Residual standards content

Richard Teale, NBS Chief editor, attended a meeting of the ‘Workshop on Residual Standards’ at the BSI and writes about the sometimes complex issues facing the standards organizations and NBS in dealing with residual standards content.

NBS now refers to around 1500 BSI documents in Building and 1000 in Engineering Services. These documents are almost equally split between British Standards (BSs), applicable only in the UK, and European Standards, applicable throughout Europe and adopted in the UK as British Standards (BS ENs). However, the growth of the EEC and its intention to provide a common European standards base will ensure that our references to BS ENs increase at the expense of BSs. What the standards organizations are striving for, as documents are replaced, is a smooth transfer of all relevant content. Inevitably, from time to time, the scope of the BS will be greater than that of the superseding BS EN, and the balance – the residual content of the original BS – may have to be picked up somehow.

The standards organizations

We should begin by looking at the standards organizations:

British Standards Institution (BSI) is the national standards body of the UK, founded in 1901. It "develops standards and standardization solutions to meet the needs of business and society" and "represents UK interests in European and international standards forums".
Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) is the major provider of European Standards and technical specifications, founded in 1961 and based in Brussels. Its aims are to "support the achievement of the European single market" and "enhance the competitiveness of European players in the global market".

So, with such eminent controlling organizations, how do problems sometimes arise due to replacement of standards? Perhaps in the UK, where BSs have a long history of meeting our particular needs (geography, climate, production methods, etc), there is a reluctance to allow any reduction of scope in superseding BS ENs. BSI Technical Committees contribute to the development of ENs but so too do representatives of the national standards bodies of the 27 other EEC nations. Obviously it is difficult to resolve all technical problems but, following a majority vote, the content of a ratified EN must be identical throughout Europe and it must be adopted by all the national standards bodies, in our case as a BS EN. Hence, the foreword notes in BS ENs state: "This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard ... by (date), and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by (date)". This applies even if the new BS EN does not cover all the withdrawn BS content.

Residual standards content

How are these content residues of withdrawn BSs dealt with, if deemed important at a national level? They can be:

included in the new BS EN as a ‘National Annex’;
retained as an amended or new ‘Residual Standard’; or
published as authoritative guidance (by other than BSI).

National Annexes are perhaps the best solution. They collect together the content residues at the time of issue of a BS EN. However, they must give informative, non-conflicting guidance on the original CEN-ratified content and not add supplementary requirements. They must also be separate from ratified text of the EN and be designated NA, NB, etc. A good example of a standard with National Annexes is BS EN 197-1 Cement. Composition, specifications and conformity criteria for common cements – which replaced the long established BS I2 and others. The National Annexes in BS EN 197-1 cover conformance of existing products with the standard and give guidance on their use and safety.

Residual Standards can be issued to collect together content from a withdrawn BS (or BSs) that is outside the scope of a superseding BS EN. They should be issued at the time of issue of the BS EN and must not duplicate the content of any other existing BS or BS EN. The problem with writing Residual Standards lies in the extra technical resources they require – BSI has had to give a higher priority to the preparation of harmonized product standards in recent years. An example of a new ‘complementary’ standard, collecting and developing residual national content, is BS 8500 Concrete. Complementary British Standard to BS EN 206-1. This complementary standard, in two parts, provides UK guidance on specifying concrete and the performance of constituent materials, and was issued two years after the BS EN.

Authoritative guidance produced by trade and similar associations, or by product manufacturers, is another way of collecting content residues. A good example is the Access Flooring Association’s draft codes of practice, picking up residues from the Property Services Agency’s Platform floors (raised access floors) – performance specification. However, the quality and currency of such guidance is variable, and it will not be crossed-referenced from BSs and BS ENs.

The NBS response

BSI noted that "NBS was aware of and generally addressing the issues" (of residual standards). We accept this as a compliment to our thorough technical assessment of the currency of all standards in each of our section updates. We review old and new documents and make relevant changes to specification clauses and guidance. This is usually straightforward when the scope of the BS being withdrawn is less than or equal to that of the superseding BS or BS EN.

Our response when the scope of the BS being withdrawn is more that that of the superseding documents will depend upon circumstances. We will

refer in NBS guidance to National Annexes in BS ENs, and contemporary Residual Standards, if they help the specifier with clause completion;
give interim guidance on the status of standards if residues are to be included in subsequent Residual Standards; and
write clauses and guidance to allow specification to old or new standards during a period of coexistence required by the Construction Products Directive – allowing product manufacturers time to react to the new standard.

We hope that our assessments and advice help you, the specifier, through the often complex procedures involved in the Europeanisation of standards.

Confirmed correct June 2007