Using the Web to Find International Standards Information

Karen Kreizman

Locating accurate and up-to-date information on international standards is becoming increasingly important as more and more companies enter the global marketplace. Before the advent of the Internet, this situation would have been very frustrating. Now, however, many free resources exist on the Internet to locate and provide international standards information.

In most countries, standards-developing bodies have made their catalog of standards available, and there is no better source of current information than the standards body of the country itself. Occasionally, the language barrier can prevent access to needed information, but most international Web sites have at least some information in English. These Web sites usually allow the user to search for standards by keyword, document or designation number, subject, and date. Some sites also provide information on equivalencies and pricing, and offer on-line ordering. A select few sites offer the ultimate in access—the opportunity to download the standards as a pdf file—provided you pay by credit card.

This article presents a selective directory of Internet sources for international standards information. Emphasis is placed on the availability of a searchable database, since these catalogs are the best sources of complete and current information about a country's specific standards. If you are looking for all the standards on a specific topic (or as many as you can identify), ANSI's NSSN or one of the commercial vendors' catalogs is the best place to look. These sources do not include all countries, however, so there may be a need to search some countries' individual catalogs.

There is one important point to remember when conducting Internet research—it's usually free (a few of the Web sites listed charge a fee; this is noted in their listings). For this reason, don't expect to see a standard's full text. Standards are copyrighted documents and must therefore be purchased to ensure that appropriate royalties are paid. But on the positive side, the increased use of pdf files and the regular acceptance of credit cards at the Web sites will make obtaining full-text copies of the standards, when you need them, only a click or two away.

One final caveat: due to the changing nature of the Internet, the content of these sites may have changed by the time you visit them.

A Selective Directory of World Wide Web Resources on International Standards

The following entries are arranged by country and include information on language, catalog availability, search options, the ability to use Boolean and truncation, and the quality of related links. Web site catalogs include significant information on standards, such as title, date, price, status, language, and designation or document number. Some catalogs include further information on scope and equivalencies. Each Web site listed includes links to information about the organization and its news releases, events, drafts, committees, committee membership, publication information, and the status of its standards.

Following the country list is a list of standards vendors and a descriptive list of comprehensive subject hubs, which guide the user to other pertinent sites. The subject hubs offer extensive links to U.S. industry standards-making bodies that are not touched on in this article.

Definition of Terms

Boolean: Tools to narrow or broaden a search. Boolean operators include the words and, or, and not, and these words can often be used in combination (e.g., helmet and [bike or bicycle or cycle] not motor).

ICS Codes: International Classification of Standards (ICS) codes serve as a structure for catalogs of regional, national, and international standards. These codes are also used for classifying standards and normative documents in databases.

Keyword: The retrieval of a word anywhere in the searchable fields.

Truncation: The shortening of a word to its root to retrieve variations in spelling and plurals. For example, when an asterisk is the truncation symbol, plastic* will retrieve plastic, plastics, plasticizer. Automatic truncation retrieves words containing variations on the specified root without using a symbol, e.g., furni will retrieve furnishing, furnishings, furniture, etc.

International Standards-Developing Bodies

Argentina

Instituto Argentino de Racionalización de Materiales (http://www.iram.com.ar)

Language: Spanish.

Catalog: Catalogo de Normas; catalog of IRAM standards.

Searchable fields: Document number, ICS code, and keyword (Boolean).

Truncation: %.

Information provided: Document number, ICS code, title, revision, page, and date.

Comments: Only useful if you know the document number or know Spanish.

Australia

Standards Australia (http://www.standards.org.au)

Language: English.

Catalog: Catalog of AS and AS/NZS standards.

Searchable fields: Keyword (Boolean), keyword title (Boolean), and document number.

Truncation: Automatic.

Information provided: Title, document number, date, abstract, price, status, and number of pages.

Comments: Requires a fee; allows for on-line ordering of standards and the ability to download standards in pdf format if paying with a credit card. Subscription available for full text of more than 6000 standards in pdf format. Nice set of links to other Australian and international organizations.

Austria

Osterreichisches Normungsintitut (http://www.on-norm.at)

Language: German and English. (Select English version.)

Catalog: ON database; catalog of OE Norm standards.

Searchable fields: Document number, partial document number, keyword, truncated keyword, date, and ICS code.

Truncation: Automatic.

Information provided: Document number, title, date, number of pages, list of keywords, and ICS code.

Comments: Includes EN and ISO equivalencies. Possible to order standards on-line. Help function is well constructed.

