The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) is calling on representatives from industry and other stakeholder categories to participate in SABS standards development subcommittees.

It warns that there is a risk that some information technology (IT) standards may be withdrawn if there is insufficient industry participation in the relevant SABS technical committees.

The SABS Technical Committee 001 (IT) is the main committee responsible for the governance of all IT subcommittees.

“TC 001 requires industry representatives with the requisite technical expertise to participate in the various subcommittees that will enable the approval and development of new standards projects, as well as reaffirm the relevance of existing national standards.

“Standards in the industry range from printer cartridges, computers, IT accessories, to infrastructure and IT security,” the standards body says.

Currently, there are several updated IT and related standards available from international standards organisations that could be of great importance for South Africa to adopt as South African National Standards (SANS).

However, this requires an established SABS technical committee with diverse member representation to consider and recommend standards to be developed, says SABS Standards divisional head Dr Sadhvir Bissoon.

“The SABS actively encourages relevant stakeholders within this sector to submit their interest to participate in the SABS standards development committees. A committee that is inactive will result in the industry not having state-of-the-art and relevant technical solutions to support innovation and industrialisation of the sector,” he adds.

“A further risk is the possibility of withdrawing the current list of national standards within this sector owing to the inability of reaffirming these standards, which is conducted through the SABS technical committees and subcommittees.”

National standards evolve over the years to reflect societal, environmental and technological changes and it is imperative that industries get more involved and participate in national standards that will impact the way the industry operates thereby meeting market needs, Bissoon states.

SABS, therefore, invites representatives from industry and other stakeholder categories to submit an interest to participate in SABS standards development subcommittees, namely the TC0001/SC28 Office Equipment, the TC0001/SC32 Data Management and Interchange, the TC0001/SC34 Document Description and Processing Languages, and the TC0001/SC35 User Interfaces subcommittees.

“A range of IT standards will be impacted should the SABS not be successful in achieving the requisite industry stakeholder representation and participation in the SABS subcommittees.

“Participation in and membership of the SABS technical committees are free of charge and on a voluntary basis. The SABS kindly requests relevant stakeholders to submit their interest to participate in any of the subcommittees.”