BSI and UK Policy and Position in General

The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the national standards body of the United Kingdom (UK), constituted by Royal Charter to co-ordinate the efforts of producers and users to set up standards, including their preparation and promotion. BSI is a founder member of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN). Also of IEC and CENELEC for electro-technical fields.

A British Standard, BS 0-1:1997 "A standard for standards - Part 1: Guide to the context, aims and general principles" gives further information.

BSI has policies and procedures for implementing international standards published by ISO, IEC, CEN etc.. The general policy and obligations throughout all sectors of BSI are given in BS 0-2:1997, (Part 2) clause 8 and Table 1. This information note focuses on the implementation of standards published by ISO and CEN, which may be summarised as follows:

• An ISO Standard may be considered for implementation as a British Standard (ref. BS 0-2 cl. 8.8). If the text is adopted in whole and without modification, it is implemented as a ‘BS ISO’ Standard, and the ISO number for the standard is retained. Any existing BS having the same scope must be withdrawn.

• A European Standard, such as from CEN, must be adopted in full and without modification (ref. BS 0-2 cl. 8.9). It is not permissible to alter the text. It is implemented as a ‘BS EN’ Standard, and the EN number for the standard is retained. With limited exceptions on legislative grounds (e.g. national Health and Safety), this obligation applies even where the UK has voted against the EN in CEN. Any existing BS or ‘BS ISO’ with the same scope must be withdrawn.

Note that one of the aims of CEN is promotion of uniform implementation of ISO Standards by CEN members (ref. CEN Internal Regulations Part 1A clause 1). In the preparation of European Standards, the objective is to implement and, if necessary, complement the ISO work (ref. CEN Internal Regulations Part 2, clause 4.1.1). Unmodified ISO Standards are implemented as ‘EN ISO’ Standards, and the ISO number for the standard is retained. Therefore, when implemented in the UK, these are published as ‘BS EN ISO’ Standards.

British Standard BS 0-3:1997 "A standard for standards - Part 3: Specification for structure, drafting and presentation" provides information and guidance on what to do, including for a British Standard that is identical with an international standard and for a British Standard that is the official UK adoption of a European standard.

BS, ‘BS ISO’, ‘BS EN’ and ‘BS EN ISO’ Standards have equal status as full British Standards.

The trend is towards having more ‘BS EN’ and ‘BS EN ISO’ Standards. Of the 1607 new and revised British Standards published in 1997, 89% were derived from international and/or European sources.

BSI PSE/17 Policy and Position

PSE/17

PSE/17 is the acronym for the BSI Committee that is the national mirror committee (the UK equivalent of the US TAG) for ISO/TC67. PSE/17 is also the UK mirror committee for the European Standards committee CEN/TC12, that has essentially the same scope as ISO/TC67. PSE/17 is responsible for recommending the implementation of ISO and EN Standards in the UK that are within its scope.

The members of PSE/17 share the goal to establish a set of British international standards that will assist British industry in being competitive in the UK, in Europe and throughout the world. The work programme of PSE/17 currently comprises ISO Standards and the CEN Standards to be based on them. PSE/17 is also responsible for BS 8010, the Pipelines code that is used worldwide and is used by regulatory bodies in the UK.

PSE/17 Implementation Policy

PSE/17’s policy with regard to implementing the ISO and CEN Standards within PSE/17’s scope is as follows:

PSE/17 is obliged to recommend adoption of the full text of any EN or ‘EN ISO’ Standard, without alteration. The published ‘BS EN’ or ‘BS EN ISO’ Standard will retain the EN number.

Any ISO Standard that is not adopted as a European standard will be assessed with respect to UK implementation. The preference will be to recommend adoption of the full text without alteration, for publication as ‘BS ISO’ Standard and retaining the ISO number.

One consequence of national adoption is that PSE/17 is required by BSI Bye-Laws to act as a standing committee to which any questions may be referred. Technical enquiries to BSI are therefore directed to the PSE/17 secretary. For BSs that are adopted from international or European standards, the advice is that the enquiry should be forwarded to the appropriate standards organisation. For further details, see BS 0-2 cl. 9.6.

National Foreword/National Annex for Identical International Standards

BS 0-3 cl. 11.1 states that the publication of a national standard that is identical with an international standard or is the official UK adoption of a European standard shall be effected by the reproduction of the international or European text with the addition of a national cover, national foreword and, if necessary, national annexes. These national elements shall not introduce any changes to the provisions of the international or European standard, by either statement or implication.

The standard wording for the national foreword is defined in BS 0-3 Annex B. The wording is required to identify the responsible BSI committee, to guide users in finding the BS implementations of referenced documents, and to identify any BSs withdrawn as a result of being superseded. Exceptionally, further information may be included after the standard wording. Such further information might include any problems in preparation, e.g. matters omitted because agreement could not be reached; reference to conformity attestation; hazard warnings; note of HSE (UK Health and Safety Executive) commendation; reference to national annex if present (ref. BS 0-3 cl. 6.4.5.4).

