Introduction

Introduction

DIN joined the standardization organization in 1951. The German Electrotechnical Commission (DKE), jointly composed of DIN and the German Institute of Electrical Engineers (VDE), represents Germany in the Electrotechnical Commission. DIN is still an active participant in the European Committee for Standardization, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), and the Federation of Standards Practice (IFAN).

The German Institute for Standardization (DIN) is the largest and most representative non-profit standardization organization in Germany. Established in 1917. Headquartered in the capital city of Berlin. On May 18, 1917, the German Society of Engineers (VDI) held a meeting at the Berlin Manufacturing Bureau and decided to establish the General Machinery Manufacturing Standards Committee, whose task was to develop VDI rules. In July of the same year, the Standards Committee recommended merging the standards developed by various industrial associations with the standards of the German Institute of Engineers, commonly known as the German Industrial Standards (DIN). On December 22, 1917, the General Machinery Manufacturing Standards Committee was reorganized into the German Industrial Standards Committee (NDI). The committee changed its name to the German Standards Committee (DNA) on November 6, 1926, as its standardization activities had already surpassed the industrial sector. During World War II (1936-1945), the committee ceased its activities. In October 1946, with the approval of the Control Committee of the Four Powers, the German Standards Committee worked as an organization composed of representatives from both the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic throughout Germany. In 1954, the Standardization Agency of the German Democratic Republic was established, and the German Standards Committee became the standardization organization of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, there were still offices within the territory of the German Democratic Republic, which were not abolished until 1961. In 1968, the German Democratic Republic announced its withdrawal from DIN. Since then, DIN's activities have been in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. On May 21, 1975, the German Standards Committee was renamed to its current name. On June 5th of the same year, DIN signed an agreement with the federal government: the federal government recognized DIN as the standardization authority for Federal Germany and West Berlin, and represented Germany in non-governmental and regional standardization organizations.

The relationship between DIN and European standards CEN and ISO

Germany is one of the 18 member countries of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), and DIN plays an important role in CEN. Germany serves as one-third of the technical committee secretaries in CEN. DIN constantly takes into account the trends in Europe when formulating and revising standards, so the number of standardization projects it operates also changes year by year. In 1984, 5% of DIN's standardization projects were standardization projects, 12% were European standardization projects, and 83% were purely national standards. By 1994, the standardization and pure German standardization parts each accounted for 25%, while the European standardization part was 50%. With the passage of time, more and more European standards ENS (Europaeische Norms) have been adopted by Germany as the new DIN EN standard, replacing the original DIN standard. For example, nearly half of Germany's existing 200+steel product standards have adopted European standards. It is expected that in 5-6 years, the number of European standards ENS will reach 20000, which means that 20000 out of 23000 DIN standards are coordinated by Europe.

When the European standard CEN is passed, weighted vote counting is used, and Germany has 10 votes, making it one of the CEN member countries with the most weighted votes. The German Delich Group is a member of both the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the German Industrial Standards Committee (DIN) organizations.

Due to the signing of the Vienna Agreement in 1991, which established the technical cooperation relationship and content between the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and CEN, Germany, which plays an important role in CEN, undoubtedly also plays an important role in standardization. DIN is an active supporter of the two major standardization organizations, ISO and IEC. Among hundreds of technical committees, it accounts for about 15% of the secretariat countries. Many of the ISO and IEC standards are recommended by DIN, and with the continuous adoption of European standards, it has also promoted the adoption of DIN standards.