Standardization

The purpose of standardization whether it is undertaken at the French, European or International level is to produce, by looking for consensus, standards usefull to all concerned parties (specially industrials and their customers) in order to simplify and clarify their contractual relationship. The scope of standardization is very wide. It concerns all products, equipment goods and services. BN ACIER intervenes at the level of the different instances of French standardization,  European standardization or International standardization. The standards are the result of a consensual elaboration and a deep consideration from experts who participate to put them in shape. It is frequent to distinguish four great standard categories : - basic standards (standards related to terminology, metrology, conventions, signs and symbols .....), - product standards, - standards for test and analysis methods, - standards for organisation and services (e.g. standards concerning the quality systems). More than 600 000 standards exist in the world and every year, about 2000 new standards are published. At the national level, more than 23 000 French standards ; are counted ; the list of these standards can be found on the website http://www.afnor.fr (Standards online) The term “standard” actually covers in France several types of normative documents whose implications can be different. These diiferent types of normative documents are : - the homologated standards identified by the letters NF, - the experimental standards (prestandards) identified by the letters XP, - the documentation booklets identified by the letters FD. This set of normative documents has just been completed by “paranormative” documents possibly drafted out of the French system of standardization and published by AFNOR. These are : - application guides identified by the letters GA, - agreements identified by the letters AC, - and codes of good practice identified by the letters  BP. Each normative document is identified by a series of alphanumerical digits beginning by the letters NF, XP or FD as indicated above. The remaining part of the identification allows to know the origin of the document : - a letter followed by figures in the case of a French origin, e.g. NF A 35-015 , - the letters EN followed by a number in the case of a European origin, e.g. NF EN 10025 , - the letters EN ISO or ISO in the case of a International origin, e.g. NF EN ISO 4957 or NF ISO 6790 . Some international standards may not be retained as French standards. The international standardization organizations (ISO and CEI) also publish yearly catalogs which include all the approved International Standards.