Welcome to IFAN

The International Federation of Standards Users is an independent, non profit-making international association of national organizations for the application of standards, companies, professional and trade associations, and governmental agencies, concerned with the use of standards.

To learn more about IFAN read our newsletter which gives information on IFAN events, and includes articles written by IFAN members

IFAN News

IFAN President speaks in Kinshasa Conference

On 13 April 2021 Ross Wraight, IFAN President spoke at a meeting organised by IFAN Member APROMEN. and held at the Federation of Enterprises of Congo [FEC] about the benefits to business of using standards.

The talk helped business leaders understand the concept of standardization, its importance to trade and the advantages to FEC members particularly in relation to the African Continental Free Trade Zone [ZLECAF].

Further details: Link here

IFAN Webinar on International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made by women, to call for change and to celebrate acts of  leadership by women, who have played an extraordinary role in standardization. The IFAN Webinar: Women Leadership in time of crisis was held on 8 March 2021 and seven women in standardization together IFAN Board Member and Moderator Vered Oren discussed their perspective on standardization during the Covid 19 Pandemic.

The recording can be watched on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoWfQvur5n8    

IFAN Newsletter 1-2021 published

The latest IFAN Newsletter is now available and has articles on the Teenagers Standardization Olympiad; News from IFAN Member APROMEN; Women in Standardization and the IFAN Webinar on International Women’s Day.

The Newsletter can be read here.

IFAN Welcomes new Board member and new Vice-President

On the 1st January 2021 Mr Bertin Ntumba Bululu joined the IFAN Board starting his first term of office. Mr Ntumba Bululu is President of Association pour la Promotion de la Métrologie et la Normalisation en République Démocratique du Congo (APROMEN), based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Mr Ntumba Bululu is keen to start an IFAN Africa Group and proposes to introduce IFAN to colleagues who are standards users in other African countries.

APROMEN recently held a ‘Standards Month’, and recalled the event in a Newsletter which can be read here.

Also on the 1st January Ms Claudia Bach began her first term as IFAN Vice President (Corporate), Ms Bach represents Society for Standards Professionals (SES) the IFAN member for the USA and Canada.

Ms Bach is Joint Chair of IFAN Working Group WG3 Standards Access and Distribution.

The IFAN European Group announces the publication of Guide 5

At the 47th IFAN Members’ Assembly the IFAN European group announced the publication of its new Guide 5 Introduction to the world of European standards for standards users.

This guide is intended to give some basic information on the European standardization system to the beginner, who has just started to work in an organization that uses standards.

Guide 5 can be downloaded here.

All IFAN Guides are available on the Publications tab.

IFAN Participates in ISO Members’ Webinar
As part of its 2020 virtual GA, ISO ran a series of Webinars for members and invited IFAN to participate in the first one: Meeting the needs of users. A report on this event will be in the next Newsletter.

The meeting can be viewed on YouTube at this link.

IFAN July 2020 Newsletter

The latest IFAN newsletter is now available, it includes details of IFAN events during the pandemic and the 5th part of the Grenfell articles series: Standards under the microscope by Keith Wilson.

The Newsletter can be viewed here

47th IFAN Members Assembly, 15 October 2020 - updated

IFAN is pleased to confirm that its 47th Members Assembly will be held on Thursday 15 October 2020.

After due consideration the IFAN Board has decided to make the 47th MA a virtual meeting. The meeting will be shortened to comprise the formal meeting with only one speaker Mr Scott Steedman Vice President Technical of ISO. More details to follow.

IFAN paper competition winner interviewed by IFAN Vice-President Vered Oren

Elie Cohen, winner of the 2019 IFAN paper writing competition is interviewed by Vered Oren, IFAN Vice President. Mr Cohen talks about how the application of International Standards helped his company to be successful.

The video can be viewed here.

IFAN and the Commonwealth Standards Network

IFAN is proud to be an Associate Member of  the Commonwealth Standards Network, the Commonwealth Standards Network (CSN) aims to tackle non-tariff barriers and promote strong trade amongst all Commonwealth states through the participation, adoption and implementation of international standards.

A video has just been launched that highlights the programme's ongoing work in supporting intra-Commonwealth trade particularly in developing countries through the increased use of international standards - helping achieve economic prosperity, reduce poverty and create new market opportunities.

The video can be viewed here.

IFAN Welcomes new Board member and new Vice-President

1st January 2020 sees Prof. Albert Cavalli of ACANOR join the IFAN Board to begin his first term as a member of the Board. Professor Cavalli graduated from university in physical sciences completed with a Master in management of enterprises, he completed his basic education with trainings about the general principles of EU law and standards at the European Centre for transposition. Becoming a member of EuRefer (European association representing the referents and stakeholders at the European Institutions, he became its General Secretary , then after 2 years as President of the Saint John International University in Europe, he is now in charge of the Pole of development PEPITEE for Alsace economics area reconversion and new economy implementation including globalization market thanks to standards developments.

Dr Burkhard Raith of ANP has already served 2 terms as a member of the IFAN Board and now starts his first term as Vice-President (National), Dr Raith works in the standardization department of Thyssenkrupp AG.

IFAN thanks Ms Evelyne Thomann of ACANOR

On 31st December 2019, Ms Evelyne Thomann of ACANOR stepped down after serving two terms as Vice President (National), IFAN would like to thank her for her hard work as Vice-President.

IFAN are pleased to announce the winners of the 2019 paper writing competition

The winning paper was:

Crisis to Rebirth, by Elie Cohen

Second prize was:

Make good use of standardization, by Wanru

Chen, Zhenji Wang and Jun Ren.

Third prize was:

How to encourage young people to get involved,

by Peiwu Zhu and Tingjun Huang

The Winning paper can be read in IFAN’s December 2019 Newsletter, which can be accessed here

The second and third placed papers will be published in the next two Newsletters in 2020.

