Different types of standards

What are the different types

of standard?
Standards all have the same basic purpose of setting out agreed
principles or criteria so that their users can make reliable
assumptions about a particular product, service or practice.
However, they can vary in two major respects:
 the type of agreement
 the number of people, organizations or countries who were
involved in making the agreement.
In some standards, the type of agreement essentially amounts to
advice and guidance; others are much more prescriptive and set out
absolute requirements that have to be met if a user wishes to make
a claim of compliance with the standard.
Different subject areas and different user groups have needs for
differing forms and levels of standardization, and BSI tries to cater
for all these needs.

British Standards
Most standards published by BSI carry the status of “British
Standard”. This indicates that they have been developed using the
processes set out in BS 0, A standard for standards. The principal
characteristic of a British Standard is that it is produced by a
process that involves:
 a committee – a widely-based group of experts nominated by
organizations who have an interest in the content and
application of the standard
 consultation – making a draft available for scrutiny and
comment to anyone who might be interested in it
 consensus – the principle that the content of the standard is
decided by general agreement of as many as possible of the
committee members, rather than by majority voting.
This process reinforces the authority of the standard and helps to
ensure that it will be accepted by a very wide range of people who
might be interested in applying it.
British Standards may be developed entirely within the UK by BSI
committees, or, in most cases, are adoptions of international
standards developed under very similar processes and, almost
always, involving strong UK participation.
Read more about becoming a committee member >

PASs
A PAS is in many respects similar to a British Standard. However it
is always developed in response to a commission by an external
sponsor who funds a resource-intensive process which allows it to
be developed and published quickly to satisfy an immediate
business need.
Read more about developing a PAS >
Other standards
Some standards don’t need to be backed by the same degree of
public consultation and consensus. In many cases they are
provisional, and subject to further development on the basis of
experience gained during the first year or two of their use.
These include standard-type documents that don’t have the same
status as British Standards and come under the catch-all category
of Published Documents (PD).
We can also help design and implement private standards designed
primarily for use within a company or organization and with its
suppliers, or by a group of organizations forming part of a
membership body.

Categories of standards
Most standards can be categorized according to the function they
need to perform. The most common is the Specification, which is a
highly prescriptive standard setting out detailed absolute
requirements. It is commonly used for product safety purposes or
for other applications where a high degree of certainty and
assurance is required by its user community.
Codes of practice recommend sound good practice as currently
undertaken by competent and conscientious practitioners. They are
drafted to incorporate a degree of flexibility in application, whilst
offering reliable indicative benchmarks. They are commonly used in
the construction and civil engineering industries.
Methods are also highly prescriptive, setting out an agreed way of
measuring, testing or specifying what is reliably repeatable in
different circumstances and places, wherever it needs to be applied.
A Vocabulary is a set of terms and definitions to help harmonize the
use of language in a particular subject or discipline.
Guides are published to give less prescriptive advice which reflects
the current thinking and practice amongst experts in a particular
subject.
Other categories of standard can be employed as necessary.