Products available from BSI British Standards fall into three broad categories:
- Standards products (publications established by consensus and approved by BSI committees)
- Non-standards products (guidance documents, training materials and electronic products)
- Joint products (combinations of standards and non-standards).
There are many types of standards products available. Definitions of standards product types can be found below.
National standards
1. British Standards (BS and CP)
There are six types of British Standard defined in BS 0-2:
- Specification
Standard that sets out detailed requirements, to be satisfied by a product, material, process, service or system, and the procedures for checking conformity to these requirements.
- Method
Standard that gives a complete account of the way in which an activity is performed (and, where appropriate, of the equipment or tools required to perform it) and conclusions are reached, to a degree of precision appropriate to the stated purpose.
- Guide
Standard that gives broad and general information about a subject, with background information where appropriate.
- Vocabulary
Standard listing definitions of terms used in a particular sector, field or discipline.
- Codes of Practice
Standard comprising recommendations for accepted good practice as followed by competent and conscientious practitioners, and which brings together the results of practical experience and acquired knowledge for ease of access and use of the information.
- Classification
Standard comprising designations and descriptions of different grades of a product and that identifies and arranges data in hierarchical order.
These all carry the prefix BS and all have the same status and authority.
In the past, Codes of Practice had the prefix, CP. Over the years most CP-designated standards have been renumbered with a BS prefix and fewer than 20 current codes still carry the CP designation. Some of these are obsolescent, which means they can still be used but are no longer being maintained by a BSI committee.
2. Drafts for Public Comment (DPC)
When a BSI committee has agreed a draft of a standard, it is published as a Draft for Public Comment (designated as a DPC) and sold at a low price. People can then buy the draft and submit any comments to the relevant committee for them to consider before finalizing the standard. The comment period is usually six months, after which the DPC is withdrawn.
3. Drafts for Development (DD)
Drafts for Development (DD) are provisional documents, developed under broadly the same processes as a formal standard and published when standardization of a particular subject is urgently required, but further research or development is required before it can be published as a British Standard.
A DD may be developed as such from the outset. Alternatively, a document initially envisaged as being a formal British Standard might sometimes be published as a draft for development if it becomes apparent during its development that it would benefit from an extended period of trial and consultation.
A DD is usually published for 2 years. During this time comments are invited to make the committee aware of any errors, ambiguities or problems in the application of the DD. After this time a DD will either be withdrawn, confirmed, revised or replaced by a British Standard.
DDs can also be published to adopt ISO, IEC, CEN or CENELEC Technical Specifications (TS).
4. Published Documents (PD)
This is a catch-all category for standards-type documents that do not have the same status as a BS. PDs are published for a variety of reasons, including:
- Adoptions of ISO, IEC, CEN or CENELEC Technical Reports (TR).
- Documents derived from British Standards that conflict with ENs but are still needed by industry (e.g. PD 5500: Pressure vessels).
- Documents containing Non-Contradictory Complementary Information (NCCI) to Eurocodes and their associated National Annexes.
- Other documents developed by national committees but for one reason or another do not go through the whole development process in strict conformity with BS 0.
5. Publicly Available Specifications (PAS)
A Publicly Available Specification (PAS) is a document developed by BSI British Standards commissioned by an external organization. Such external bodies have included, UK Government, trade associations and private companies.
"VIEWPOINT: WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A "NON-STANDARD" STANDARD, SUCH AS A PAS", article published in Business Standards magazine (February 2007) [PDF 107kb].
6. Amendments (AMD)
Standards are reviewed every five years. This results either in confirmation that they are still satisfactory, withdrawal, obsolescence or the publication of a revision (which retains the old number, but has a new publication date). Between revisions it is sometimes necessary to issue amendments which are approved supplementary material to a standard that alters and/or adds to previously agreed technical provisions without changing the date of publication. These are notified in Update Standards and the standard identifier is updated to incorporate the amendment reference, e.g. BS 1234 5:2006+A1:2008.
BSI does not publish amendments as separate documents, but incorporates them into the relevant standards, with the changes usually indicated by tags in the text. The BSs are then issued and sold as new editions at the normal price.
7. Corrigenda
A corrigendum can be issued to a standard to correct one or more errors or ambiguities introduced in either drafting or printing and which could lead to incorrect or unsafe application of the standard.
Corrigenda are incorporated into the standard in the same way as amendments and are indicated by tags in the text. The identifier and date of the standard remain unchanged. A new edition incorporating the corrections is available free of charge to customers who purchased the standard.
