Page 30 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

14 1 Introduction

In Germany, the discussion on valuation has, during the final years of the 1990s,
increased to such an extent that
• the former Minister of the Environment, Angela Merkel, 63) joined the
discussion;
• the association of the German Industry (BDI) published a widely noticed policy
brief 64) and
• UBA Berlin elaborated an ISO-conformal valuation methodology. 65)

1.4
Standardisation of LCA

1.4.1
Process of Formation

LCA standards ISO 14040 and 14044 belong to the ISO 14000 family concerning
various aspects of environmental management (Figure 1.5).
The committee responsible for DIN in Germany is the NAGUS. 66) Similar
committees existed in other countries. National propositions are brought together
in the Technical Committee 207 (TC 207) of the ISO at international level.
All nations that are members of TC 207 by their standardisation organisations
participate and international standards are developed. Generally, this process takes
several years.
LCA standardisation by national standardisation organisations 67) and, above all,
68)
by ISO has been conducted since the beginning of the 1990s with great effort. This
was difficult to achieve because individual phases of LCA – in particular, Impact
Assessment and Interpretation – were still under technical/scientific development.
On a national level, only two standardisation organisations have developed their
own LCA standards before ISO 14040 was enacted: AFNOR (Association Franc¸aise
de Normalisation, France) and CSA (Canadian Standards Association, Canada).
To date, a singular internationally accepted standardisation is aimed at promoting
international communication, and this is why France and Canada have stepped
into the ISO process.
The most important standardisation activity for LCA is therefore conducted
by ISO. European Standardisations (Comit´ eEurop´ een de Normalisation, CEN)
and their subsequent national organisations adapt ISO regulations and translate
them into their individual languages (CEN 14040 standards are available in three

63) Merkel (1997).
64) BDI (1999).
65) Schmitz and Paulini (1999).
66) Normenausschuss Grundlagen des Umweltschutzes (Environmental Protection Standards Com-
mittee).
67) e.g. CSA (1992), DIN-NAGUS (1994) and AFNOR (1994).
68) ISO (1997, 1998, 2000a,b), Marsmann (1997), Saur (1997) and Kl¨ uppel (1997, 2002).
69) Normenausschuss Grundlagen des Umweltschutzes (NAGUS) in DIN Deutsches Institut f¨ ur
Normung e. V. (2013).