FIG PUBLICATION NO. 28
FIG
Guide on standardisation
This publication in .pdf-format
Contents
A. INTRODUCTION
A1. PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDE
A2. BACKGROUND
A3. TERMINOLOGY
B. FIG POLICY
C. FIG STRATEGIES
C1. CURRENT STANDARDISATION BODIES AND ACTIVITIES
C1.1 ISO
C1.2 National standardisation bodies
C1.3 Other international standardisation bodies
C1.4 Regional standardisation bodies
C1.5 Governments
C1.6 Companies
C1.7 Other international bodies
C1.8 The World Trade Organisation
C1.9 Publications
C2. INTERPRETING AND PROMOTING PUBLISHED STANDARDS
C3. HOW FIG CAN INFLUENCE THE EXISTING WORK PROGRAMME OF
ISO
C3.1 Gaining Liaison status
C3.2 FIG Experts
C4. HOW THE IVSC WORKS AND HOW FIG CAN INFLUENCE ITS WORK
PROGRAMME
C5. HOW FIG MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS CAN INFLUENCE THE ACTIVITY
OF NATIONAL STANDARDISATION BODIES
C6. HOW FIG CAN PROPOSE NEW WORK AREAS FOR INTERNATIONAL
STANDARDISATION
D. SUMMARY OF ROLES WITHIN FIG
D1. COUNCIL
D2. STANDARDS NETWORK
D3. COMMISSION AND PERMANENT INSTITUTION (PI) OFFICERS
D4. COMMISSION/PI MEMBERS TO THE STANDARDS NETWORK
D5. HEADS OF MEMBER ASSOCIATION DELEGATIONS TO FIG
D6. NATIONAL DELEGATES TO COMMISSIONS
D7. FIG LEAD CONTACTS TO TECHNICAL COMMITTEES OF
STANDARDISATION BODIES
E. FURTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION
E1. INTERNATIONAL STANDARDISATION BODIES
E2. REGIONAL STANDARDISATION BODIES
E3. OTHER INTERNATIONAL BODIES
E4. KEY ISO TCS AND STANDARDS
ANNEX A: HOW ISO WORKS
1. TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT BOARD
2. TECHNICAL COMMITTEES
3. THE PROCESS OF CREATING A STANDARD
4. LIAISON BODIES
5. OTHER PUBLICATIONS
6. REVIEWS
APPENDICES
A - SAMPLE LETTER APPLYING FOR LIAISON STATUS
B - SAMPLE LETTER SUBMITTING A DOCUMENT FOR FAST-TRACKING
Orders of the printed copies
FIG Guide on Standardisation
How to enhance FIG's role in the process of creating and
maintaining official standards
FIG Task Force on Standards
Iain Greenway, United Kingdom
International Federation of Surveyors, FIG
February 2002
A. Introduction
A1. Purpose of this Guide
This Guide has been created by the FIG Task Force on Standards to assist
the FIG Council, Commissions and Member Associations in their efforts to
make a difference in standardisation activities. Standardisation activities
can often seem complex or even impenetrable, and the Task Force has seen one
of its prime roles as filtering important information about standardisation
activities and explaining how surveyors can be actively engaged in the
processes.
A2. Background
Official standards have always been important in production operations,
with many originating in military activity: the ISO 9000 series of standards
on quality management is a prime example of this spreading of military
standards to the civilian world. Many surveyors have come across ISO 9000
and other official standards. Others will be very familiar with legal
standards, for instance legislation on land registration and cadastral
surveying. All of us are increasingly subject to de facto standards in all
that we do - for instance Microsoft personal computer operating software and
TCP/IP standards on the World Wide Web. Standards, in all of these
manifestations, are becoming increasingly important for surveyors.
To give an idea of the scale of standardisation activities, the
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has 135 national
standardisation bodies as members, and 2,867 technical bodies (technical
committees, subcommittees, working groups and ad hoc study groups). At the
end of 1999, there were 12,524 ISO standards in print, amounting to 356,427
pages. International standardisation activity is becoming increasingly
dominant, in an era of increasing international trade, over regional and
national standards: this emphasises the growing role for international
organisations such as FIG in inputting to the standardisation process.
Turning to the benefits of standards, recent research undertaken by the
Technical University of Dresden and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and
Innovations (available at
www.din.de/set/aktuelles/benefit.html) found that:
- The benefit to the German economy from standardisation amounts to more
than US$ 15 billion per year;
- Standards contribute more to economic growth than patents and
licences;
- Companies that participate actively in standards work have a head
start on their competitors in adapting to market demands and new
technologies;
- Transaction costs are lower when European and International Standards
are used; and
- Research risks and development costs are reduced for companies
contributing to the standardisation process.
The process of creating standards is a lengthy one - most ISO standards
are under development for more than three years. This time scale has to be
shortened in a world where technological developments are happening more and
more frequently; as ISO recognises, standards will otherwise constrain
development. The same difficulties can arise with legislation - the
cadastral survey regulations of many countries prescribe methodologies which
must be used, thereby often disallowing GPS methods.
The main participants in the process of developing standards are
generally academics and public servants - people whose organisations can
afford for them to spend time on, and travel to, the necessary meetings. In
general, practitioners are present in much more limited numbers. This means
that standardisation bodies will often have limited knowledge of other
initiatives - they will assume a 'green field site' when in fact a good deal
is already in hand. A particularly relevant current example for surveyors is
the area of Spatial Data Infrastructures (at national, regional and global
levels) - these will be profoundly impacted (for good or ill) by standards
and it is therefore vital that there are clear links between the various
professional and standardisation activities.
For these reasons, standards are important to surveyors, and surveyors'
involvement in standardisation can develop better standards in shorter time
frames, improving the benefits that standards bring. In the last few years,
FIG has given a focus to international standardisation activities and has
significantly raised its profile in the area. Even in this limited time, the
work has achieved concrete results. To give two examples:
- The ISO standards on testing calibrating survey instruments,
unworkable for practising professionals, have been revised - in large part
due to the continuing pressure and input of FIG, particularly Commission
5, and some FIG funding for individuals to attend relevant meetings;
- The proposed ISO work to create a standard for the qualification and
certification of personnel in the geographic information area was turned
into an informative report due to FIG (and other NGO) pressure in 1998.
The draft recommendations of that report, due to parallel FIG activity and
input, recommend that the work is left to international professional
bodies. FIG's active input to the ISO work, rather than ignoring it, has
been a key factor in these developments.
This Guide has been created to allow FIG to build on these successes, and
to focus its efforts and funds.
A3. Terminology
For the purposes of this Guide:
- Official standards are those created by authorised
standardisation bodies, whether operating on a global, regional or
national basis;
- Legal standards are those created by sub-national, national,
supranational or international law; and
- De facto standards are documents such as regulations,
industry standards and professional instructions.
