and the broadcast signal standards will conform to one of possibly three different systems. Importantly, however, the basic standards of measurement are essentially identical. This enables all the countries of Europe, regardless of power, broadcasting, and receiving practices to use the same standard materials and components in the manufacture of television equipment. Although the European color television receiver owner may not have access to certain programs, he can fully enjoy, in the programs he does receive, the reliability and fitness-for-purpose developed in the United States over a number of years of high volume color TV component production and field experience. Critical Approach to Standardization I stated that standardization is recognized and firmly established. This means that it is here to stay, and more and more will be expected of it in government, in the military and in industry. Funds and management support for standardization are being made increasingly available. With them will come demands for high performance levels; the maximum of effective standardization for each dollar expended. The standards engineer of the future, like many today, must be a very competent fellow with his feet firmly on the ground, a healthy and controlled enthusiasm for standardization and a capacity for effectiveness with people as well as with technical problems and situations. The standardizer who waves the banner and gets carried away will require increased restraint. In recent months, in my reading, a new stumbling block has been added; the word "Hertz." I refer to the adoption of Hertz for use instead of CPS (cycles per second) and not to the well know automobile rental agency. In the current issue Electronic Products, November 1966, Mel Mandel Editorial Director, writes under this heading: "Read ers favor CPS over Hertz two to one." The editorial is interesting in its one page entirety, and I quo this segment: "When so many company presidents, vice presi dents for engineering, general managers, chief en gineers (and two physicists with the National Burea of Standards) vote (three to one) against Hertz is obvious that our representatives to the Internation al Electrotechnical Commission, where Hertz was lected, did not properly understand the people the represent. Should we use a little more democracy selecting our international technical negotiators?" It is not my purpose in this reference to imply personal position but rather to re-emphasize tha management is becoming more and more critical the standardization function and of the standardizers The consensus principle is going to require mom surveillance. The consensus in the future must b consistently real and contain an "engineered compo nent" of smaller size. I consider it an exceptional honor to have been invited here today to participate in these histor dedication ceremonies and to mingle with so many fine people from so many great countries. As they have in the past, these great laboratories in thei new, enlarged, and modernized setting are destined to continue as a tower of increasing strength support of our United States of America standard program, nationally and internationally. h s s h h h 2 Astin: Our final speaker is Mr. C. H. Sharpston, is the Secretary-General of the International anization for Standardization (ISO). Sharpston: Thank you, Dr. Astin. I wish to h rapidly on three matters in the time at my osal. The first is the general way in which the x of ISO is carried out; secondly, some Governlegislation; thirdly, the interaction of standardi-n work at three levels-national, multinational nal group, worldwide. International Organization for Standardization he impact of ISO and IEC activities on world = is greater than would be indicated by a recital e nearly 1,000 Recommendations which have published and almost as many Draft Recomlations now in the pipeline. This is a consece of the way in which the work is organized. choosing its delegation to participate in our nical Committees and Subcommittees, each naI standards institute calls on experts from priindustry, (as consumers as well as manufacturby virtue of the relationship which links the ute to industrial companies and manufacturers' iations. It can and does include, when approe, representatives of research laboratories, Govent Departments, consumers' associations, and rth. The composition of a national delegation ered where necessary from meeting to meeting, : light of the agenda. the give-and-take of international negotiation the Technical Committees, delegates obtain and experience of the way world trade can be ered by the absence of international standards, ikewise of the difficulties in achieving such ards. They carry this experience back into their I professional work as well as contributing practical wisdom to the international recomations for standardization. the last analysis, the scale of our activities in nd IEC, and our effectiveness, depends upon tional Member Bodies. It was they who con stituted our organizations originally, it is they who finance our work, and exercise control of policy. My colleague, Louis Ruppert, the General Secretary of IEC, is here with us, and he can speak more particularly about his organization. As far as ISO is concerned, national Member Bodies fully agree with Mr. Wynn that we have not grown recently as fast as our responsibilities. They have recognized this in the most practical fashion, by voting funds for 1967 which are more than double those of 1966. A greatly strengthened staff will not only enable us to process more Recommendations, doubling and then redoubling the output of recent years within 24 months; it will also make possible a more skillful coordination of the work of our many Technical Committees and a more sensitive planning of our forward program to match the needs of world trade. Some 20 years of experience bear witness to the fundamental soundness of our organizational structure, to its flexibility and its adaptability. If Mr. McCune is right, we might have to be 10 times as active by the early 1970's as we are today, I don't know. What I do know is that, provided industry and governments agree and make the resources available, ISO will measure up to