Belgium

Belgium Electrotechnical Commission (http://www.ceb.arc.be)

Language: Dutch, English, and French.

Catalog: English catalog of Belgium standards in zip-file format for downloading. (Download did not work when tried.)

Comments: Link to IEC catalog.

Brazil

Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (http://www.abnt.org.br/index.html)

Language: Portuguese and English.

Catalog: Within a link titled
Research, Pricing, and Purchase of Standards.

Searchable fields: Document number and keyword.

Information provided: Title, document number, date, and price (given only in Portuguese).

Comments: You can register and select a password that allows you to search by keyword. Attempts did not have success with the word search (in English or Portuguese) and received an error message. On-line ordering with a credit card.

Canada

Canadian General Standards Board (http://w3.pwgsc.gc.ca/cgsb)

Language: English and French.

Catalog: No searchable catalog, but does provide listings arranged in an alphabetical list of topics and a listing by document number.

Information provided: Document number, title, date, scope, and list of applicable publications.

Comments: Electronic catalog of CGSB standards can be purchased for $35. Good list of links to other Canadian organizations.

Canada

Canadian Standards Association (http://www.csa.ca)

Language: English and French.

Catalog: Product catalog of CSA standards can be downloaded for free. The download process is fast and easy.

Searchable fields: Title, document number, scope, categories (pull-down menu), and subject (pull-down menu).

Truncation: *.

Information provided: Title, document number, subjects, price, language, date, and scope.

Comments: Premium features require a fee; CSA standards browser on CD-ROM searches the complete catalog and provides access to coded pdf documents. Short list of links to CSA partners and other related organizations.

Chile

Instituto Nacional de Normalización (http://www.inn.cl)

Language: Spanish.

Catalog: INN standards. Select Info y Ventas, then select Precios.

Searchable fields: Document number.

Information provided: Document number and price.

Comments: Not much information provided; only useful if you know the document number or know Spanish.

Colombia

Instituto Colombiano de Normas Técnicas y Certificación (http://www.icontec.org.co)

Language: Spanish. Includes an "Information in English" section.

Catalog: No catalog.

Comments: Requires a fee; many of the links on the home page are bad. There appears to be a password-
protected searchable catalog available. Unable to access the Web site on last attempt.

COPANT

Comisión Panamericana de Normas Técnicas (COPANT) (http://www.copant.org)

Language: Spanish and English.

Catalog: No catalog, but information can be found by browsing the committees under Site Index.

Information provided: Document number, title, and date.

Comments: Some information is better than nothing.

Croatia

Dravni Zavod Za Normizacijui Mjeriteljstvo (http://www.dznm.hr)

Language: Slovak.

Catalog: Catalog under construction.

Comments: Catalog has been under construction for more than six months.

Denmark

Dansk Standards Institute (http://www.ds.dk)

Language: Danish. Some English.

Catalog: DS Katalog; catalog of Dansk standards. Selecting Disk Standard allows you to query the catalog by document number, free text, or keyword (which can be searched in English).

Searchable fields: ICS code, keyword, designation or document number in English.

Truncation: *.

Information provided: English title and Danish abstract.

Comments: Difficult to navigate if you are not fluent in Danish.

Ecuador

Instituto Equatoriano de Normalización (http://www.ecua.net.ec/inen)

Language: Spanish.

Catalog: No catalog.

Comments: Receive redirection message. Select link Elsewhere. Links to other Ecuadorian sites. Web site not working when last tried.

Europe

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) (http://www.cenelec.be)

Language: English and French.

Catalog: Select Standardization.

Searchable fields: Document number, keyword, and English title.

Information provided: Title, document number, directive, working group, mandate, official journal reference, date, and ICS code.

Europe

European Committee for Standardization (CEN) (http://www.cenorm.be)

Language: English.

Catalog: No catalog.

Finland

Finnish Standards Institute (SFS) (http://www.sfs.fi)

Language: Finnish, Swedish, and English. (Select SFS in English.)

Catalog: Select SFS Lutettelo Ainaajanann Tusalla. Then select SFS Standardit. This link provides a listing of SFS standards in numerical order with English titles.

Searchable fields: Keyword and document number.

Information provided: Document number, language, date, pages, and English/Finnish title.

Comments: Links to other European standards bodies.

France

Association Française de Normalisation (http://www.afnor.fr)

Language: English and French. (Select English flag at bottom of page.)

Catalog: Catalog Normes; Standards Catalog (under pull-down); and Rechercher (ignore error message).

Searchable fields: Document number, ICS, and date.

