As the U.S. member body to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) encourages its members and relevant stakeholders to submit comments by Friday, August 30, 2019, on a proposed new ISO work item focused on natural and engineered stones.
UNI, the standards body for Italy, submitted the proposal to ISO, which indicates that the first priority for the work of the technical committee to focus on this area will be the development of product specifications for both natural and engineered stones and several supporting standards on test methods to assess their performances. While these products have a worldwide distribution, there are no common ISO standards available at the time being.
According to the scope statement, the proposed new committee would focus on:
- Definitions, requirements, and test methods for natural stones relating to rough blocks, slabs, semi-finished and finished products that are intended for use in building
- The aforementioned definitions and requirements related to monuments and engineered stones for resin or cement binders or a combination of the twointended for use in countertops and vanities, floor and wall coverings, ancillary uses, for interior(s) and exterior(s)
All interested U.S. parties are invited to review the proposal, which includes information on how it relates to existing international standardization work, as well as relevant stakeholders and organizations.
Please submit comments to Steven Cornish, ANSI senior director of international policy and strategy, at [email protected] by close of business on Friday, August 30, 2019. Based on the input received from U.S. stakeholders, a recommended ANSI position and any comments will be developed and presented to the ANSI ISO Committee (AIC) for approval before the ISO voting deadline on October 2, 2019.
ANSI has published an explanatory information document that outlines the process used to develop U.S. positions on issues and activities under consideration by ISO and IEC.