Hold the date!

The 47th IFAN Members Assembly and Working Group meetings, and will be held in Berlin 12-16 October 2020, kindly hosted by ANP and DIN.

The 46th IFAN Members Assembly is on 17 October in London

This year’s IFAN Members Assembly includes an open workshop session in the morning and speakers will include former ISO President Terry Hill.

IFAN publish second edition of Guide 2

IFAN announces the publication of the second edition of Guide 2 Guidance for establishing a National Standards Users Group, which contains useful information for anyone planning on starting a users group.

Download a copy here.

IFAN Paper writing competition

IFAN are pleased to announce that they are running a standards paper writing competition this year, the 3 documents that you will need are:

1. Competition information - download here

2. Competition rules - download here

3. Entry form - download here

2019 IFAN Members’ Assembly

The 46th IFAN Members’ Assembly will take place on 17th October at the Clayton Hotel, Chiswick, London, kindly hosted by BSI.

The Members’ calling notice has been circulated.

Just published IFAN’s third Newsletter of 2018

This edition contains reports on the IFAN Members’ Assembly and Workshop in Geneva and the ISO General Assembly which also took place in Geneva.

Copies can be downloaded here.

IFAN Guide 4 has been revised

IFAN is pleased to announce that its popular Guide 4 Education and Training - Different needs for different roles has been revised. The new edition extends the roles covered in the guide and provides a useful guide to educators and employers alike as to the standardization knowledge needed to carry out specific roles in an organization.

Copies can be downloaded here

Members’ Assembly and Workshop 25 September 2018

We are pleased to announce that Mr. Gao, CAS (China) was elected to serve a second term as a member of the Board.

A Workshop was held in conjunction with the 45th Members’ Assembly in Geneva. The workshop focused on users participation and the presentations from the Workshop can be found here.

2018 IFAN Members’ Assembly

The 45th IFAN Members’ Assembly will take place on the 25 September, kindly hosted by the IEC at their Geneva headquarters.

The day will start with a welcome from Frans Vreeswijk of the IEC and then an Open session with speakers including Elena Santiargo of CEN/CENELEC; Geerten van de Kaa of the Delft University of Technology, in addition there will be speakers from the IEC and ISO, topics include Users contribution to standardization as well as cyber security.

In the afternoon, the first part of the Members’ Assembly is also open to guests with the final part after tea being members only.

An invitation form  can be found here and a registration form here

IFAN’s second Newsletter of 2018 is now available

In this issue is news of a meeting between the IFAN President and Frans Vreeswijk, Secretary general of the IEC, a report on the April Board meeting in Geneva, Part 2 of Keith Wilson’s article ‘Standards under the microscope’ and an article reprinted from the IEC E-zine with their permission ‘Women in a Man’s World’.

All IFAN newsletters can be accessed by clicking on the ‘Newsletters tab to the left of the page, and 2-2018 can be found here.

IFAN Newsletter for January 2018 is available

In this issue you can read an interview with Sergio Mujica the ISO Secretary-General as well as an article 'Standards use under the microscope', in the first of a series of articles, Keith Wilson looks at the investigation of standards and their use in the inquiries into the Grenfell Tower fire, London, 2017.

To get your copy please email the IFAN Secretary at: ifan@ifan.org

 

IFAN Guide 3 : 2018 2nd edition published

The second edition of IFAN Guide 3 Guidelines to assist members of standards committees in preparing user-friendly European Standards. The guide was written by the IFAN European Group who meet 3-4 times a year to discuss matters related to the European Standardization system and the group has a close relationship with the CEN/CENELEC Management team.

Copies of the guide can be downloaded from the Publications section of this website.

 

A new President and two new Members of the Board

Today we welcome the new IFAN President, Mr. Ross Wraight who starts three years of office, Mr Wraight is Chief Executive of the Standards Group Ltd. You can read more about our President as well as our two new Board members: Mrs. Claudia Bach of SES and Dr. Bernhard Angermaier of ANP, in our next newsletter.

To be added to the mailing list please contact the IFAN Secretary at ifan@ifan.org.

IFAN's October Newsletter is now out!

Read about the IFAN/SES/ICES joint Conference in Chicago in August and the paper presented by IFAN Treasurer Keith Wilson on Anchoring Building Information Modelling in UK construction; also in this edition a report on the ISO GA in Berlin; a report of the IFAN Alumni reunion and Mr. Neil Reeve's Georges Garel Award acceptance message.

If you would like a copy please contact the IFAN Secretary at ifan@ifan.org

 

IFAN's Georges Garel Award presented to Mr Neil Reeve

The IFAN Board unanimously agreed to bestow the Georges Garel Award upon Mr Neil Reeve in recognition of his numerous outstanding and meritorious contributions to the field of standardization on behalf of the oil and gas sector in general, Shell Oil in particular, as well as his outstanding contributions to IFAN. Mr Reeve was President of IFAN 2003-2008 and represented Shell in IFAN. His acceptance statement will be printed in the next IFAN Newsletter.

The Georges Garel Award was instituted by IFAN in 1979 in commemoration of its first president Mr. Georges Garel. The award is bestowed upon persons who in the opinion of the IFAN Board have rendered exceptional service to the international community of standards users.

 

44th IFAN Members' Assembly and Conference, Drakes Hotel, Chicago, USA, 7- 9 August

A report on the 44th Members' Assembly and the Joint Conference will be in the next IFAN Newsletter.

The Future of standardization

Find out what are the greatest challenges that IEC faces today and in the future. For the full interview with IEC General Secretary Frans Vreeswijk and some more exciting news contact ifan@ifan.org and receive our latest newsletter.

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