B. FIG Policy
Standardisation activity is, as summarised in section A2, becoming of
increasing importance to surveyors; indeed, the application of technical and
professional standards is one element which sets professionals apart from
others. In 1997, therefore, FIG decided to place a greater emphasis on
developing its work in the standardisation field, whilst recognising the
limitations of what its resources could achieve.
Overall, FIG's aim in the field of standards is to assist in the
process of developing workable and timely official and legal standards
covering the activities of surveyors: FIG is one of the few bodies through
which surveyors can formally be represented in international official
standardisation activities. In so doing, FIG is supporting its objective to
collaborate with relevant agencies in the formulation and implementation of
policies. FIG is also committed in its objectives to developing the skills
of surveyors and encouraging the proper use of technology, activities which
are becoming increasingly shaped by standards.
FIG will generally seek to ensure that de facto standards become
official standards as technology matures, or at the very least that all
relevant official, legal and de facto standards are produced in full
knowledge of all other related material.
FIG sees the following roles for professionals in the
standardisation process:
- Assisting in the production of workable and timely standards by
proposing material which can be transformed into international standards
(rather than relying on work developed by others) and by participating in
the process of developing standards; and
- Disseminating information and creating explanatory material and
guidance notes to ensure that all members of FIG are aware of the most
recent standardisation activities, standards and regulations, and their
implications for surveyors.
In supporting this policy, FIG will dovetail the work of its
Commissions and other bodies with that of official standardisation bodies,
to ensure that the greatest possible benefit for practising surveyors and
their clients is achieved. This dovetailing will be reflected in Commission,
Task Force and Permanent Institution (PI) workplans - these will include the
creation of necessary information and explanatory material, and any relevant
planned output from any of FIG's bodies will be discussed with the relevant
standardisation bodies before it is created. FIG will also seek to work
closely with other international bodies representing surveyors, to ensure
the most effective collective use of resources.
Since 1998, the FIG Task Force on Standards has provided the necessary
coordination in planning of activity to achieve these goals, recognising
that it is through the Commissions and Member Associations that most of the
necessary work and liaison will be achieved. The new structural arrangements
proposed embed standards activity more explicitly in the workplans of
Commissions and PIs, with a network of Commission representatives providing
overall coordination of activity, and advice to Council as necessary. The
roles are described in more detail in Section D of this Guide.
C. FIG Strategies
This Guide explains the often complex and lengthy processes through which
work items have to progress before they become published standards. It is
unrealistic for FIG, as one of many bodies representing professionals, to be
able to control the progress of individual standards, and FIG will have to
accept that many of its proposals for changing documents will not be
accepted (although the general principle of consensus allows FIG to push
home points on which it feels particularly strongly). Similarly,
standardisation bodies will not readily accept new work item proposals
unless there is a proven market need for them. FIG should, however, be well
aware of the needs of its 250,000 individual members - a significant market
- and can therefore expect standardisation bodies to listen to it.
To achieve the greatest degree of success, therefore, FIG needs to
coordinate its efforts, and to recognise the needs of the standardisation
bodies as well as of FIG's members. The respective roles and
responsibilities of the key bodies in the standardisation arena are set out
in Section C1 of this Guide.
To achieve FIG's stated policy, FIG's Commissions need to work closely
with the relevant standardisation bodies (including the Technical Committees
of ISO) so that any informative or explanatory material that the Commissions
create which supports the use of standards is produced at the appropriate
time, has clear references to the relevant standards, and can be published
and marketed in a coordinated way with the published standards. Section
C2 of this Guide expands on this activity.
In addition, FIG needs to coordinate the inputs it makes to the creation
and development of standards by the various standardisation bodies.
Sections C3-C5 of this Guide cover this aspect of activity for ISO, the
International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC) and national
standardisation bodies respectively.
Before drawing up Commission and Council work programmes, FIG should
review the needs of the market in terms of published standards, and should
liaise with the Secretariats and Technical Committees of standardisation
bodies over particular gaps in activity. Wherever possible, these gaps
should be filled through the development of material by FIG, in close
liaison with the relevant standardisation body, so that the completed FIG
work can successfully be fast-tracked to become a standard, and so that the
timing of the production of FIG's deliverables fits with the needs of the
standardisation body (and the market). Section C6 of this Guide
provides further guidance on this activity.
All of the above requires coordination of the development of Commission
and PI work plans so that FIG's work has the greatest possible impact in the
world of standards. This may require a slightly greater planning horizon for
Commissions and PIs, and greater coordination of effort, which will be
facilitated through the strategic planning meetings of the Council and the
Advisory Committee of Commission Officers (ACCO). It will also require
ongoing collaboration with other international NGOs to ensure that the
combined efforts are coordinated to best effect.
In short, FIG needs to continue to see itself, and its activity, as
part of a larger picture which includes key bodies such as the UN and its
agencies, standardisation bodies and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
C1. Current standardisation bodies and
activities
In light of the numbers quoted in section A2, it will be no surprise that
there is a very significant amount of standardisation activity underway,
with large numbers of people and organisations involved. This section
attempts to provide some information on the main players. It does not set
out to reproduce all of the material available - see the list of contacts in
Section E of this Guide for further information - but rather to provide FIG
members with some pointers to the main players and their roles.
ISO is a key player in international official standards. The
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is a world-wide
federation of national standards bodies from 135 countries. ISO is a
non-governmental organisation established in 1947 (at that stage,
essentially to provide recommendations to members aimed at harmonising
national standards). The mission of ISO is to promote the development of
standardisation and related activities in the world with a view to
facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to
developing co-operation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific,
technological and economic activity. ISO's work results in international
agreements which are published as International Standards.
International standardisation began in the electrotechnical field: the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) was created in 1906.
Pioneering work in other fields was carried out by the International
Federation of the National Standardising Associations (ISA), which was set
up in 1926. ISA's activities ceased in 1942 owing to the Second World War.
Following a meeting in London in 1946, delegates from 25 countries decided
to create a new international organisation 'the object of which would be to
facilitate the international co-ordination and unification of industrial
standards'. The new organisation, ISO, began to function officially on 23
February 1947. The first ISO standard was published in 1951 with the title
'Standard reference temperature for industrial length measurement'.
The lack of correlation between the official title when used in full,
International Organisation for Standardisation, and the short form, ISO,
should be explained. In fact, 'ISO' is a word, derived from the Greek isos,
meaning 'equal', which is the root of the prefix 'iso-' that occurs in a
host of terms, such as 'isometric' (of equal measure or dimensions) and
'isonomy' (equality of laws, or of people before the law). From 'equal' to
'standard', the line of thinking that led to the choice of 'ISO' as the name
of the organisation is easy to follow. In addition, the name has the
advantage of being valid in each of the organisation's three official
languages - English, French and Russian. The confusion that would arise
through the use of an acronym is thus avoided.
