IIW History 1990-2015

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

SETTING THE STANDARD