Composites UK Standards Activites

New report: Standards strategy for light weighting in transport – public report

Industry membership of standards committees is through your trade association and we work with several members in this way on relevant committees to ensure proper representation for the industry:

BSI Committees

PRI/42: Fibre reinforced thermosetting plastics and prepregs
Geraint Havard, R-Tech Materials Ltd and Chris Worrall, TWI Ltd

FSH/2, the National committee for fire extinguishers
Andrew Spence, Britannia Fire Ltd

FSH/21 – Reaction to fire tests
Position vacant

FSH/22 Fire resistance tests
Tom Royle, Wizz Consultancy Ltd

B/525: UK committee for Structural Eurocodes: Building and civil engineering structures
B/525/10 Bridges
James Henderson, Atkins Ltd

PSE/17 Materials and equipment for petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries
Peter Mellersh, Advanced Insulation Systems Ltd

B/505/4/1 (responsible for feeding into the CEN/TC 165 working group that covers the EN 124 suite of standards
Finn McCrory, Cubis Industries

B/505/4/2 (revision of BS 7903 – Guide to selection and use of gully tops and manhole covers for installation within the highway)
Vincent Cooper, Product Manager for Composites & Plastics at EJ UK Fabrication and Access Solutions Ltd 

B/509/50 Street lighting Columns
John Hartley, Exel Composites

PEL/21 – Secondary cells and batteries
PEL/69 – Electric vehicles
Nick Smith, SHD Composite Materials Ltd


European and International Committees

EN124: Gully tops and manhole covers for vehicle and pedestrian areas
Andrew Pollard, University of Wolverhampton / Julia McDaid, Cubis Industries

ISO/TC 67/WG10: Materials, equipment and offshore structures for petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries
Peter Mellersh, Advanced Insulation Systems Ltd

PAS 23816: Composite Flywheels

AS/EN 9100: Aerospace Qulaity Management System

To find out how to become involved with a standard relevant to your product contact the office.


Impact of the EU referendum

Following the triggering of Article 50, BSI will continue to help organizations achieve their goals as we have done for the past 116 years. 

For BSI it is business as usual, BSI will remain a full member and influential participant in the single European Standards system as well as an EU Notified Body. BSI will continue to play an important role in helping both British and overseas firms demonstrate product conformity. 

As negotiations progress and our discussions with the UK government and other relevant authorities evolve, we will continue to keep you informed on progress on both this page and other communications

Below is an explanation of how this affects the different roles of the National Standards Body:

National Level

BSI will continue to develop and publish British Standards. No changes are anticipated to our activity in this area.

European Level

BSI maintains the UK membership of the three European standardization organizations: CEN, CENELEC and ETSI.  BSI membership of these organizations continues as normal; it is ‘business as usual’ in all aspects of our standards making and publishing activity.

CEN and CENELEC are private organizations outside the EU coordinating the work of 34 countries in the making and the dissemination of European Standards (EN). Membership of CEN and CENELEC is linked to the adoption of European Standards and the withdrawal of conflicting national standards, facilitating market access across the member countries.
During the past months BSI has been working with UK government, CEN, CENELEC and their members, regarding our role in the development of European standards. This work will continue during the negotiation period that now follows the triggering of Article 50.

It is BSI’s ambition, and also its confident expectation, on behalf of UK stakeholders, for the UK to continue to participate in the European standards system as a full member of CEN and CENELEC post-Brexit.  Given the private status of these bodies, and thus their independence from the political authorities, BSI’s ambition is not affected by the Prime Minister’s announcement on 17 January 2017 that the Brexit process will include the UK leaving the Single Market.   

To download ‘European standards and the UK’ please click here (PDF).

International Level

BSI membership of the two international standardization organizations, ISO and IEC, will be unaffected by a UK exit from the EU.  BSI is committed to representing the UK’s interests in the creation of international standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.


UK Standards Activity

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). 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 UK, through organisations such as the National Physical Laboratory, is taking a major role in research, harmonisation, drafting and validation of international standards.

Review of composites standardisation activities

Modernising Composite Materials Regulations- April 2017


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