Standards Development Geoff Visser Standards Executive South African Bureau of Standards

Overview of the SABS 1.State owned organization 2.Standards development, testing, certification and regulatory services 3.Employ some 1500 people 4.Publish some 500 standards pa 5.Collection of some 5000 national standards (SANS) 6.Through 450 active standards development committees

Structure Three business units dealing with: Conformity assessment Testing Certification Training and other services Regulatory services Standards development Implemented Cluster Communication system internally to communicate across business units

Sector coordination CEO StandardsRegulatory Commercial HRCorporate Transport Food and Health Electrotechnical Mining & Minerals Services Mechanics and Material Chemicals Transport Transport Electrotechnical Electrotechnical ServicesServices Food and Health Mining & Minerals Mechanics and Material ChemicalsChemicals GM Finance

What are the challenges? 1.Standards Development promote standardization to all stakeholders broaden our stakeholder base secure and maintain the interest and involvement of leaders of Industry, government departments, and significant consumer organizations 2.Conformity Assessment Expand services in important markets Extend services to small and medium organizations

Standards National standards Developed by consensus In Technical Committees Representing the needs of the local stakeholders

Committees 1.Balanced representation of: Users (groups) Manufacturers (groups - various levels) Other interest groups The State

Benefits of Standardization Better communication Simplification Economy, cost saving, interoperability Safety, health, protection of life Elimination of trade barriers Publicly available – walk in sales (Pretoria and Regional offices) and web store Version control – formal amendments process Standards can be referred to in tenders, contracts and regulations

Types of Standard Specifications (mark/non-mark) Codes of Practice Standard Methods CKS (Government purchasing) Recommended Practices “Private”

Concepts National, not SABS, Standards Committee-driven SABS maintains and channels requests to committees SABS acts as facilitator/publishing house Project approach

Routine Maintenance of Standards Five year review period Questionnaire approach Options: - reaffirm - amend/revise as necessary - withdraw

Thank you!