Adopted publications - International
8. International standards (ISO, IEC, ISO/IEC)
As a member of ISO and IEC, BSI has the option of adopting any international standard as a British Standard but does not have to do so. These are then republished as BS ISO, BS IEC or BS ISO/IEC (some standards are developed jointly by the two organizations by Joint Technical Committee 1 – JTC1). ISO and IEC standards are routinely adopted as BSs unless:
- the UK voted against them when they were being developed
- the subject is irrelevant to the UK.
Other international publications
BSI British Standards has the option of adopting other types of international publications that do not have the status of full standards; however, we rarely do so. These are:
9. International Workshop Agreements (IWA)
There is a procedure in ISO for a group of interested parties to get together in a workshop to agree a ‘standard’ without going through the normal committee process or comment period. This agreement is then published by ISO but cannot claim to represent the views of anyone except the participants in the workshop. BSI could theoretically adopt these in the same way as they adopt a standard. This procedure has only been used a couple of times, but this may increase in future.
10. Industry Technical Agreements (ITA)
This is the IEC version of the IWA. There are none at present.
11. ISO or IEC Technical Report (ISO/TR or IEC/TR)
These are purely informative documents and do not function as standards. When adopted in the UK they are designated PD ISO/TR or PD ISO/TR.
12. ISO or IEC Technical Specifications (ISO/TS or IEC/TS)
This is a document representing the technical consensus of a Technical Committee but does not require the full consensus of an international standard. They require the support of two thirds of the participating members. When adopted in the UK they are designated DD ISO/TS or DD IEC/TS.
There are two types of TS:
- ‘Pre-standardization’ publications, where the subject is still under development or it is known from the beginning that a standard will not be possible to attain at this stage
- TSs that were developed as standards but failed to secure sufficient support at the FDIS stage. BSI would adopt a TS as a Draft for Development (DD).
13. ISO or IEC Publicly Available Specification (ISO/PAS or IEC/PAS)
These are documents that represent a consensus within an ISO working group, but not the full consensus of a standard or even the degree of consensus required for a TS (e.g. they can be passed by a simple majority of participating members, rather than a two-thirds majority).
In IEC a PAS may also be a ‘dual logo’ standard developed in collaboration with an external organization (for example, one of the American standards bodies, such as IEEE).
14. Draft International Standard (DIS)
This is the enquiry draft of an ISO standard equivalent to BSI’s Draft for Public Comment (DPC). BSI commonly publishes them as DPCs, but may simply distribute them at the same price as an equivalent DPC.
15. Final Draft Standard (FDIS)
When all the comments on a DIS have been considered a final draft is circulated to ISO members for vote. This draft, the FDIS, is not usually sold to customers – ISO 9000:2000 was a rare exception.
16. Technical Corrigenda
ISO and IEC issue corrigenda to correct drafting or printing errors in standards, Technical Specifications or Publicly Available Specifications, if the error affects the understanding of the publication. They are published as separate documents. BSI commonly edits them into the national adoption and issues a new edition, as we would do with an amendment.
17. Amendments
An amendment is published to add to the previously agreed provisions of a standard. They are published as separate documents but BSI incorporates them in national adoptions and reissues the adopted standard as a new edition.
Adopted publications - European
18. European Standards (BS ENs)
As a member of CEN and CENELEC, BSI is obliged to adopt all European Standards and to withdraw any national standards that might conflict with them (this is why we sometimes change the status of a standard from BS to PD if we want to keep it on the market). They are published in the UK as BS EN.
19. European Draft Standard (prEN)
This is the European equivalent of a DPC or a DIS. It is published by BSI as a DPC.
20. Ratified Text
This is the final text produced by CEN or CENELEC and sent to members for publishing as a national standard (BS EN). Although it is an administrative document, we have sold ratified texts in the past, because of publishing delays.
21. European Pre-standard (ENV)
These were similar to BSI’s Draft for Development. They were used in areas where a technology was still changing. It was not necessary to withdraw any conflicting national standards. They have been replaced by Technical Specifications.
22. Technical Specifications (TS)
This is a ‘standard’ which failed to achieve sufficient support to be ratified, but is still useful. They often refer to rapidly evolving technologies or to subjects where full consensus could not be obtained but may be achieved in the future when there is experience of the TS in use.
23. Technical Report (TR)
Document adopted by CEN/CENELEC containing informative material not suitable to be published as a European standard or a technical specification.
24. Guide
This is a publication by CEN or CENELEC relating to standardization principles or practice. They are often free of charge.
25. Harmonization Document (HD)
These are only issued by CENELEC and have fallen into disuse. They have the status of standards and require the withdrawal of conflicting national standards.
Correspondences
There are no exact correspondences between the different types of publication at national, European and international level, because of differences in their exact definitions.
