Annual Reports Track Success of MOUs in Colombia and Uruguay

The national standards bodies of Colombia and Uruguay have recently provided annual reports that indicate the continued success of their memorandums of understanding with ASTM International. These reports are among those supplied each year by the 69 national standards bodies that have memorandums of understanding with ASTM International.

Colombia

ASTM International's MOU program was initiated in 2001, with the first MOU signed by Instituto Colombiano de Normas Técnicas y Certificación, the nonprofit organization that oversees the compliance of national and international standards in Colombia. ICONTEC is an open organization with members from the Colombian government, private sector, academia and others who are interested in standardization.

Since the MOU signing, ICONTEC has used hundreds of ASTM standards as the basis for Colombian national standards. In the past year alone, ICONTEC reports that they have consulted close to 300 ASTM standards in the preparation of Colombian national standards and have adopted 34 ASTM standards as identical standards. The standards cover a wide range of industry sectors from ASTM's 141 technical committees.

ICONTEC also reports that several international standards developed by ASTM Committee F24 on Amusement Rides and Devices have been used in support of Colombia's upcoming legislation on amusement parks, and the Asociación Colombiana de Atracciones y Parques de Diversiones is planning to develop a handbook based on these standards.

The broad relevance and application of ASTM standards in Colombia initially led to the MOU between ASTM and ICONTEC. "Colombia has benefited from support and technology transfer from ASTM International through timely updated information and answers from ASTM committee experts to the inquiries from Colombian national committees. This has been a significant added value for the national standardization process," says Germán Nava, director of standardization, ICONTEC.

Uruguay

The Instituto Uruguayo de Normas Técnicas, the national standards body of Uruguay, signed an MOU with ASTM in 2001. Since the signing, Uruguay has adapted, adopted or referenced more than 100 ASTM standards in various sectors including metals, concrete, and paint and coatings.

This year, UNIT published a complete set of national standards for biofuels, many of which are based on ASTM International standards. In 2007, James A. Thomas, ASTM president, visited Uruguay and encouraged stakeholders to reference ASTM International standards from Committee D02 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants in the promotion of renewable energy.

In the past few years, UNIT standards have been established for the use of biodiesel (B100) at 2 percent in diesel automotive fuels. In January 2010, petroleum mixed with biodiesel and ethanol fuels were put on the market in Uruguay at a pilot scale. In this regard, UNIT has benefitted from ASTM international biodiesel standards from Committee D02. "This has been a good example of how standards can benefit the energy needs, the environment and society as a whole, and a successful result of the MOU between ASTM and UNIT," says Pablo J. Benia, general director of UNIT.

The ASTM Memorandum of Understanding Program

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 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).