Membership in U.S TAG to ISO/TC 131

Background on ISO/TC 131

ISO/TC (technical committee) 131 for fluid power systems was established in 1969. The members of ISO technical committees and sub committees are the national standards bodies of various nations, e.g. the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in the U.S., DIN in Germany, etc. Within ISO/TC 131, the U.S. is one of 16 participating members, also known as P members.

One of a technical committee's or sub committee's P members is selected to run the committee as the secretariat. The U.S. holds the secretariats of ISO/TC 131, its sub-committee 4 for connectors and its sub-committee 9 for installations and systems.

Most of the actual work of drafting international standards is done at the working group level. These usually come under sub-committees. Members of working groups are nominated by their national committees and generally serve as technical experts, not national representatives. However, in actual practice, experts work closely with their national committees to ensure that the draft standard that comes out of the working group is acceptable to the national committee.

The development of international standards is governed by the ISO/IEC Directives. During development, international standards go through a series of stages and, in each stage, have a different designation:

• in the proposal stage, a new work item proposal is circulated for approval; if it achieves approval, it is called an approved work item (AWI);
• in the preparatory stage, the working group develops and refines the project as a working draft (WD);
• in the committee stage, the working group has sent the project on to the sub-committee as a committee draft (CD) for approval;
• in the enquiry stage, the project has become a draft International Standard (DIS) and is circulated to all of ISO's members for voting and comments;
• in the approval stage, the revised DIS is circulated for a simple two-month, approve/disapprove vote (no comments) as a final draft International Standard (FDIS); and
• in the publication stage, the project has been approved and is published as an International Standard (ISO).

ISO project development flowchart

Background on the U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 131

U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 131 – The U.S. provides input into the development of international fluid power standards through the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to ISO/TC 131. The National Fluid Power Association administers the U.S. TAG on behalf of ANSI. The membership of the U.S. TAG is made up of more than 150 participants from more than 80 U.S. companies, universities, government, technical societies and trade associations. The U.S. TAG mirrors the organization of ISO/TC 131, with its various sub-committees and, where necessary, working groups. You can find more information about the leadership, membership and projects of each U.S. TAG subgroup here.

Membership – Membership in the U.S. TAG is organizational – each entity, not each person, has one vote. Each member must designate an official participant; other people from the same organization are listed as alternates and receive all committee correspondence.

Membership in the U.S. TAG also involves financial support. Unless your company is a member of the National Fluid Power Association, which provides the majority of financial support for the activities of ISO/TC 131 and its U.S. TAG, it will be assessed an annual administrative fee.

Policy for funding the activities of the U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 131

Meetings – The U.S. TAG sub-groups meet two to three times per year, either in person or by teleconference. Much of U.S. TAG's work, for example ballots and documents to comment on, is done by correspondence, mainly through NFPA’s online committee forums.

Committee members may be nominated to serve as working group experts or sub-committee delegates at an international meeting, and are expected to pay their own travel expenses. These nominations may be declined.

Responsibilities of members of the U.S. TAG are:

• respond to ballots;
• attend a meeting at least once per year;
• work with others to determine what is best for the U.S. in international fluid power standards work.

As secretariat, NFPA ensures that U.S. TAG members have the most current information on international fluid power standards projects. The association sets up meetings, circulates agendas, minutes and pertinent documents, administers ballots and tallies the results to ensure that due process procedures are followed.

Apply for membership in U.S. TAG to ISO/131