Standards Bodies

There are a number of international bodies which issue standards which may be applied to exports. Please see a number of these bodies listed below.

N.B. If there is any body which you think should be listed here, please let us know.

Associations
Caribbean Regional Organisation for Standards & Quality
An Inter-Governmental Organisation among the fifteen Member States of the Caribbean Community. CROSQ is the regional centre for promoting efficiency and competitive production in goods and services, through the process of standardization and the verification of quality.
Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB)
CDSB is an international consortium of business and environmental NGOs. We are committed to advancing and aligning the global mainstream corporate reporting model to equate natural capital with financial capital. We do this by offering companies a framework for reporting environmental information with the same rigour as financial information. In turn this helps them to provide investors with decision-useful environmental information via the mainstream corporate report, enhancing the efficient allocation of capital. Regulators also benefit from compliance-ready materials.
ECS - European Committee for Standardization (CEN)
The information in these pages include data on the CEN Community (Members, Affiliates, Partner Standardization Bodies, Partner organizations), Technical Bodies and Standardization work programmes, information on standards: the forecast of publication of new standards. The data are available in English, French and German.
European Accreditation
EA, the European co-operation for Accreditation, is a not-for-profit association, registered in the Netherlands. It is formally appointed by the European Commission in Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 to develop and maintain a multilateral agreement of mutual recognition, the EA MLA, based on a harmonized accreditation infrastructure.
Global Sourcing Association, The (GSA)
The industry association and professional body for strategic sourcing. We are the home of the Global Sourcing Standard and are passionate about the promotion of best practice and the upskilling of talent across the global strategic sourcing industry!
International Accreditation Forum
Association of European Certification Bodies. Provides a focus for the formulation of policy, opinions and views in matters of common interest to its members.
NAICS Association
The NAICS Association offers Free & Paid Resources for Businesses of All Sizes.
The European Committee for Standardization
The association that brings together the National Standardization Bodies of 34 European countries.
TIC Council.
TIC Council is an international association representing independent testing, inspection and certification companies. The TIC Council is the new voice of the Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) industry which was launched in December 2018. Born from the merger of former global TIC industry organizations IFIA and CEOC, the TIC Council brings together more than 90 member companies and organizations from around the world to speak with one voice.
Universal Postal Union
With its 192 member countries, the UPU is the primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players.

Financial
SWIFT (Bank Codes)
The BIC Search provides access to the basic BIC Information. For professional purposes, please subscribe to the new SWIFTRef Directories.

Industries
SIC Code
The leading international resource and provider of industry classification systems. SICCODE specializes in the business classification of SIC and NAICS codes for business identification, verification, and targeting. Search facility to find NAICS & SIC Codes.

Locations
UN/LOCODE
United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE). The list indicated allows obtaining the UN/LOCODE Code List 2017-1 for each country.

Organisations
ASTM International
Over 12,000 ASTM standards operate globally. Defined and set by us, they improve the lives of millions every day. Combined with our innovative business services, they enhance performance and help everyone have confidence in the things they buy and use.
Global Reporting Initiative
GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) is the independent, international organization that helps businesses and other organizations take responsibility for their impacts, by providing them with the global common language to communicate those impacts. We provide the world’s most widely used standards for sustainability reporting – the GRI Standards.
International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)
The intergovernmental organization through which Member States act together on matters related to measurement science and measurement standards.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
ISO is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 161 national standards bodies.
International Organization of Legal Metrology
The mission of the OIML is to enable economies to put in place effective legal metrology infrastructures that are mutually compatible and internationally recognized, for all areas for which governments take responsibility, such as those which facilitate trade, establish mutual confidence and harmonize the level of consumer protection worldwide.
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) is an independent nonprofit organization that sets standards to guide the disclosure of financially material sustainability information by companies to their investors. SASB Standards identify the subset of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues most relevant to financial performance in each of 77 industries. SASB also provides education and other resources that advance the use and understanding of its Standards.

Products
BSI
An open, global, multi-sector standard for efficient, accurate classification of products and services.
Global Product Classification (GPC)
GPC classifies products by grouping them into categories based on their essential properties as well as their relationships to other products. GPC offers a universal set of standards for everything from a car to a litre of milk, and for everything from camping equipment to footwear, home and appliances to toys.
Gs1
Although the barcode is our most recognisable standard, we maintain many different standards e.g. CPID, GCN, GDTI, GIAI, GINC, GRAI, GSIN, GSRN, GTIN, SSCC .
International ISBN Agency
An ISBN is essentially a product identifier used by publishers, booksellers, libraries, internet retailers and other supply chain participants for ordering, listing, sales records and stock control purposes. The ISBN identifies the registrant as well as the specific title, edition and format.
Product Codes - TARIC
TARIC, the integrated Tariff of the European Union, is a multilingual database in which are integrated all measures relating to EU customs tariff, commercial and agricultural legislation. By integrating and coding these measures, the TARIC secures their uniform application by all Member States and gives all economic operators a clear view of all measures to be undertaken when importing into the EU or exporting goods from the EU. It also makes it possible to collect EU-wide statistics for the measures concerned.
The International Standard Serial Number Centre
An intergovernmental organization which manages at the international level the identification and the description of serial publications and ongoing resources, print and online, in any subject.
United Nations Standard Products and Services Code
An open, global, multi-sector standard for efficient, accurate classification of products and services.
UN Layout Key (UNLK)
The United Nations Layout Key is a model form that incorporates agreed specifications on paper size, margins, forms design sheet and presentation of data. It indicates places for the location of specific type of information. UNLK is an essential part of the Document Alignment process as it provides templates for many trade documents.

Services
Product Codes - Combined Nomeclature
Tariff codes and Harmonized System (HS) codes made easier with Avalara Tariff Code Classification
Product Codes - SITC
Detailed structure and explanatory notes.
The ISO Standards Glossary
This glossary of international standards is designed to provide a ready reference for those seeking the title of international standards.