If there is a substantial quantity of additional informative material, it shall be given in an informative national annex that is developed by the responsible BSI committee. A national annex shall not alter the provisions of the standard, but may give certain information facilitating the use of the standard in the UK. In particular, if the standard specifies a range of values or options e.g. a series of sizes, an informative national annex may be used to give preferred values for use in the UK selected from the range. The selection shall not alter the standard or place a restriction on its use but shall simply give guidance. If the standard is expressed in general terms only, the informative national annex may give details of something specific in order to provide an example of one way of complying with the requirements of the standard. (ref. BS 0-3 cl. 11.3).

It is therefore important that UK experts in ISO and CEN ensure that the international and/or European standard includes values and options that cover the ranges and circumstances of application in the UK. This will then permit advice to be given in the informative national annex however the preference is to avoid the need for national annexes.

PSE/17 Process

At the DIS or prEN circulation stage (this is when the draft for public comment is circulated), PSE/17 will also request the views of the public on the suitability for national implementation and on any perceived requirements for further national information (national foreword or national annex). PSE/17 will consider this when completing the UK DIS comments for ISO.

At the FDIS or final EN ballot stage (this is when the final draft is offered for a "Yes" or "No" vote), any draft UK further national information shall also be circulated to the relevant PSE/17 committee or subcommittee. The final national text shall be approved and sent to BSI at the same time as the FDIS and/or EN vote is sent to ISO and/or CEN. When BSI receive confirmation of a positive result, BSI will initiate the publication process. When the published ISO or EN text is received, BSI will add the further national information already provided and will publish the 'BS ISO' (if UK vote was positive), 'BS EN' or 'BS EN ISO' without delay.

Any European Standards, including any European Standard implementing an ISO Standard, must be implemented as a BS if it passes ballot, regardless of the UK's own vote.

For an ISO Standard not on the European programme PSE/17 presumes, unless notified otherwise by the relevant BSI committee/subcommittee chairman, that where the UK has voted approval at the FDIS stage, the ISO Standard will be implemented as 'BS ISO'. See below for further alternatives that may be considered in exceptional circumstances.

Approval for UK implementation, together with approval of any further national information, shall be by the responsible subcommittee chairman in consultation, inter alia, with the chairman of PSE/17.

Process in relation to existing British Standards

When the international and/or European standard is implemented as a BS, any existing British Standard shall be withdrawn or revised.

If the scopes are the same, the BS is superseded and must be withdrawn. Normally this is immediate, however if there is a full package of international and/or European standards for a subject, withdrawal of individual BSs may be delayed until the full package of international and/or European standards is available. If so, this fact together with a list of the full package of standards shall be included in the national Foreword of the BS implementation of the new international and/or European standard.

If the international and/or European standard replaces only part of a British Standard, the situation is more complex. Two common situations are as follows:

The scope of the British Standard may include aspects not covered in the international and/or European standard - for example, the existing BS may include design, construction and operation where the international and/or European standard may include only design and construction.

The scope of the British Standard may include applications not covered in the international and/or European standard - for example, the new international and/or European standard may cover only the petroleum and natural gas industry whereas the existing BS may include, both in scope and in technical requirements, other industry applications e.g. industrial gases.

In such cases, the British Standard must be revised and published to exclude those aspects that are within the new BS implementing the international and/or European standard. There is also the option to publish the ISO or EN text as ‘Part 1’ of the BS, and to develop a ‘Part 2’ however PSE/17 discourages this because the ISO or EN number can not be retained. Further advice may be found in BS 0-2 cl. 8.8.3.

Further Alternatives: for Implementing ISO Standards that are not ENs

For ISO Standards that are not adopted in Europe, and that are useful but not wholly acceptable in the opinion of the responsible BSI committee, the BSI system permits technical changes to be made to the ISO Standard. However it must then be published with a new ‘BS’ number and there are no restrictions on changes to scope and content. It is the intention of PSE/17 that this approach is not used, because PSE/17’s objective is to facilitate full UK participation in all relevant ISO working groups in order to ensure that UK requirements are included at ISO level. The presumption here is that there should be no unique UK requirements, the industry is global and ‘UK requirements’ are, in essence, applicable anywhere worldwide in similar circumstances but are identified by UK experts arising from particular experiences and environment.

A final option is that the ISO Standard may be judged not suitable and be not implemented in the UK. Such an ISO Standard may nevertheless be purchased, as an ISO Standard, from BSI Sales & Customer Services. Further advice may be found in BS 0-2 cl. 8.8.4 and 8.8.5.

Standards from IEC and CENELEC

General procedures and options for IEC and CENELEC standards are similar. The work programme of BSI PSE/17 does not include standards from these organisations.

Further Considerations in favour of National Implementation of ISO Standards

1. ISO intend to measure the success of an ISO Standard by counting the number of national implementations. This will also influence the TMB decision to agree to future revisions. All ISO Members are therefore encouraged to implement acceptable ISO Standards as national standards.

2. By implementing ISO Standards as ‘BS ISO’ there is clarity as to which ISO Standards have had active UK participation and are endorsed by the competent BSI committee, and are therefore recommended for worldwide use.

3. BSI now handle ISO and CEN standards electronically, and use ‘printing on demand’, thus minimising both delay and additional cost for BSI in publishing a ‘BS ISO’ standard.