Truncation: Automatic.

Information provided: Document number, title, scope, status, price, number of pages, and language.

Comments: Also includes a guided search by subject. On-line ordering capabilities.

Germany

Deutsches Institut fur Normung (http://www.din.org.de)

Language: English and German.

Catalog: On-line Datenbanken (standards search) is a catalog of DIN and ISO standards and VDI directives.

Searchable fields: Document number, keyword (Boolean), contents, and date.

Truncation: Automatic.

Information provided: Price and language information in addition to the above.

Comments: Ability to order documents on-line with a credit card. Good list of links to other standards bodies.

Greece

Hellenic Organization for Standardization (ELOT) (http://www.elot.gr)

Language: Greek and English.

Catalog: Hellenic and European Standards Catalog. Select Catalogus.

Searchable fields: Keyword only. (You can use the document number as a keyword.)

Truncation: None.

Information provided: Title, committee, document number, price, equivalencies, and language.

Comments: Documents can be ordered on-line.

Hungary

Hungarian Standards Institute (http://www.mszt.hu/text/english/sitemap/sitemap.html)

Language: Hungarian and English.

Catalog: Provides link to a searchable catalog, but the catalog is currently under construction.

Comments: Still under construction after six months.

Iceland

Icelandic Council for Standardization (http://www.stri.is)

Language: Icelandic and English.

Catalog: Icelandic standards.

Searchable fields: Document number, English title, committee, committee and its standards, and withdrawn standards.

Truncation: * .

Information provided: Title, date, price, committee number, and number of pages, in English.

Comments: Also includes a link to the ISO catalog.

India

Bureau of Indian Standards (http://www.del.vsnl.net.in/bis.org)

Language: English.

Catalog: Web catalog of standards has been in development for many months.

Comments: Will include equivalencies.

International

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) (http://www.iec.ch)

Language: English and French.

Catalog: IEC databases; on-line catalog.

Searchable fields: Document number, section, committee, keyword, and
ICS code.

Truncation: Automatic.

Information provided: Title, language, number of pages, and price.

Comments: On-line ordering using a credit card.

International

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (http://www.iso.ch)

Language: English and French.

Catalog: ISO catalog.

Searchable fields: Title text (Boolean) and descriptors, document number, and subject. Also provides list of standards by ICS code.

Truncation: *.

Information provided: Title, price, ICS code, descriptors, date, edition, number of pages, and technical committee.

Ireland

National Standards Authority (http://www.nsai.ie)

Language: English.

Catalog: NSAI Standards. Can browse by title and ICS code.

Information provided: Keyword, document number, title, summaries, price, and ICS code.

Comments: Good links under Useful Locations.

Israel

Standards Institution of Israel (http://www.iso.co.il/sii)

Language: English and Hebrew.

Catalog: No catalog.

Comments: One page of general information. No links.

Italy

Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione (UNI) (http://www.unicei.it)

Language: Italian and English.

Catalog: Catalog, in Italian only.

Searchable fields: Title (keyword), document number (keyword), ICS code, and date.

Truncation: Automatic.

Information provided: Document number, title, English title, scope, date, edition, number of pages, and price.

Comments: On-line ordering. Link to catalog did not work when last tried.

Japan

Japan Industrial Standards Institute (http://www.hike.te.chiba-u.ac.jp/ikeda/JIS)

Language: Japanese.

Catalog: Search engine for English catalog of standards (currently not running).

Comments: Status of English catalog has been the same for several months. Remove the JIS from the URL to access an excellent page of diversified links.

Korea

Korea Research Institute of Standards (KRISS) (http://krissol.kriss.re.kr/kriss991/english/index.htm)

Language: Korean and English.

Catalog: No catalog.

sia

Catalog: MS Catalog can be reached by selecting the On-line Service Directory link.

Searchable fields: Document number, title, index, and date.

Information provided: Provides more information with an abstract, number of pages, and price.

Comments: Allows for searching of companies under their product certification scheme and inspection services.

Mexico

Secretaría de Comercio y Fomento Industrial (http//www.secofi.gob.mx)

Language: Spanish.

Catalog: No catalog.

Comments: Search of Web site by NOM number yields results, but they cannot be viewed. You can register at the site and receive free e-mail notifications.

Morocco

French Le Ministre du Commerce, de 'Industrie et de l'Artisana (http://www.mcinet.gov.mx)

Language: English and French.

Catalog: Select Department of Commerce and Industry, then Qualite et Normalisation to reach a browseable list.

Information provided: Document number and title.