The official goals of ISO are to facilitate trade, exchange and
technology transfer through:
- Enhanced product quality and reliability at a reasonable price;
- Improved health, safety and environmental protection, and reduction of
waste;
- Greater compatibility and interoperability of goods and services;
- Simplification for improved usability;
- Reduction in the number of models, and thus reduction in costs; and
- Increased distribution efficiency and ease of maintenance.
The adoption of ISO standards is voluntary, but users tend to have more
confidence in products and services that conform to International Standards.
Assurance of conformity can be provided by manufacturers' declarations, or
by audits carried out by independent bodies.
C1.2 National standardisation bodies
The members of ISO (national standardisation bodies) are often
government-run or supported in part, in recognition of their work in
supporting free competition, trade and public order. Their key tasks are the
production of national standards where this will support the national
economy and/or protect citizens, and the promotion of the use of relevant
international standards - with the growth of global trade, the latter role
is increasingly important and fewer national official standards are being
produced. They are generally encouraged to cover part of their costs
(including the costs of participating in ISO activity and creating national
standards) through selling materials, offering certification services, etc.
C1.3 Other international standardisation bodies
ISO works closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC), particularly through their Joint Technical Committee (JTC) 1. A
number of other international standardisation bodies exist, the most
relevant of which for surveyors, in particular valuers and real estate
advisers, is the
International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC).
The IVSC was founded in 1981 and its membership comprises professional
valuation associations from around the world, with almost 50 countries
currently represented. IVSC's objectives are to formulate and publish, in
the public interest, valuation Standards for property valuation and to
promote their world-wide acceptance; to harmonise Standards among the
world's States; and to identify and make disclosure of differences in
statements and/or applications of Standards as they occur.
The IVSC is an NGO member of the United Nations, having been granted
Roster status with the UN Economic and Social Council in 1985. The IVSC
maintains liaison with other international agencies (for instance, the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the WTO), and with standardisation
bodies such as the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC), the
International Federation of Accountants (IFA), the International Auditing
Practice Committee of the IFA and the International Organisation of Security
Commissions (IOSCO). It also maintains contact with the European Group of
Valuers' Associations (TEGoVA).
In July 2000, the IVSC published the International Valuations Standards 2000
(IVS 2000), the first publication under the three-year IVSC Standards
Project. This project began in January 2000 and aims to have produced, by
2002, a set of comprehensive and robust International Standards that will
facilitate cross-border transactions involving property and contribute to
the vitality of global markets by promoting transparency in financial
reporting.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is a United Nations
specialised agency which issues conventions, ratified by countries, to
regulate worldwide maritime safety. As part of this activity, it establishes
reference standards for electronic chart display and information systems
(ECDIS) used by regulated shipping. These conventions reference standards
created by the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO), a
scientific and technical organisation which creates international minimum
standards covering hydrography and nautical charting. IHO is an
intergovernmental organisation (IGO) not affiliated to the UN. The
secretariat of IHO is called the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB).
The IHO publishes a Transfer Standard for Digital Hydrographic Data
(commonly known as S57).
C1.4 Regional standardisation bodies
During the creation of this Guide, four regional standardisation bodies
have been identified:
- Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN);
- The Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC);
- The European Group of Valuers' Associations (TEGoVA); and
- The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
CEN has become an important organisation with the growth of
pan-governmental activity at the European level - many of its standards are
referenced by European Commission documents. The procedures of CEN are
similar to those of ISO, with similar outputs. ISO and CEN have worked
closely together for some considerable time, and the Vienna Agreement sets
out arrangements for each to ratify the other's work. About 40% of all
European standards are direct adoptions of ISO standards under these
arrangements.
PASC is less developed than CEN, but in a similar way attempts to
coordinate the development of standards in the countries around the Pacific.
Its objectives are as follows:
- To exchange information and views and initiate necessary actions to
help ensure that international standardisation activities are properly
coordinated on a consensus basis to meet world needs and foster
international trade and commerce;
- To provide a geographically convenient forum for the countries and
territories of the Pacific area to develop recommendations for
communication to the international standards bodies, particularly ISO and
IEC;
- To form a consultative liaison with international and regional
standards bodies to help them meet world needs in standardisation through
communication of recommendations of PASC members; and
- To examine future requirements in international standardisation and
the changes in the current international structure that may be necessary
to meet these requirements.
TEGoVA is currently working on the developments of valuation best
practice documents at a European level. Its objectives are:
- To write and promote valuation standards for application across
Europe;
- To represent professionally qualified valuers of land, buildings and
plant and machinery in Europe and present their views to the European
Commission, European Parliament and other European organisations;
- To recommend a standard approach to valuation methodology;
- To transmit views to the International Valuation Standards Committee
(IVSC) on issues of common interest; and
- To encourage enhanced education of valuers in Europe.
NATO issues STANAGs (standardisation agreements) which have
mandatory status for military authorities in the organisations' member
countries. One of these, for instance, defines the Universal Transverse
Mercator (UTM) coordinate reference system, which is widely used throughout
the world. Another - number 7074, developed by the Digital Geographic
Information Working Group (DGIWG) - sets the Digital Geographic Information
Exchange Standard (DIGEST).
In general terms, the globalisation of trade and the world economy is
reducing the role of such regional bodies. In addition, FIG and its Member
Associations will be focusing at international and national level
respectively; regional standardisation bodies are therefore not considered
in any detail in this Guide. Further information on them can be found from
the sources listed in Section E.
C1.5 Governments
Moving to the field of legal standards, national governments, in their
role as protectors of the right to hold land (on which so much economic
development and stability depends), are an important source of regulations
for cadastral surveyors. As with official standardisation activities, such
laws can lag significantly behind technical developments and, through
setting input controls, can inhibit effective use of resources.
A whole raft of other legislation affects surveyors as business people
and employers, for instance legislation on health and safety, taxation, etc.
This Guide does not attempt to cover this type of regulation, where lobbying
of government is most effectively completed at a national level.
Inevitably, the move to globalisation has also affected legislation, with
the role of the European Union being the prime example and the requirements
of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) being another. At a
global level, the OECD attempts to spread good practice around the world. In
the surveying field, a number of organisations attempt to ensure that
organisations and nations work together to best effect. An example of this
is EuroGeographics, which coordinates the work of European National Mapping
Agencies.
C1.6 Companies
Commercial firms are becoming increasingly important in the development
of de facto standards. Microsoft (MS) is a classic example - other software
manufacturers need to ensure that their programs interface successfully with
Windows and other MS products if they are to be successful. Even national
governments find themselves less than all-powerful in such situations, as
the action of the American authorities against MS is showing. There are
many, many other organisations setting, wittingly or not, de facto
standards. Again, it is impossible for this Guide to cover these in any
detail.