that challenge. Incidentally, Mr. Wynn mentioned that the Soviet Union and other countries of Eastern Europe do not hold the secretariats of many of our Technical Committees. That is true, but whatever the historical reasons for this state of affairs, it does not represent today a lack of confidence in the value of ISO's work. It is no secret in fact, that these countries desire to take on more such secretariats as the opportunities present themselves. There is a solid foundation of international recommendations in the basic fields of terminology, units, symbols, methods of measurement, documentation, classification, etc. This work is continuing. In the field of applied standards, the record is admittedly more patchy. It does, however, include many Recommendations relating to physical, mechanical and chemical methods of test; methods of sampling and quality control; safety standards; product quality and "fitness for purpose." My list is not exhaustive. As one of the means whereby technology is diffused from industrially advanced countries to developing countries, the work of our Technical Committees and the resultant ISO Recommendations play an important role. The developing countries participate in this work to the extent of their capabilities —and as consumers where they may not be producers. We also have begun to hold seminars and con C. H. SHARPSTON is Secretary General of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). During the war, he served as Assistant Director of Planning, Programmes and Statistics in the Ministry of Aircraft Production, and was subsequently concerned with matters relating to the economic recovery of post-war Europe. Mr. Sharpston's industrial experience was with the English Electric Company and more recently with a member company of the Joseph Lucas group. His work has encompassed market research, sales forecasting, export projects and budgeting. He has dealt extensively with overseas negotiations relating particularly to the European Economic Community. He has spent the past few years as Director and General Manager of two subsidiary companies of Joseph Lucas (Industries) Ltd. in Brazil. Mr. Sharpston received his education at St. Paul's School, London, and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he obtained a first in mathematics and economics. rences to guide the newly developing countries in andardization matters. Government Legislation Next I want to take compulsory standards, where fety, health, and public amenity are involved. At e national level, government departments will genally draw heavily on outside advice about the chnical content of legislation in this field. Add the tra dimension of a world community of trading tions and you need to think a bit more carefully— ow to organize the preparation of such legislation, order to achieve an organic international whole. he commonest approach is to move on from tablished national legislation to inter-Governental negotiation aimed at reconciling the national fferences. The greater the technical content of such legistion, the more I would question the efficiency this procedure. It seems to me that an alternative proach should be adopted more frequently. This to begin by ironing out the national differences in purely technical aspects, within the non-Governental forum of ISO and IEC. The component of pertise in public administration can be introduced this stage quite effectively by having government ficials as advisers to or members of national deletions in our Technical Committees. When the draft Recommendation emerges from a echnical Committee, we have a period for the fullest nsultation of all interested parties, prior to subtting it to our Council for approval. In the class standards which I am discussing, governments as ch would be the most interested parties. By the me ISO published a Recommendation, Governents could nearly be ready with draft legislation to bmit to individual legislatures. I am aware that Es kind of legislation is by no means non-political d non-controversial. That is the case however, ichever approach is adopted. I wonder how many you agree with my ideas. Coordination of Standardization at Various Levels Thirdly, there is the issue of standardization at national, regional, and international levels, and the best way to coordinate them. There can often be a basic dilemma. The smaller regional groups are more cohesive, and likely to be more active and work more quickly than a worldwide organization. On the other hand, fully international standards benefit these groups most in the long run, and a set of discordant regional standards may actually make it harder to agree subsequently on an international standard. In parallel with the work in Western Europe described by Mr. Wynn, the harmonization of standards in Eastern Europe is undertaken within COMECON and in the Americas by COPANTthe Commision Panamericana de Normas Tecnicas. There is no simple solution, for we must recognize that the pressures for action at the regional level are often stronger than at the international level. In most cases at the regional and the international level, we are seeking to iron out differences between national standards which already exist. I can only suggest a complete flow of information from the various regional groups to ISO. If we see that the work is moving towards a consensus in a given sector, well and good; if it seems to be moving on a collision course, we could discreetly drop some words in the appropriate ears. The great challenge, however, lies in the newer technologies and the new developments within older technologies-the challenge, to write truly international standards from the start, instead of several national standards. I would contend that the best hope of success in these cases is to go clear-sightedly and with firm purpose for negotiation at the international level only. Dr. Astin: Thank you very much, Mr. Sharpston. I am sure that there are a lot of questions remaining but I will have to ask you to refer your questions to these gentlemen at the reception this evening. I would like to thank all of you for participating, and most particularly to thank the speakers for their most interesting contributions. |