The Institute for Standardization of Serbia (ISS) has outlined its successful standards development operations over the past year in an annual report to ASTM International. ASTM and ISS signed a memorandum of understanding in 2010.

Founded by the government of Serbia, ISS is the only recognized national standardization body in the Republic of Serbia. It is a legal entity and operates in accordance with the regulations governing the legal status of the public services. Representatives of Serbian manufacturing companies, testing laboratories, professional and consumer associations, as well as university professors and many others are members of ISS technical committees that develop Serbian standards.

ISS technical committees often use ASTM standards in their work. In 2011, ISS adopted 10 ASTM International standards as Serbian national standards, and consulted an additional 15 ASTM standards. Since 2012, ISS has adopted a total of 22 ASTM standards, and several of those standards are a part of Serbian technical regulations. ISS plans to adopt another 75 ASTM standards within the next year.

Most of the ASTM standards adopted by ISS cover oil and fuel, and were developed by ASTM Committee D02 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants. “ASTM standards are being adopted as Serbian standards because there are no European or international standards in a specific field of standardization, such as liquid fuels of oil origin, metallography, scanning electronic microscopes, testing of oxo-biodegradable, etc.,” says Ivan Krstić, director of ISS (www.iss.rs). “The most popular ASTM standards in Serbia are in the field of liquid fuels of oil origin because they contain detailed and accurate descriptions of test methods performed by testing laboratories.”

Krstić says that many Serbian ministries and agencies have requested that ASTM standards be adopted as Serbian standards, including the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy; the Ministry of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning; the Ministry of Defense; and the Serbian Chemical Agency. This has resulted in a commercial contract and formal agreement for the adoption of ASTM standards as Serbian national standards.

Initiated in 2001, ASTM International's MOU program promotes communication between ASTM International and national standards bodies worldwide, fostering awareness of the standardization systems of all parties involved. The purpose of the program is to increase greater worldwide participation in the ASTM standards development process and facilitate the development of national standards that will aid health, safety, and environmental and economic conditions. More information on the MOU program can be found on the ASTM International Web site (www.astm.org/GLOBAL).

ASTM Staff Contact: Teresa Cendrowska, Phone: 610-832-9718; tcendrow@astm.org

Release #9158