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 comment on an ISO new work item proposal focused on glass clarity by April 27, 2018.
There is a growing worldwide market for clear and ultra-clear glass products for tableware, giftware, jewelry, luminaries, and other products. Therefore, an International Standard providing a generic definition and a classification of glass clarity can enable precise product characterization and facilitate commercial exchanges through transparency of information.
The new work item proposal, submitted by AFNOR, the Organization of the French Standardization System, explains that a proposed International Standard will establish requirements for the use of the designations "clear glass" and "ultra-clear glass" for non-colored glass according to their clarity and iron content. The standard will specify a procedure for measuring the clarity of glass items by means of a spectrophotometer, which includes a spectrometer for producing light of any selected color (wavelength), and a photometer for measuring the intensity of light.
The standard will cover:
Mineral glass, and
Glass in items where the glass component is not covered by coating or decoration, and is therefore accessible for sampling.
While the scope of this International Standard includes glass used as tableware, giftware, jewelry and luminaries, it excludes glass used in construction work, containers, medicine and laboratories, or in other types of technical applications.
All interested U.S. parties are invited to review the proposal, which includes an initial proposed work plan as well as information on how it may relate to existing international standardization work as well as relevant stakeholders and organizations.
Please submit comments to Steve Cornish, ANSI senior director of international policy [email protected], by close of business on April 27, 2018. 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 of June 6, 2018.
ANSI has published an explanatory information document outlining the process used to develop U.S. positions on issues and activities under consideration by ISO and IEC.