition of what is original and
what is a copy is practically, if not
legally, blurred.
A
new International Standard that
enables the seamless delivery of
multimedia resources across a
wide range of networks and devices has
just been published by ISO and IEC
(International Electrotechnical Com-
mission).
The growth of the Internet has
enabled worldwide distribution and
consumption of multimedia resources,
reduced the cost of doing business and
provided consumers with unprecedent-
ed access to digital information. Before
making high-quality and valuable mul-
timedia resources available Online, con-
tent owners need to be assured that their
rights to those resources are respected
and that the conditions regarding distri-
bution – such as fees, territory restric-
tions and time limits – are met.
The new standard provides
players involved in the online distribu-
tion and consumption of multimedia
resources a platform to exchange
information about the rights, terms,
and conditions associated with each
resource at each step in the multimedia
resource lifecycle.
For example, a publisher needs
to communicate the available consump-
tion rights and the terms and conditions
under which those rights may be exer-
cised. To use the multimedia resources,
a consumer needs to know the types of
usage allowed and the terms and condi-
tions that must be met.
ISO/IEC 21000-5:2004, Infor-
mation technology – Multimedia frame-
work (MPEG 21) – Part 5 : Rights
Expression Language, is an XML-based
language for expressing rights related to
the use and distribution of digital content
as well as access to services. In addition
to helping content owners provide infor-
mation about the rights, terms, and con-
ditions associated with each multimedia
resource, ISO/IEC 21000-5:2004 :
Supports a wide variety of business
models in the digital content distri-
bution value-chain independent of
content type or industry;
• Provides an extremely flexible
authorization model to describe
what the consumer or user is per-
mitted to do with the content;
• Is independent of formats, prod-
ucts, security technology or other
digital rights management (DRM)
system components;
• Enables automated multi-tier dis-
tribution of digital content while
protecting the rights of the content
owners and the interests of the
users;
• Is a precise, unambiguous,
machine-readable language that
can be used in conjunction with
other industry standards, including
those addressing Web services;
• Is ready for immediate implemen-
tation to support digital content
sales or the distribution of enter-
prise information.
ISO/IEC 21000-5 is the first
in a set of digital rights management
industry standards to be developed by
ISO and IEC and is an important step
forward in building worldwide, intel-
lectual property rights that will facili-
tate the distribution and enjoyment of
digital content.
The new standard is the work
of ISO/IEC Joint technical commit-
tee JTC 1, Information Technology,
subcommittee SC 29, Coding of audio,
picture, multimedia and hypermedia
information, working group WG 11,
Coding of moving pictures and audio,
also known as the “Moving Picture
Experts Group”.

34 ISO Focus June 2004


Departure
of Anwar El-Tawil
D
r. Anwar El-Tawil, Secretary
of the ISO Committee for
developing country matters
(DEVCO) and Director of the ISO
programme for developing countries
and economies in transition, retired at
the end of May 2004, after working at
ISO Central Secretariat from 1988 to
2004, at a time during which ISO wit-
nessed an unprecedented growth in its
membership by developing countries.
As Dr. El-Tawil leaves, ISO
Focus takes a closer look at the ongo-
ing efforts made by ISO to assist devel-
oping countries in the areas of stand-
ardization and related matters and his
personal vision of the road ahead.
ISO Focus : How would you summa-
rize the advances made by develop-
ing countries in standardization work
over the last two decades? What work
remains to be done?
Anwar El-Tawil: After the holding
of hundreds of seminars and work-
shops about standards and related
activities and their role in promot-
ing international trade and economic
development by ISO, the WTO and
other international and regional
organizations, knowledge of ISO and
the role of standards is now common
among industrialists, professionals and
Government officials responsible for
the development of trade and indus-
try. This increased awareness has led
to the establishment of new national
standards bodies (NSBs) in a number
of developing countries where they
did not exist before. Many of these
NSBs have joined ISO. Between 1984
and 2004 the number of ISO members
from developing countries increased
from 55 (42 full members and 13
correspondent members) to 111 (64
members, 34 correspondent members
and 13 subscriber members). This
represents an increase of more than
100 %.
Work still needs to be done to
ensure that this increased awareness
translates into efficient operations
and active participation in the work
of ISO.
ISO Focus : The inability of many
developing countries to participate
effectively in international stand-
ardization activities poses serious
problems to the trade of these coun-
tries. What necessary changes are
needed – at the national, regional
and international levels – to ensure
that developing countries benefit fully
from International Standards?
Anwar El-Tawil: Indeed, the expe-
rience of the last two decades has
shown beyond doubt that the weak
participation of developing countries
in international standardization can
hinder their access to global markets.
Addressing standardization needs
adequately in today’s global markets
necessarily includes the implementa-
tion of international standards and
participation in ISO work.