C1.7 Other international bodies
A number of other international bodies have an interest in
standardisation activities. Of particular interest in the surveying arena
are:
- The OpenGIS Consortium (OGC), a commercial body representing
the manufacturers of GIS hardware and software and the providers of
geographic data. As its name suggests, the OGC is working towards the
adoption of open standards, allowing the flow of data between different GI
systems. In doing so, OGC works closely with other official
standardisation bodies;
- The International Cost Engineering Council (ICEC) which created
an International Standards Working Group in 2000 'to promote and manage
the development and promulgation of world-wide best practices and/or
standards in cost management as represented by the fields [of] cost
engineering, quantity surveying and project management'; and
- The International Association of Geodesy (IAG) and the
International Cartographic Association (ICA), which have both in
recent years increased their focus on standardisation activities and
adjusted their structures accordingly, and the International Society
for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS).
C1.8 The World Trade Organisation
In all of the above discussion, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a
very interested party. The WTO, based in Geneva, has more than 130
governments as members, between them accounting for over 90% of world trade.
It is the only international organisation dealing with the global rules of
trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as
smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. It does this through the
creation of trade agreements, which are ratified by members' parliaments.
The result is assurance: consumers and producers know that they can enjoy
secure supplies and greater choice of the finished products, components, raw
materials and services that they use. In addition, producers and exporters
know that foreign markets will remain open to them. The result is, in
theory, a more prosperous, peaceful and accountable economic world.
Decisions of WTO are made by its members, at the highest level in a
Ministerial Conference which meets at least once every two years; decisions
are generally made by consensus (the more cynical would also point to the
role of political horse-trading).
The missions of ISO and WTO point to their needing to co-operate -
standards underpin free trade and they need to work together to achieve
this. This is formalised in the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade
(TBT), which sets out how international standards should be used by
governments to facilitate trade. In practical terms, ISO and WTO jointly
hold workshops such as those on standards in service industries in 1998.
C1.9 Publications
This Guide does not list all of the official and de facto standards which
are of relevance to surveyors - if nothing else, the list would be out of
date by the time it was completed. A few key standards are listed in Section
E of this Guide, along with some sources of further information. The FIG
website will be used to maintain a more current listing of key standards
documents.
C2. Interpreting and promoting published
standards
Standards will inevitably tend to be fairly dry documents, with lengthy
glossaries and definition sections. The ISO figures quoted in section A2
give the average length of a standard (excluding some of the terminology
lists) as nearly 30 pages. It is unlikely that the average person in the
street or even the average professional has read any standards, or is aware
first hand of their requirements.
Much more likely is that people encounter standards through either their
practical manifestations (products created to conform to particular
standards) or through advisers, part of whose role is to interpret
standards. In recent years, a large industry has evolved to interpret the
ISO9000 quality standards for businesses. We have also seen very large
numbers of publications addressing what is a very concise standard of 20
short clauses. This shows both how complex standards can be (or be made - as
with laws, the practical implications often emerge through 'case law'), and
that there is no shortage of interpreters, as long as you are willing to pay
money for their services.
It is also important to note that, in most circumstances, a practitioner
has the choice of whether to follow a particular standard or not. In many
circumstances, a standard's detailed provisions will not be appropriate. One
example of this is the very complex ISO standards which exist on the
calibration and testing of EDM total stations and other surveying equipment
(an additional problem in this area is the number of uncoordinated ISO
standards; FIG is involved in activity to rationalise the situation). The
detailed requirements of the standards may be appropriate for industrial
metrology-type applications, or for the calibration of equipment by
manufacturers and national laboratories, but are almost certainly not
relevant for the average land surveyor to undertake on a regular basis. To
address this, FIG Commission 5 produced FIG Publication No 9 Recommended
procedures for routine checks of electro-optical distance meters (EDM) to
outline the tests that practitioners should carry out on their instruments.
The moral of the above summary is that individual practitioners or firms
should not generally attempt to interpret the implications of an official
standard from first principles. In very many cases (as with de facto
standards), businesses will be able to purchase products certified as
meeting the requirements. This will be of particular relevance where
legislation, for instance health and safety laws, requires certain standards
to be conformed to. In more specific cases, the services of a specialist
adviser may need to be hired, if the implications of failing to meet
requirements will have very significant consequences for the firm (for
instance, possible law suits taken out by clients).
Alternatively, the surveyor's national professional association could be
turned to. Such associations often have technical departments responsible
for interpreting standards for their members, either as part of the
membership subscription or for an additional fee. In turn, they will often
look to international bodies to provide guidance to them, and so FIG and in
particular its Commissions will need to ensure that they are fully aware of
key standards and are able to provide timely guidance to FIG's Member
Associations on necessary activity and priorities. In this way, FIG can
provide a service to its Member Associations, can avoid duplication of
effort at a national level, and will be well-placed to feed back suggestions
for improvement to the relevant standardisation body.
Another role for national and international professional associations is
the pooling of best practice, which may often be ahead of the content of
standards. For instance, many professional institutions produce best
practice material which can be used by all practitioners and clients as a
basis for defining requirements. FIG is keen to spread knowledge of such
documents, developed by individual member associations, throughout its
membership. At an international level, the 1998-2002 work of FIG's Working
Group 3.3 in compiling a HABITAT Best Practice Database is another example
of this type of activity.
This element of FIG's work in standardisation will largely be led by its
Commissions and PIs, appropriately coordinated internally, with Member
Associations and with standardisation bodies. This coordination is vital in
ensuring effectiveness of activity in terms of content and timing.
C3. How FIG can influence the existing
work programme of ISO
Annex A to this Guide provides further information on the operation of
ISO. This section explains how FIG can influence the standardisation process
to best effect; it cross-references to Annex A as necessary.
As explained further in Annex A2, the engine house of ISO is its
Technical Committees (TCs). International organisations such as FIG can gain
Liaison status (this status is explained further in Annex A4) and appoint
individuals as Experts to relevant TCs and thus influence activity. It is
vital, however, that liaison bodies are active - although the Internet is
increasingly being used in the work of developing standards, the bulk of the
decisions are still made when a Working Group of Experts meets in the same
room. This means that FIG must be willing to fund Experts for the necessary
travel, that Experts must have a realistic expectation of being able to
prepare for and attend the meetings, and that FIG must prioritise key TCs
rather than try to spread its budget of cash and Experts too thinly. To
achieve this, the FIG Council, in consultation with other relevant NGOs
representing surveyors, will need to oversee and coordinate the process of
choosing which Experts should be funded for which activities, basing
decisions on the importance to FIG and the surveying profession. The FIG
Standards Network will advise the Council on such decisions.
The ISO TCs to which FIG currently has Class A Liaison status are:
- TC59 Sub-Committee 4 - Dimensional Tolerances and Measurements (Lead:
Jean-Marie Becker);
- TC172 Sub-Committee 6 - Geodetic and Surveying Instruments (Lead:
Jean-Marie Becker); and
- TC211 - Geographic Information/ Geomatics (Lead: Iain Greenway).
Note: TC59 SC4 and TC172 SC6 are currently working
jointly.
