UL Standards Development

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UL Standards Development
UL

• Sonya Bird
• Presented at 2003 CANENA Meetings
• Merida MEXICO

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Historical Perspective

• 100 Year Standards Development History!!!
• UL published its first standard, UL 10 (Standard
  for Tin-Clad Fire Doors) in 1903
• Currently, there are over 800 UL standards,
  covering more than 14,000 different product
  categories

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Statistical Perspective

• gt75 UL IEC-based standards
• 56 UL/CSA harmonized standards
• 18 UL/CSA/ANCE harmonized standards
• 70 of UL standards are ANSI approved

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A Standard of Excellence

• UL utilizes the equivalent of 150 full-time staff
  annually to
• Maintain current UL standards
• Harmonize standards
• Develop new UL standards

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Just how are UL standards developed?

• Standards Development Method for UL Standards
• Marriage of the Minds Standards Development
  involving Harmonization

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A Standards Primer

• ANSI The American National Standards Institute
• ANSI does not develop its own standards.
  Instead, ANSI accredits standards development
  organizations to develop national standards.
• ANSI approval of a standard indicates that
  consensus among directly and materially affected
  interests has been reached through a system of
  due process and open standards development
  process.

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A Standards Primer

• Continuous Maintenance
• A method of obtaining ANSI approval where each
  proposed revision goes through the consensus
  process before it is adopted and published.
• Continuous Maintenance keeps the ANSI approved
  version of the standard current with the latest
  version of the UL standard.

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A Standards Primer

• STP Standards Technical Panel
• For an ANSI standard, the STP is the consensus
  body, and is generally a balanced group.

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A Standards Primer

• STP Meetings
• Meetings are open
• Meetings are for discussion and consensus
  building
• No formal balloting will be conducted at meetings
• No Quorum needed
• Generally the Chair is responsible for calling
  for a meeting but STP members may submit requests
  to the Chair for a meeting
• STP Meetings can be held to discuss proposals or
  to resolve comments submitted as a result of
  balloting

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Who is on an STP?

• Producers
• Primarily manufacturers of the products covered
  by the standard.
• Generally does not include trade associations,
  manufacturers associations, or producers of
  components of products used in products covered
  by the standard, or producers of end products
  using products covered by the standard.

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Who is on an STP?

• Users
• Consumers
• Authorities having jurisdiction
• Regulatory agencies
• Distributors
• Retailers
• Safety associations
• Certification organizations
• Component manufacturers

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Who is on an STP?

• General Interests
• Trade associations
• Professional and lay people employed by academic
  and scientific institutions
• Experts
• Government agencies in a non-regulatory capacity
• Insurance companies
• Utilities

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ULs Standards Development Method

• Combines ULs standards development method with
  the ANSI consensus method
• Features continuous maintenance using STPs
• A method of maintaining ANSI approval where each
  proposed revision goes through the consensus
  process before it is adopted and published

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ULs Standards Development Process

• Steps of STP Process
• FLOWCHART 1

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Steps of STP Process

• UL (or others) submit proposals
• Requests for proposed change may originate from
  many different sources, including UL staff, STP
  members, manufacturers, AHJs.

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Steps of STP Process

• Hold Meeting (Optional)
• A meeting may be held in order to discuss the
  proposals before they are distributed for ballot.
  
• This could be a meeting of the STP or a working
  group.

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Steps of STP Process

• Send Proposal to STP for Balloting
• Send out for Public and Subscriber Review
• UL has combined several steps into one the STP
  reviews and ballots proposals simultaneous to the
  UL Subscribers and the Public Review steps.
• Typical ballot timeframes are
• 45 days for ballot
• 45 days for public review
• (These occur simultaneously)

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Steps of STP Process

• Review and Respond to Comments
• UL prepares a Comment Disposition table that
  includes all comments received and the response.
• The responses may be developed following a
  meeting of an STP or working group tasked with
  reviewing the comments.

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Steps of STP Process

• Recirculate Continuing Negative Ballots and
  Proposed Disposition to Full Consensus Body to
  Give Them the Opportunity to Change Their Votes
• The Comment Disposition Table is shared with the
  entire STP.
• An STP member may choose to change the vote
  previously submitted based on all comments and
  responses.

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Steps of STP Process

• If Consensus is Achieved
• Notify objectors of their right to appeal.
  Conduct an appeal hearing, if necessary.
• Submit to ANSI for approval and publish when
  approved.

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Steps of STP Process

• If Consensus is Not Achieved
• Do not publish as ANSI/UL requirements.
• Proposal may be revised and re-submitted through
  the system.

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Benefits of ULs STP Process

• There are fewer steps involved in the process.
  Previously, UL would have presented a proposal to
  the IAC for review, then to the subscribers, and
  finally, following publication, to the consensus
  body for ANSI approval.

• The STP Process represents an improvement over
  the previous standards development method used by
  UL.

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ULs STP Process and Harmonization

• When UL Co-publishes a standard with another
  organization, the procedures of all organizations
  must be met.
• Commitment for Amendments Statement

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Commitment for Amendments

• This standard is issued jointly by the
  Association of Standardization and Certification
  (ANCE), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA),
  and Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL).
  Comments or proposals for revisions on any part
  of the standard may be submitted to ANCE, CSA, or
  UL at any time

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Commitment for Amendments (cont)

• Revisions to this standard will be made only
  after processing according to the standards
  development procedures of ANCE, CSA, and UL.

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Harmonization - A Marriage of the Minds

• Harmonization Coordination
• THC Tool

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STP Process and Harmonization

• FLOWCHART 2

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Harmonization and the UL Process

• Working groups could meet to discuss proposals
  and to resolve comments
• Basically the THC is this working group
• Proposals and comments from all involved SDOs
  considered together
• THCs make recommendations to SDOs on how to
  address proposals
• THCs make recommendations to SDOs on responses
  for comments generated and on additional proposed
  changes
• All actions of THC must be approved by the STP

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UL Standards Development

• For more information, check out the UL standards
  website at
• http//ulstandardsinfonet.ul.com/

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UL Standards Development

• Please contact me with any questions regarding
  ULs Standards Development Process and
  Harmonization
• Sonya Bird
• UL Global Standards
• [phone]
• Sonya.M.Bird_at_us.ul.com