The question is, therefore, do
all NSBs in developing countries have
the clear vision, the political will and
the necessary organizational structure
to focus on the needs of stakeholders
and to satisfy those needs? I believe
that some NSBs in developing coun-
tries could do with some structural
and organizational changes to make
them more capable of satisfying
stakeholders’ needs. It is generally
accepted that the typical bureaucratic
structure of a governmental NSB is
not the optimum one to listen to the
needs of the national stakeholders
and move quickly to satisfy them. We
must remember in this context that the
national stakeholders of standardiza-
tion include the Government as well
as many other parties, in particular,
the private sector, professionals and
consumers.
Photo : P. Krieger
Regional cooperation
could play a positive role in
rallying forces in the region to
adopt international standards as
a basis for promoting regional
and international trade and eco-
nomic cooperation.
ISO has prepared a compre-
hensive Five-year Action Plan that
includes many aspects designed to
achieve the objective of building
their capacity for improving opera-
tions.
ISO Focus : What have been the most
rewarding and the most challenging
aspects of your tenure as Secretary of
DEVCO?
Anwar El-Tawil: The most chal-
lenging aspect of my tenure was to
get the message out to stakehold-
ers of standardization in developing
countries and to encourage them to
become involved in standardization
work at the national and international
levels. Strenuous efforts were to
reach out to people involved in trade
and industry both in the private sector
and the Government, to conformity
assessment bodies and the consumer
movement and to inform them about
the aims and achievements of stand-
ardization and the role it plays in
economic development and improv-
ing the quality of life in any country.
Seminars were held not only in the
capital cities but also in the provinces.
Trainers were trained who spread the
message further. Hundreds of par-
ticipants were sponsored to attend
international technical committee
meetings. Activities were organized
in countries where only a few people
had heard about ISO before.
The most rewarding aspect
was to see how people flocked to ISO
events, listened eagerly to what ISO
experts said, participated actively in
meetings, seminars and workshops
and how the efforts made by ISO were
appreciated by them.
ISO Focus June 2004 35

New this month
IEC and ISO common database for
graphical symbols now available online
9 003:200
SO 4
I
A
common database that makes
available for the first time all
IEC and ISO graphical sym-
bols for use on equipment is now avail-
able online.
It provides users a one-stop
shop for all graphical symbols from the
standards IEC 60417 and ISO 7000 for
use on any equipment, from automo-
biles to office and home entertainment
equipment to textile and earth-moving
machinery. The much-awaited data-
base is the result of a successful col-
laboration between IEC (International
Electrotechnical Commission) and ISO.
The IEC/ISO database provides
users with some 3 500 graphical sym-
bols through easy-to-use search func-
tions by symbol ID, name, keyword,
shape, function, application, technical
committee/subcommittee, publication,
and date of release, along with infor-
mation about the meaning and appli-
cation of each symbol in both English
and French. Users can download the
symbols in vectorized PDF format for
use in drawing software.
36 ISO Focus June 2004
www.graphical-symbols.info
In October 2002, the IEC creat-
ed and made available the online data-
base standard IEC 60417, Graphical
Symbols for Use on Equipment, to
which the symbols from ISO 7000 :
2004, Graphical symbols for use on
equipment – Index and synopsis, have
now been added to create the common
database.
It is primarily intended for end-
users in industry who need to include
a symbol as part of product. This also
includes IEC and ISO standards devel-
opers, particularly any product techni-
cal committee needing to incorporate
a graphical symbol into a product
standard. It has also been developed as
a tool for those who create or maintain
the graphical symbols.
The IEC/ISO database will be
updated on an ongoing basis as new
symbols are approved for registration.
Access to the database is by subscrip-
tion, which is sold by the IEC, by ISO,
and by their respective members.
For more information:
www.graphical-symbols.info
Photo : Air products 2002
Reducing hydrogen
hazards in new
energy applications
A new ISO technical report on
the hazards associated with the use
of hydrogen has a huge potential to
improve safety measures and contribute
to its successful use in energy applica-
tions for home and office heating, gen-
eration of electricity and transportation.
Up until now, hydrogen has
been used extensively in petrochemical
and chemical industries and in smaller
quantities in the electronics and glass
making industries. Given the prom-
ise that hydrogen brings as an efficient
energy carrier and an energetic fuel
with minimal environmental impact,
systems are being developed that pro-
duce hydrogen from primary energy
sources such as sunlight, wind power,
biomass, hydro and fossil fuels.
ISO/TR 15916:2004, Basic con-
siderations for the safety of hydrogen
systems, aims to promote the acceptance
of hydrogen technologies by providing
key information to regulators and by
educating those unfamiliar with the tech-
nology, supplying a basis through which
to understand hydrogen safety issues. It
describes the hazards associated with the
use and presence of hydrogen, its prop-
erties relevant to safety, and provides a
general discussion of approaches taken
to mitigate hydrogen hazards.