C3.1 Gaining Liaison status
Being accepted as a Liaison organisation to a TC requires a formal
request from FIG to the ISO Secretary-General, who will pass the request to
the secretariat of the relevant TC with an instruction that it be voted on
by full members of the TC. ISO will inform FIG of the result. FIG will then
be required to appoint a named lead contact for the TC. This individual will
have the authority, on behalf of FIG, to participate in plenary meetings of
the TC and in Working Groups. In all likelihood, the lead contact will wish
to appoint a number of Experts to the various activities; s/he can also
nominate a representative to attend plenary meetings as necessary. A short
report of activity is normally expected from Liaisons in advance of each
plenary meeting. The TC will also appoint a lead contact from the TC back to
the Liaison organisation. All TCs will periodically review the activeness
(or otherwise) of Liaisons and will request the ISO Central Secretariat to
delete those Liaisons who have been inactive.
Some TCs have developed additional frameworks for working with key
Liaisons - the Open GIS Consortium (OGC), for instance, has signed a
Co-operative Agreement with ISO TC211. For most of FIG's purposes, Liaison
status provides all that is required, but other frameworks should be
considered by the lead contact where necessary.
C3.2 FIG Experts
Experts are the central component in developing standards (further
information on their role and responsibilities can be found in Annex A3).
Much of the contact between Experts will be informal, based on the working
relationships developed and attendance at international conferences etc.
It is vital that Experts know what is expected of them when they are
appointed. The following is an outline of the expectations, which should be
tailored as necessary and communicated by the lead contact when seeking
Experts:
- To have expert knowledge in the field of work;
- To be willing to attend the relevant Working Group and editing
committee meetings [insert an expectation of how many meetings are likely,
and the likely locations and time period], funded by FIG [in setting the
level of funding, FIG will wish to take into account other sources of
funding available to the individual for the activity];
- To consult with the FIG Office and relevant FIG officers (in
particular the relevant Commissions(s)) regularly and fully throughout the
process of developing the standard, both to receive input from others, and
also to ensure that the work of the Commission(s) continues in full
knowledge of relevant standardisation activity; and
- To report [annually] to the lead contact on activity.
It is also vital that each lead contact to a TC remains active, attending
plenary meetings, maintaining email contact with key players in the TC, and
keeping FIG officers and Commissions informed of TC progress or issues. All
lead contacts should therefore report annually to the General Assembly of
FIG, with this reporting being coordinated by the FIG Standards Network.
The Task Force on Standards has taken on the task of maintaining contact,
formally and informally, with the ISO Central Secretariat, to keep them
informed of FIG plans and to understand how FIG can influence ISO activity
to best effect. The FIG Standards Network will take on this role in the
future.
It takes time for individuals to understand the sometimes arcane ISO
processes and language. It is also vital, if Experts are to have the
greatest possible effect and influence, for them to be involved in the
relevant drafting activity from the beginning (FIG's influence, in the
absence of a vote - see Annex A3 for the detailed organisation of the
standardisation process - declines as the drafting process progresses). This
points to the requirement for the lead contact to maintain a list of
possible Experts, with their field of expertise, and the need to maintain
the currency of the list. The relevant Commissions have an important role in
publicising the existence of the list, and in encouraging individuals to
join it. It is also important that the many FIG members who represent their
national standardisation bodies in ISO activity are aware of FIG's
requirements and views, as they can input views to the process without the
need for FIG funding. Particular care will be needed where FIG and national
needs may conflict - the lead contact will need to remain aware of this
possibility and take appropriate action, in consultation with the relevant
Commission officers and delegates and heads of Member Association
delegations to FIG.
C4. How the IVSC works and how FIG can
influence its work programme
The membership of the IVSC comprises national valuation associations
which represent their respective countries (for participation, a country
must be recognised by the UN).
Management of IVSC's affairs is by a Management Board which is composed
of a representative of each full IVSC member and of elected Board members.
The IVSC as a whole meets at least once a year to ratify exposure drafts of
valuation standards and related publications submitted by the Management
Board, to receive the annual report of the Management Board, and to receive
and ratify the financial statements relating to the IVSC.
IVSC's Secretariat is based at its International Bureau in London while
the Financial Bureau is in Canberra. Its operational headquarters are
generally located at the offices of the IVSC Chairman.
International Valuation Standards were first published in 1985 and have
since been amended on a number of occasions. The latest standards (IVS 2000)
are seen by the IVSC as a 'living document' and the intention is to
republish the standards each year. The Management Board 'continuously
engages in the consideration of new and revised Standards, and in Guidance
where appropriate'. The Board actively solicits comments, questions and
suggestions for future editions. The IVS 2000 (the 'white book') at this
stage complements the related regional and national standards, although in
this field we again see a growing importance of international standards to
shape the detailed provisions of national standards, with the future
relative importance of regional standards not being clear.
FIG, through the Commission 9 representative to the Task Force on
Standards, has developed a good working relationship with the IVSC
Secretariat, with the result that the IVSC is now actively encouraging FIG
to become more involved in the process of developing their standards at an
international level. It is intended that this relationship will be developed
onto a more formal footing in the near future.
C5. How FIG member associations can
influence the activity of national standardisation bodies
As explained in section C1.2, national standardisation bodies are
generally partly funded by government. A good deal of their activity will be
taken up with appointing Experts to international standardisation activities
and reviewing developing international standards. Individual FIG members may
be involved in this work, and it is indeed important for FIG's influence
that it inputs at both national and international level.
This is an important role for national delegates to FIG Commissions, who
should be made aware of current standardisation activity of relevance to
their Commission, and should seek out the relevant contacts in their
national body. National standardisation bodies will often set up committees
shadowing the work of each ISO TC. The leader of each committee will
normally be a specialist in the field, although also someone with a
knowledge of how national and international standardisation activity works.
It is important that the FIG delegate finds out who this person is, and
works with them to gain maximum influence for practising surveyors. The
nature of this interchange will vary between situations, but the delegate
should certainly provide information on the size of FIG's membership, the
breadth of its work, and its links with key international bodies like the
UN, the WTO and ISO in particular. S/he should include information on FIG
activity in ISO TCs. A repository of such information, maintained so as to
be current, needs to be easily available to FIG delegates; it will be
maintained on the FIG web site, with the FIG Standards Network being
responsible for its maintenance.
Influence at a national level is crucial if FIG is to achieve as much as
possible with its limited budget for standardisation activities. National
activity will generally involve limited travelling expenses, and can double
up with the necessary activities of the member association in influencing
standardisation activities. As mentioned in section C3.2, it will be
important to recognise any potential conflicts between FIG and national
positions, and to take full account of these when determining whether
doubling up is appropriate.
