Middle Class Association: The International Organization For Standardization Geosynthetics Technical Committee Held Successfully In Tai'An

On November 21, the 21st plenary meeting of the International Organization for Standardization Geosynthetics Technical Committee (ISO/TC 221), organized by the China Industrial Textiles Industry Association (CCA), was successfully held in Tai'an. Representatives from 31 countries and regions, including China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, and South Korea Attended the meeting online. The meeting was chaired by Peter Atchison, chairman of ISO/TC 221. Before the plenary meeting, WG2, WG3, WG4, WG5 and WG6 working groups held working group meetings on November 19-20, respectively.

Li Guimei, president of the Middle Class Association, led the Chinese delegation to attend the meeting and delivered a speech. In her speech, she said that ISO/TC 221 has always been committed to promoting the standardization and standardization development of the global geosynthetics industry, promoted the improvement of product quality, international trade facilitation and ecological environment improvement, and made outstanding contributions to the sustainable development of the global economy and society; Chinese experts have done a lot of work in the study of ISO draft standards, testing and verification of technical indicators, voting suggestions and comments, and contributed to the integration and development of national standards and international standards, and the transformation of international standards. She said that Chinese experts would also, as always, actively participate in the preparation and revision of TC 221 standard, especially for the technical innovation and sustainability of geosynthetics, and would increase research efforts. She hoped to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with peers from all countries, jointly solve key technical problems in the application of geosynthetics, and promote the common development of global industry standards.

At this plenary meeting, the draft report of the 20th plenary meeting held in Ankara, Turkey last year was considered and adopted; David Hyde, the manager of ISO/TC 221 Committee, made a report on the work of the secretariat, sharing the current status of TC 221 standards, project progress, member states, and the next work plan with the participants; The conveners of each working group introduced the meetings of the group and the publication of the standards in groups, and explained the progress of the standards being reviewed, formulated or revised. In order to let the participants have a more comprehensive understanding of the latest situation of geosynthetics standards of other relevant organizations, the meeting also specially arranged the convener of WG 3 Working Group Daniele Cazzuffi (former chairman of the International Geosynthetics Society, current chairman of the Geosynthetics Technical Committee of the European Committee for Standardization) and WG 5 Working Group Sam Allen (chairman of the International Geosynthetics Society) The latest progress of CEN/TC 189 and ASTM D35 standards is briefly introduced. In addition, the session also appointed/reappointed the conveners of the working groups, and adopted six resolutions, including the review results of the standard system, the expansion of the working scope of WG 6 working group, and the publication of new standards.

At the WG 5 working group meeting, Zhang Pengcheng, the director of the Engineering Testing Department of Three Gorges Shanghai Survey, Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., presented in detail the new ISO work project proposal "Geosynthetics UV Resistance Fluorescent Ultraviolet Lamp Method" proposed by China, and gave a detailed explanation and explanation to the problems raised by foreign experts at the meeting; At the WG 3 working group meeting, Zhu Tiange, senior engineer of Sinopec (Beijing) Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., explained in detail the necessity of revising ISO 13426-1:2019 Geotextiles and Related Products - Internal Structure Connection Strength - Part 1: Geocell, and proposed that China should take the lead in revising the standard. The new ISO work project proposal and the revised standard proposal put forward by Chinese experts were both appreciated and recognized by the convener of the working group. Later, the Association and domestic experts will further improve the proposal based on the problems raised by the experts attending the meeting, continue to strengthen communication with foreign experts, and strive for the success of the two proposals.

　　 Overview of ISO/TC 221

ISO/TC 221, established in 2000, is responsible for the preparation and revision of geotextile, geomembrane, geosynthetic bentonite liner and other geosynthetics related products, including WG 2 terminology, identification and sampling, WG 3 mechanical properties, WG 4 hydraulic properties, and WG 5 Durability, WG 6 five working groups of design using geosynthetics, currently there are 45 current standards, and 8 standards are under preparation and revision. At present, there are 31 P members and 16 O members. The secretariat is located in the British Standards Institute (BSI). China is one of the 31 P members with voting rights. The Association was approved as the domestic technical counterpart of ISO/TC 221 in 2018. In 2019, it hosted the 16th Plenary Session of ISO/TC 221, and in 2024, it hosted the 21st Plenary Session of ISO/TC 221. At present, it has recommended 15 domestic experts to participate in the specific work of each working group as registered experts of ISO/TC 221, And on behalf of China, they voted on more than 100 standards and resolutions at various stages or proposed to make and revise comments.

(Source: China Industrial Textile Industry Association)