“This technical report provides
an informative reference for those sep-
arate standards as a common, consist-
ent source of safety-related hydrogen
information,” said Randy Dey, Chair of
ISO technical committee ISO/TC 197,
Hydrogen technologies. “This should
avoid duplication and possible incon-
sistencies in these separate standards
and, through national adoption, simpli-
fy the regulatory process.”
The technical report will be
used by industrialists, manufacturers of
hydrogen appliances and regulators. It
is the work of ISO technical committee
ISO/TC 197, Hydrogen technologies.
Coming up
Main Focus
Safety in the workplace
Accidents involving machinery regret-
tably occur wherever they are used,
and their costs, both in human terms
as well as to society, are very high.
Though to calculate an exact figure is
unrealistic, recent studies have shown
that for a single accident the total cost
to the individual and to society can be
as high as USD 1 million. Internatio-
nal Standards are a proven tool that
are showing themselves highly effecti-
ve to help bring down the number of
accidents by defining the methodology
used when designing the machines,
and laying out measures to prevent
them occurring. The standards from
ISO technical committee ISO/TC 199,
Safety of machinery, aim to reduce
machinery accidents by defining a
methodology and philosophy for redu-
cing the risks applicable to all hazards
and for all machines.
In the past, individual countries deve-
loped prescriptive solutions to indivi-
dual problems as they arose. Countries
usually developed their own national
laws and regulations with regard to
machinery safety legislation, with on
occasions conflicting approaches, so
that these are often perceived as – or
are – barriers to a truly global trade
in machines. Exact figures of the value
of total global trade in machines, new
and used, for both professional and
non-professional use including domes-
tic and leisure purposes, do not exist ;
it is enough to think, however, that just
in the field of machine tools, this figu-
res is estimated to be around USD 100
million. Many multinational compa-
nies manufacture in one continent for
use around the world, and in contrast,
there is a continuing growth in the
manufacture and repair of machines
carried out in small and medium enter-
prises where an estimated 90 % of
employed persons work.
But ISO/TC 199 does not work in iso-
lation on this safety issue, of course –
on the contrary. ISO/TC 199 develops
horizontal-based standards that reach
across a spectrum of industries, and
works in concert with other committees
deeply involved in the same issues,
such as ISO/TC 159, Ergonomics, in
particular, and ISO/TC 43 Acoustics,
ISO/TC 108, Mechanical vibration
and shock, as well as IEC/TC 44,
Safety of machinery – Electrotechnical
aspects – with the pioneering ground-
work carried out by CEN, the Euro-
pean Committee for Standardization.
In this issue we tackle the various
facets of safety at the workplace as
they affect and figure in the work of
ISO committees. Safety plays a role
in the multiple committees where the
design and production of machines are
involved, from cranes to lifts, from
earth-moving machinery to agriculture
and forest machinery ; indeed, within
some ISO committees, a special sub-
committee is devoted to this aspect.
Developments and
Initiatives
WorldSID side impact crash
dummy. The WorldSID programme is
set up to develop the new, worldwide
acceptable, advanced technology, side
impact crash test dummy for improved
assessment of injury risk to car occu-
pants in lateral collisions. This impor-
tant project will firstly lead to impro-
ved understanding of human respon-
ses in side impact will drive an enhan-
ced dummy design, hence creating
means to improve occupant protection.
Secondly, harmoni-
zation will eliminate
the use of different
dummies in diffe-
rent areas of the
world.
Initiated under ISO
auspices, the project
is supported by
automotive manu-
facturers, suppliers
and governmental
organizations around the world. An ISO
WorldSID Task Group has been set up
reporting to the ISO working group on
Anthropomorphic Test Devices (TC 22/
SC 12/WG 5), consisting of experts
from industry and governments repre-
senting three regional WorldSID adviso-
ry groups : Americas, Europe and Asia/
Pacific. The first dummy is now ready,
and about to be presented in June in
Geneva ; ISO Focus gives an inside view
of how this dummy will help increase
vehicle safety.
Corrosion. Metal corrosion can reduce
good products, machines and goods to
inactivity or, worse still, literally des-
troy them. The corrosion process is at
the start of (or the catalyst for) some
spectacular recent industrial failures,
accidents and catastrophes, and a signi-
ficant part of GNP (an estimated 3-4 %
in developed countries) is lost as a
result of corrosion. The ISO Standards
Handbook unites all the standards that
ISO has developed on the subject ; used
in a timely and vigorous manner, the
application of these standards can help
stem the damage, and prevent corrosion
from eating away at profits.
ISO Focus June 2004
 ISO.The source of ISO 9000, ISO 14000
and more than 14300 International Standards for
business, government and society.