It is clear that, at present, FIG is insufficiently linked into this
national aspect of activity. A number of elements need to come together to
correct this:
- FIG Member Associations need to be made more aware of FIG's activities
in standardisation. The lead responsibility here rests with heads of
delegations to the FIG General Assembly, to communicate with the relevant
officers and members of their Member Association;
- National delegates to FIG's Commissions need to be aware of the
particular areas of standardisation activity which could affect them; the
role here is for FIG Commission officers, both explicitly through their
work programmes, and on an ongoing basis in their newsletters and other
communications;
- Similarly, Member Associations need to provide information to FIG's
Commissions and the FIG Standards Network as to relevant national
standardisation activity, so that FIG can support the Member Association
in influencing this activity;
- A bank of information should be maintained centrally by FIG, to be
called on by delegates; this is the responsibility of the FIG Standards
Network.
C6. How FIG can propose new work areas for
international standardisation
This section of the Guide concentrates on ISO, given the relative
complexity of ISO's operations and procedures; submitting suggestions to
IVSC is a considerably more straightforward process.
Section C1.1 has explained how the work of ISO grew out of manufacturing.
It is therefore of no surprise that the activities of the technical
commissions of FIG (5 and 6 in particular) are well-covered by ISO
standards, even if these at times are out of date or don't allow for new
technology. Recent work around the world on national and global spatial data
infrastructures has catalysed ISO work (particularly in its TC211) in the
area covered by FIG Commission 3 but has left open the possibility that such
infrastructures will be adversely impacted by standards. FIG Commission 4
has a particular link with the IHB, the secretariat of the IHO, which sets
international standards on hydrography and nautical charting. Commissions 1
and 2 have a more general interest in professional standards (ISO 9000, for
instance), where FIG's influence is likely to be very limited.
Some of FIG's other Commissions, however, are less well covered by ISO
activity. As explained by sections C1.3 and C4, Commission 9 will have more
interest in the work of IVSC, but Commissions 7 and 8 and the Ad Hoc
Commission on Construction Economics (in conjunction with ICEC's work on
best practice) may well be working in areas where there are not
international standards, and where the Commissions believe that there should
be.
ISO is open to the submission of documents by Liaison bodies (see Annex
A4 for further information on ISO and Liaison status) for 'fast-tracking' to
become international standards, as it recognises that the General Agreements
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and on Trade in Services (GATS) require
standardisation in other areas. Fast-tracking is the process of taking a
document developed by others and introducing it partway through the normal
process of creating an ISO standard, thus reducing the time taken by the
creation process (see also Annex A5 for further information on these
publications).
Formal submission of a document for fast-tracking to become a standard is
by letter to the Secretary-General of ISO (see Appendix B for an example).
The document is then considered by ISO's Technical Management Board and
other ISO groups as appropriate, and a decision is conveyed back to the
Liaison submitting the proposal. A document accepted for fast-tracking will
be assigned to an ISO TC or coordinating group (if no TC covers the area)
and will enter the standardisation process as a Draft International Standard
(see Annex A3 and A5 for further details of the standardisation process),
thus removing many of the stages of the process. The format of the document
to fit the requirements of ISO (as set out in its Directives Part 3 - see
the ISO web site for details) is not mandatory at this stage, but
reformatting will be required before the completion of the review process. A
key lesson of FIG's work to date on fast-tracking has been that documents
created by FIG's Commissions and Permanent Institutions need to take into
account the requirements of ISO at an early stage of their development,
rather than attempting rewriting/ reformatting at a late stage.
To date, as no FIG document has been accepted for fast-tracking, it is
not possible in the Guide to set out the detailed procedures or any further
guidance on how to work to best effect; such information will be added as it
becomes available.
There are also less formal routes, through FIG's contacts at ISO Central
Secretariat and Technical Committee levels, to share FIG's developing
documents and thinking with ISO, and to discuss possible collaboration and
joint activity.
D. Summary of roles within FIG
This Guide has outlined the working of standardisation bodies, and what
FIG needs to do to influence standardisation activities effectively. This
section summarises the responsibilities of particular FIG bodies and office
holders.
D1. Council
- Ensuring that Commission, Task Force and Permanent Institution
activity is coordinated with standardisation activity within FIG and
beyond - this is of particular relevance as workplans are compiled
- Determining the level of annual funding for standardisation activities
and the relative priorities of the different strands of activity
- Maintaining a profile within FIG for standardisation activity
- Ensuring that standardisation activity is covered as appropriate in
MOUs and other links with other NGOs
- Advising the General Assembly of how standardisation activities within
FIG should best be coordinated on an ongoing basis
D2. Standards Network
- Building and maintaining relations with the secretariats of
standardisation bodies
- Proposing priorities on FIG's standardisation activities, including
advising the Council on priorities for spending
- Setting up necessary Liaison relationships with standardisation bodies
- Ensuring that lead contacts to Technical Committees etc are in place
- Maintaining an information flow on standardisation to FIG members,
including through the FIG website and FIG Bulletin, and more directly to
relevant Commission Officers
- Maintaining this Guide, and related material on the FIG website
- Working with other NGOs, within the framework of the MOUs signed by
the Council
- Advising FIG's officers and members on standardisation activities as
necessary
D3. Commission and Permanent Institution
(PI) officers
- Ensuring that Commission/ PI workplans are appropriately linked with
standardisation activities
- Publicising and explaining relevant standardisation work in
newsletters etc
- Preparing advisory and explanatory material on published standards
within their field of specialisation
- Maintaining lists of possible Experts to Technical Committees of
standardisation bodies
- Discussing possible Commission/ PI work and outputs with the Standards
Network before proceeding
- Providing a named individual as member of the Standards Network
D4. Commission/PI members to the Standards
Network
- Reporting regularly, in both directions, on the work of the
Commission/PI and Network to ensure appropriate coordination
- Ensuring that Commission/PI work takes due account of standardisation
activities
- Ensuring that the Commission/PI is represented at meetings of the
Network
- Ensuring that standardisation work is reported on in Commission
newsletters etc
D5. Heads of Member Association
delegations to FIG
- Reporting back to Member Associations on relevant standardisation
activity
- Ensuring that the Member Association makes the necessary links with
relevant national standardisation activities (including the national
delegations to international standardisation activities) and describes FIG
and its work to them
- Reporting on national standardisation activity to FIG's Commissions
and the Standards Network, and seeking necessary FIG support in
influencing that activity
- Sharing explanatory material created by the Member Association, with
FIG
- Alerting FIG as to the level of knowledge amongst individual members
of standards and standardisation activity, and advising on what
informative and explanatory material is required
D6. National delegates to Commissions
- Maintaining contact with relevant individuals in their country who are
involved with national and international standardisation activities
- Seeking out possible FIG Experts to standardisation activities (using,
where possible, individuals who are already involved in the processes)
D7. FIG lead contacts to Technical
Committees of standardisation bodies
- Submitting Liaison reports to the Technical Committee as required
- Submitting FIG material to the Committee for fast-tracking as
appropriate, under the guidance of the Standards Network
- Laying down Terms of Reference for FIG Experts to the Committee,
finding relevant Experts, and managing their activity
- Ensuring that relevant FIG officers are kept informed of Committee
progress, to allow dovetailing of activities
- Reporting as necessary to the General Assembly, via the Chair of the
Standards Network, at least once a year
E. Further sources of information
A wide variety of further information with regard to standards is
available, with the World Wide Web the key repository. This section
generally confines itself to pointing to other web sites, recognising the
speed with which information can change.
