Standardization News

A new ASTM International standard provides voluntary guidelines for establishing and conducting audits of cannabis businesses. The organization’s cannabis committee (D37) developed the new standard (soon to be published as D8308). 

“Properly planning and conducting quality and compliance audits is very important to ensure the safety of products, workers, and the environment,” says ASTM International member Ed Nodland, audit designer and cofounder of Jet Stream Innovations. “Assessing whether and how policies, standards, and procedures are in place, up-to-date, and reliably followed is critical in this emerging industry. 

Nodland says that the new standard provides a framework that could help internal quality-and-compliance specialists, external stakeholders, and third-party auditors who want to develop assessments that foster safety and reduce compliance risks. He notes that audits are generally comprised of three major activities: defining what needs to be audited, performing an assessment and collecting evidence, and reporting useful results.

The new voluntary standard could be useful both for cannabis-related businesses that do internal audits and, Nodland claims, for other bodies that increasingly interact with such businesses.

Watch a video on ASTM International’s cannabis standards.

ASTM welcomes participation in the development of its standards. Become a member of ASTM. The next meeting of ASTM International’s cannabis committee is June 28-29, in Boston (Massachusetts, USA).

To purchase standards, contact ASTM International customer relations (tel +1.877.909.ASTM; sales@astm.org.)