193 National Standards in the Environmental Sector, Recognition of Equivalent Foreign Effectiveness

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] In the future, environmental measurement analysis results tested domestically are expected to be recognized with equal validity overseas.

The National Institute of Environmental Research under the Ministry of Environment recently announced on the 17th that the harmonization improvement work of 193 national standards in the environmental field with international standards (ISO) has been completed.

This will reduce costs for product and technology development in the environmental sector and also favorably affect the overseas business expansion of domestic technologies.

The 193 national standards in the environmental field reflected user demands and changes in international standards, starting draft review in February last year, and completed the harmonization work with international standards over one year through the Industrial Standards Deliberation Committee composed of experts from the public and private sectors as well as academia and research institutes.

Specifically, these include ▲58 standards in the water environment field ▲63 standards in the soil field ▲6 standards in the air environment field ▲5 standards in the air emission source field ▲9 standards in the microbiology field ▲8 standards in the water supply and sewage service field ▲16 standards in the community noise field ▲11 standards in the flow measurement field ▲11 standards in the product environmental friendliness field ▲1 standard in the indoor air quality field ▲5 standards in the transportation environment field. The original texts can be viewed on the 'e-Nara Standard Certification System.'

In particular, among the 11 national standards in the product environmental friendliness field, the ‘Bisphenol A measurement method in paper products’ can be used as a standard test method for eco-friendly product certification, and is expected to have high policy utilization. Also, among the 63 soil field standards, 14 national standards from sample collection preparation to packaging, transportation, storage, and preservation have been harmonized with international standards, which is expected to assist overseas expansion in related fields such as environmental testing.

The National Institute of Environmental Research plans to conduct a utilization survey for users and review changes in international standards for 67 national standards due for review this year, and to carry out harmonization work to meet international criteria through the Industrial Standards Deliberation Committee.

Shin Seon-gyeong, head of the Environmental Infrastructure Research Division at the National Institute of Environmental Research, said, “This year, we will take the opportunity to propose Korea’s unique national standards established last year to the International Organization for Standardization to promote the competitiveness of domestic environmental measurement and analysis technologies worldwide.”

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