E1. International standardisation bodies
ISO has a comprehensive web site at
www.iso.org
the site includes:
- A listing of all Technical Committees with their scope, working groups
and national membership
- A listing of all national standardisation bodies (with direct links to
their web sites)
- A large amount of material on the ISO 9000 and 14000 series of
standards
- Further details of Technical Committees, including their business
plans, via the 'members' part of the site (part of which is password
protected)
ISO's postal address can be found on the letters at Appendices A and B to
this Guide.
IEC's web site is at www.iec.ch
IVSC's web site is at www.ivsc.org.
The site is small but contains a range of relevant information on
organisation, officers and publications. IVSC's postal address is 12 Great
George Street, London SW1P 3AD, UK.
The IMO's web site is at www.imo.org
IHO's web site is at
www.iho.shom.fr; the postal address of the IHB is 4 Quai Antoine 1er
BP445, MC98011 Monaco Cedex, Principality of Monaco. The website includes
the S57 transfer standard in the list of publications but does not give any
details of the content of the standard.
E2. Regional standardisation bodies
CEN's web site is at www.cenorm.be
PASC's web site is at
www.pascnet.org. It contains a range of information on the organisation
and its member bodies.
TEGoVA's web site is at
www.tegova.org
NATO's web site is at www.nato.int.
There is limited information on STANAGs. The Digital Geographic Information
Working Group (DGIWG) can be found separately at
www.digest.org, along with full information on the DIGEST standard.
E3. Other international bodies
All of the organisations listed in Section C1.7 have web sites, with
addresses as follows:
E4. Key ISO TCs and standards
ISO TC211 (Geographic Information/ Geomatics) has a comprehensive
web site at www.isotc211.org. The site
includes the current version of the TC's work plan, encompassing a list of
all proposed standards and their current state of development. The scope of
the TC is stated as 'standardisation in the field of digital geographic
information' with the aim of 'establishing a structured set of
standards for information concerning objects or phenomena that are directly
or indirectly associated with a location relative to the earth.' The
stated objectives of the TC are to:
- Increase the understanding and usage of geographic information;
- Increase the availability, access, integration and sharing of
geographic information;
- Promote the efficient, effective and economic use of digital
geographic information and associated hardware and software systems; and
- Contribute to a unified approach to addressing global ecological and
humanitarian problems.
ISO TC172 SC6 (Geodetic and surveying instruments) does not have
currently have an independent web site but some information on the committee
can be found at the main ISO site. The scope of the SC is stated as
'standardisation of terminology, requirements and test methods for geodetic
and surveying instruments, their components and accessories'. The SC is
currently working on a series of standards numbered 17123, with sub-parts
dealing with types of instruments (levels, theodolites, EDM, etc).
Annex A: How ISO Works
This Guide has set out the central importance of ISO in standardisation
activity. This Annex provides important background information and a guide
to the terminology used, so that FIG officers and members can have
confidence in their approaches to ISO. The bulk of the material in this
section is drawn from the ISO Directives, which are available from ISO's web
site (www.iso.org), and are presented here
in a condensed and (hopefully) digestible form for a lay reader.
1. Technical Management Board
ISO is governed by a General Assembly of its member associations. This is
supported by a Central Secretariat of about 150 permanent staff based in
Geneva. The management of ISO's technical work is the responsibility of its
Technical Management Board (TMB). The terms of reference and remit of the
TMB include:
- Establishing Technical Committees and appointing their chairs and
secretariats;
- Approving the scope and programmes of work of the Technical
Committees;
- Ratifying the establishment of sub-committees by Technical Committees;
- Coordinating the overall technical programme, looking across Technical
Committees;
- Monitoring the progress of technical work; and
- Reviewing the need for work in new fields.
2. Technical Committees
The engine house of ISO is its 218 Technical Committees. These are
created, overseen and (where and when necessary) disbanded by the TMB. The
TMB decides which country (national standardisation body) will supply the
secretariat of each TC, and the secretariat nominates a Chairman who is
appointed by the TMB. The TC's scoping statement, a key document which
defines (and, by implication, limits) its field of interest, is approved by
the TMB. ISO is currently trying to categorise its TCs into sectoral
groupings, to ease the coordination process.
The members of each TC are the national standardisation bodies. For each
TC, each national body will choose whether it wishes to be a voting (P)
member, an observer (O), or not to participate. This will be a balance
between the costs of being a member (in terms of the fees payable, but more
particularly in terms of the time and costs of being involved in the work)
and the benefits in being involved as the documents are created.
3. The process of creating a standard
Working within its scope and under the overall management of the TMB,
each Technical Committee will determine a work programme for the production
(or revision) of the required standards and will set up Working Groups and
Sub-Committees as necessary. This programme is communicated to the TMB and
certain time limits exist (in particular, three years for completion of
various stages of the work) which can only be over-ridden with the agreement
of the TMB.
New items of work are added to the programme for a TC (subject to its
scope) through a vote by P-members. Success in such a vote requires both a
majority of votes being in favour, and at least 5 P-members being willing to
provide an Expert (a term used by ISO to signify individuals appointed by
national standardisation bodies to create the content of an international
standard) to be involved in the process. As part of ISO's strategic intent
to become more responsive to the market, new work items will probably in
future be subject to a business case review of costs and benefits before
they are accepted.
The process of developing or revising standards moves through the
following stages:
- Acceptance of the project as a work item by the TC;
- The creation of a Committee Draft (for consideration by the members of
the TC) by Experts in the field under the leadership of a Project Leader
appointed by the TC (this may require moving through a number of Working
Drafts developed and reviewed by the Experts);
- The commenting and voting on this Committee Draft by the P members of
the TC (again, this stage may take several drafts, until consensus -
general agreement - is reached; the group of Experts will act as an
Editing Committee to resolve the comments received);
- The formal voting and commenting ('enquiry') by all national member
bodies within ISO on the Draft International Standard (DIS) which results
from the TC review of the Committee Draft - at this stage, two thirds of
votes must be positive and no more than one quarter negative. Comments may
accompany the votes, and the Chairman of the TC is responsible for
attempting to reconcile as many of the comments as possible;
- The formal approval of the Final Draft International Standard (FDIS)
resulting from the 'enquiry' stage by all national bodies within ISO; the
approval criteria are as in the vote on the DIS;
- The publication of the document as an International Standard (after
correcting any textual errors found in the FDIS stage).
A key element in this process is the requirement for consensus to be
reached before the document can move to each successive stage - this
inevitably increases the time required for a document to progress through to
a published standard. This lapse time leaves open the possibility that key
players will have created their own de facto standards before the official
standard is published. The use of fast-tracking of documents (see also
Section C6) created by other organisations significantly shortens the
development process, as such documents enter at the DIS stage.
