Standardization News

ASTM MOU Partner Since 2003

The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands off the coast of Vietnam, sits between the Philippine and South China Seas. Its agriculture includes sugar cane, rice, coconuts and other fruit. Its industries include assembling electronics, garments, footwear and pharmaceuticals, among others. Recent news from the Philippine government highlights a new product certification scheme to strengthen the country's product quality and ensure efficient consumer protection.

The government, through its Department of Trade and Industry, oversees the country's national standards body, the Bureau of Philippine Standards. BPS partners with other groups, including ASTM, in working toward its goals. The organization aims to help the country grow socially and economically through standardization, to protect consumers and the environment, and to raise awareness of standards and quality.

BPS maintains a Standards and Conformance Portal, an online resource with information about standards, regulations and conformity assessment in the Philippines and elsewhere in the World Trade Organization. The portal houses all published Philippine national standards, WTO notifications and related technical regulations of its own and its trading partners, and links to other standards.

BPS and ASTM have had a memorandum of understanding since 2003. Through the MOU, some 430 ASTM standards have been adopted, consulted or referenced by BPS, which has used more than 275 standards as the basis for a national standard. The standards come from close to 60 ASTM technical committees, particularly:

In 2013, ASTM hosted Emmaline Vitug as part of its Standards Expert Program. She is officer in charge, Standards Development Division, and head of the National WTO-TBT Enquiry Point at BPS. Based in Manila, Vitug manages programs and activities, among other responsibilities, and she has represented the Philippines at several international standards-related programs.

Another 2013 event took place at the University of Philippines National Engineering Center, Diliman, Quezon City, in September. Teresa Cendrowska, ASTM vice president, global cooperation, and Liu Fei, ASTM's chief representative in China, oriented representatives of Philippine industry, government and academia to ASTM's standards process. The group also discussed the MOU and opportunities for further collaboration.

Specific industry sector topics have been covered in other outreach meetings. In August 2013, ASTM staffers, along with the representatives of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, met with aviation experts from Philippine public and private sectors as well as Indonesia and Vietnam. The purpose was to share information about ASTM work in the aviation sector and encourage their use of ASTM standards and further involvement in ASTM activities. In June 2011, Alan Gee, Continental Cement, Atlanta, Georgia, and a member of Committees C01 and C09, was sponsored by the Cement Manufacturers Association to do training regarding the technical underpinnings of C01 standards.

Standards Body:

Bureau of Philippine Standards

Location:

Makati City, Philippines

Major Activities:

Standardization, product testing and product certification

MOU Signed with ASTM:

2003