In the context of the Single Market and the free movement of products, standardization is a fundamental element of European trade, not only in terms of product definition, but also in terms of the methods used to assess the quality criteria used to define products (test methods - sampling, inspection documents, etc.).
In the field of steel standardization, an organization was created in 1986: the
ECISS
fr
(European Committee for Iron and Steel Standardization)
which currently has 31 technical committees.
At international level, a standards organization exists, the
ISO
en
(International Standardization Organisation)
which like the
CEN
en
(European Committee for Standardization)
covers all aspects of standardization and whose technical committee TC17 is responsible for steel standardization.
In France, standardization is the responsibility of the
AFNOR
en
(French Standards Association)
.