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SETTING THE STANDARD
a standardising body in accordance with ISO Resolution 19/1984 in 1986. CEN concluded
its arrangements with ISO by signing this agreement in which CEN was entitled to take
into consideration ISO standards wherever they existed, and ISO accepted those documents
prepared by CEN to be directly submitted to ISO without a vote for approval by ISOmember
bodies.
20
This arrangement allowed a standard from either ISO or CEN to be voted on by
both organisations simultaneously with one or the other as the lead organisation. CEN had
a clear advantage over IIW because most of the CEN members were also members of ISO
and therefore voting was numerically in their favour.
21
The three years following the signing of the tripartite agreement
were spent in prevarication and procrastination on the determination of a
Coordination Committee to improve relationships with ISO/CEN, plus all
the other incidental criticisms and negative comments on rules, competence
and authorities. At the SC-STAND meeting in Madrid on 11 September 1992
the proceedings were dominated by a somewhat acrimonious discussion over
the rejection of a standard from C-VII, apparently based on political rather
than technical grounds. This rejection prompted some of those present to
declare no further interest in standardisation. This generated further critical
discussion regarding IIW’s standardisation programme and the failure
to follow ISO rules. In conclusion, it was agreed that the long-proposed
meeting of a Coordination Committee should be held between IIW and ISO/
TC 44 as soon as practically possible.
22
At this meeting SC-STAND agreed to form the ISO/IIW Coordination Committee
to decide which organisation would take the lead on any given welding development.
This resulted in ISO/TMB Resolution 38/1995 relating to the formation of a Coordination
Committee to avoid duplication and fragmentation of work, with a responsibility for the
overall coordination and decisions of which work items should be dealt with by IIW.
23
CEN/TC 121 was invited to join as a full member of the committee but declined since it
did not want to be bound by the decisions of the Coordination Committee because it had
mandated work assigned to it by the European Commission. CEN/TC 21 was offered and
then accepted observer status on the committee and this allowed some collaboration and the
sharing of documents.
24, 25
A pivotal meeting was held earlier on 3 December 1992 at the ISO Central
Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, chaired by Dr J. C. Favre, Deputy Secretary-General of
ISO.
26
Based on this meeting the ISO Technical Management Board renewed IIW’s tenure
as an international standardising body for another one and half years on the provision of
a comprehensive report showing that substantial progress had been achieved by IIW in
managing their standards programme. This stimulated some progress in the development of