ISO’s engagement
Who does what?
ISO/TC 207 is a mature ISO Technical Committee with a well-established structure and organization and a well-accepted roster of products. The current focus of ISO/TC 207 is to
- Ensure that ISO TC 207 is aware of relevant international policy developments and trends within its scope
- Ensure that market needs are served
- Ensure global participation in the development, revision, acceptance and use of the ISO 14000 standards
- Ensure the continual relevance and quality of ISO/TC 207's standards
- Protect the brand and the integrity of the usage of the ISO 14000 series standards
- Ensure the compatibility of ISO 14001 with other management system standards (MSS).
The objectives of the ISO/TC 146 are:
Standardization of tools for air quality characterization of emissions, workplace air, ambient air, indoor air, in particular measurement methods for air pollutants (particles, gases, odours, micro-organisms) and for meteorological parameters, measurement planning, procedures for Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) and methods for the evaluation of results including the determination of uncertainty.
Excluded:
- the establishment of limit values for air pollutants;
- the air quality in clean rooms;
- radioactive substances.
ISO/TC 147 deals with the standardization in the field of water quality, including definition of terms, sampling of waters, measurement and reporting of water characteristics.
Excluded:
- limits of acceptability for water quality.
The scope of ISO/TC 190 is:
Standardization in the field of soil quality, including classification, definition of terms, sampling of soils, measurement and reporting of soil characteristics. Excluded are the definition of limits of acceptability for soil pollution and civil engineering aspects.
The scope, as defined above, describes the point of focus in general terms only. Soil quality is not an absolute concept: the quality of a soil, in terms of fitness for use, is dependent upon the purpose the soil serves. Various soil functions that can be distinguished include: agricultural land, natural habitats, building and construction sites, industrial sites and a matrix for other resources (e.g. groundwater). The suitability of a soil to fulfil a specific purpose is determined by many different aspects that can be characterized by chemical, physical and biological parameters.
Within ISO/TC 190, soil quality is historically approached from an environmental point of view. The emphasis of the work of TC 190 has changed from the development of individual standards for determination of specific parameters back in 1985, to standards that provide guidance on the practical applicability of these standards currently.
More recently, other environmental aspects of soil quality are considered part of the focus of ISO/TC 190:
- local and diffuse contamination (including uncontaminated soils);
- erosion;
- organic matter;
- sealing;
- compaction;
- bio-diversity;
- salinization.
ISO/TC 224 is involved in the standardization of a framework for the definition and measurement of service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems.
The standardization includes the definition of a language common to the different stakeholders, the definition of the characteristics of the elements of the service according to the consumers expectations, a list of requirements to fulfil for the management of a drinking water supply system and a wastewater system, service quality criteria and a related system of performance indicators, without setting any target values or thresholds.
Excluded:
- design and construction of water supply and wastewater systems, or maintenance techniques;
- limits of acceptability for drinking water quality and wastewater discharted in the receiving body;
- analytical methods.
In addition to the above referred technical committees, other technical committees also integrate the matter of environment protection in their field of standardization.
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