To assist in the process of developing and finalising International
Standards, Working Groups of Experts will meet as necessary (but will
conduct much of their business by email); and TCs will normally meet in
Plenary Session (for formal business) periodically (often every 6 months
during active development of material). All members of the TC are entitled
to attend Plenary Meetings.
4. Liaison bodies
To ensure the usability and acceptability of published standards,
international bodies can be involved in the work of the TCs in addition to
national standardisation bodies. These other bodies can gain Liaison status
to TCs. Before this can be achieved, they must be registered with the ISO
Central Secretariat; approximately 550 such bodies (including FIG) are
currently registered. Any organisation on the list can then apply for
Liaison status to a particular TC, with the P-members of the TC voting on
the proposal and a majority of votes in favour being sufficient for approval
of Liaison status. Organisations can apply for Category A Liaison (full
involvement) or Category B (wish to be kept informed by being sent copies of
reports etc). A sample letter for such an application can be found at
Appendix A. Once approved as a Class A Liaison to a TC, the organisation has
the full rights of any other member to participate in working groups and
other TC meetings, and to comment on documents, but not to vote.
As you might expect, the really key players in the development of a
standard are those Experts drafting and editing the document - it is here
that most of the document text is created, defended and changed. Liaison
bodies who are able to provide Experts who have the time and resources to be
involved in the meetings can therefore have a profound impact on the
development of standards. Those Liaisons who do not take an active interest
and involvement in the work will have little impact on the process. This is
a far more important factor than Liaison bodies not having votes.
5. Other publications
ISO has recognised the need to balance the time required to achieve
consensus and develop a full ISO standard with the speed at which technology
develops. In doing so, it has had to take account of the number of
international documents which were becoming de facto standards. ISO
therefore decided in the late 1990s to develop streamlined procedures which
can be used at the discretion of Technical Committees (within certain
procedural constraints) when speed of standardisation is a paramount
consideration. The new outputs are as follows:
- ISO Publicly Available Specification (PAS) - in essence the first
Committee Draft stage described in Section 3 of this Annex. A PAS will not
have proceeded through the TC stages of harmonising the Committee Draft,
but will represent the consensus of the group of Experts; and
- ISO Technical Specification (TS) - in essence the Draft International
Standard described in Section 3 of this Annex, before the 'enquiry' stage
when it is reviewed and voted on by all ISO national member bodies.
These are also the stages at which documents developed outside ISO can
enter the ISO system (Section C6 of this Guide also refers). PAS and TS
documents must be reviewed by the TC every three years and, at the second
such review, must either be withdrawn or revised to become full ISO
international standards. These arrangements allow early publication of ISO
documents to meet market requirements, and also allow wide comment prior to
the creation of a full international standard (something which may be
particularly relevant in an immature market).
In other cases, the TC may feel that research and investigation, which
should be published, is required before even a PAS can be created and
published. In such instances, the TC needs to gain agreement from ISO's TMB
for such activity, and the publication will be an ISO Technical Report which
is purely informative. The detailed procedures for completing and approving
Technical Reports vary slightly from standards, but the principle of
consensus continues to apply.
Note that, until the late 1990s, there were three types of ISO technical
reports. The previous types 1 and 2 no longer apply - they have been
subsumed by PAS and TS. The old Type 3 report is the sole category of
Technical Report remaining.
In parallel with these formal processes, ISO also on occasions holds
workshops on particular topics; the outcome of these workshops might be an
Industry Technical Agreement (which may contain decisions to create certain
standards).
6. Reviews
ISO is becoming increasingly aware of the large number of standards in
print, and that there have not been particularly stringent checks on the
currency or degree of use of the documents. All standards are therefore
required to be reviewed by the relevant TC every 5 years and a vote taken as
to whether the standard should be confirmed, revised or withdrawn. If a
standard is in use in a very limited number of countries, ISO can take the
decision that its revision as an International Standard is not a priority
activity. ISO is currently attempting to make a stronger linkage between
positive votes for the approval of a standard by a national body, and the
national body promoting the use of the standard.
A - Sample letter applying for
Liaison status
July 1999
Dr Lawrence Eicher
Secretary General, ISO
1 Rue de Varembe
CH-1211 Geneve 20
SWITZERLAND
Dear Dr Eicher
FIG Liaisons to ISO TCs
I write to request Class A liaison status for FIG to ISO TC172 SC6.
FIG (the International Federation of Surveyors) is a federation of
national survey associations, currently consisting of nearly 80 full member
associations from approximately 60 countries; additional countries are
represented by observer and correspondent members, meaning that over 100
countries are represented altogether. Between them, the member associations
represent 230,000 surveyors around the world. I attach a general information
leaflet about FIG, explaining our constitution and so on. I also attach a
copy of our last annual review which gives an overview of the wide range of
work in which we are currently involved.
In its work, FIG has close contacts with many other international NGOs,
and is for instance working at present on building further our links with UN
bodies. Another task force, which I chair, has been coordinating our efforts
in the area of standards (including but not limited to those of ISO), and we
are active liaison members of ISO TC211. We also hold liaison status to TC59
SC4; in this and TC172 SC6, we have been actively represented for some years
by Professor Jean-Marie Becker in his guise as a delegate from Sweden. I
hope that this provides you with sufficient information to process our
application for liaison status to TC172 SC6.
Many thanks for your assistance in this matter; I look forward to hearing
further news of our application.
Yours sincerely
Iain Greenway
Chair, FIG Task Force on Standards
B - Sample letter submitting a
document for fast-tracking
July 2000
Dr Lawrence Eicher
Secretary General, ISO
1 Rue de Varembe
CH-1211 Geneve 20
SWITZERLAND
Dear Dr Eicher
The FIG Statement on the Cadastre
I wish to submit the FIG Statement on the Cadastre for fast-tracking into
an ISO International Standard. The Statement is, as best we can see, a gap
in the coverage of current ISO material and Technical Committees. It
represents the work of a number of leading experts in the cadastral field,
and defines and advises what national governments and professionals (mainly
surveyors, although the document could be expanded to cover other
professions) need to do to establish a good cadastre. National and
international development requires such a solid base, as confidence in land
ownership is crucial for development. We have made some attempts to
structure the document as required by Part 3 of the ISO Directives, although
we have not been rigorous about the process at this stage.
There are no copyrights which will be infringed by the adoption of the
Statement as an ISO Standard - ISO is free to copy, duplicate and/or
distribute it at will. Neither are there any patents that might be infringed
by implementation of the Statement as an ISO Standard.
If you require any further supporting documentation, please contact me. I
am also very happy to meet with ISO staff, if you think that this would be
helpful. I have provided an electronic version of the attached Statement
directly to Keith Brannon by email.
Yours sincerely
Iain Greenway
Chair, FIG Task Force on Standards
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