The UK actively contributes at many stages of the development of international standards within the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and the Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN). CEN is developing a new series of standards in support of the European Single Market and EC Directives. Technical committees are working at most levels, from major installations to material specification and testing. This is occurring at a time when there is a demand for increased testing efficiency with concurrent reductions in the associated cost. For composite materials, there is initially a need to harmonise and then validate the many existing versions of established test methods. In the longer term, research on test methods as supported by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and that undertaken under the VAMAS (Versailles Agreement on Advanced Materials and Standards) international pre-standards programme, should aim to reduce the timescale for standardisation. Validation of test methods, which due to the legal position of CEN standards within the single market is particularly essential, must be considered at an early stage.

The NPL standards selector allows structured guidance to find the correct standard test method, with supporting information on scope, use, alternative standards, and related information. Click here to access the tool.