As the U.S. member body to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) seeks comments by July 28, 2023, on a proposal for a new ISO standard and project committee on Cultural Heritage Conservation.
Within the ISO Technical Management Board (ISO/TMB), there is an internal process where ISO/TMB members are able to review and comment on draft proposals for new areas of ISO work. This allows the proposer to gain some input from the ISO/TMB, which the proposer may consider, and revise/improve the proposal before it goes out for formal voting to ISO members.
The Standardization Administration of China (SAC), the ISO member for China, submitted a draft proposal for a new area of ISO work—Cultural Heritage Conservation—for this initial ISO/TMB review and comments. The scope is as follows:
"Standardization in the field of terminology, technologies, materials, and equipment for monitoring, evaluation, preservation, and restoration of cultural heritage. Note: Limited to tangible cultural heritage. If an overlap or the potential for overlap with other TC/SC is identified, coordination with related TC/SC should be sought by contacting or working with working groups."
The proposal asserts that the establishment of a Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage Conservation will make significant contributions to the conservation of cultural heritage with regards to:
Read the proposal and submit comments to Steven Cornish, ANSI senior director of international policy and strategy, [email protected], by close of business on Friday, July 28. Based on comments received, ANSI’s ISO TMB representative will produce a set of comments for submittal in this informal review.