Introducing the Corresponding Committee on Reference Materials of the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI/REMCO)

Committee on reference materials (REMCO) is a part of the international organization forstandardization (ISO) with the aim of compilation and presentation of international standardson reference materials. It has members from National Organizations for Standardization of themembership countries, including Iran. ISO has several technical committees, and REMCO issettled in its headquarter in Switzerland. 32 countries are participating (P) members and 40countries are observer members of REMCO. Iran is a P member with the right of voting [1].REMCO consisted of a main committee, a consultative group, two special groups and fourworking groups, targeting preparation of standards in the field of reference materials andcommunicating with the other technical committees of ISO as well as any other organizationsacting in the field of reference materials. So far, 9 international standards have been releasedby this committee and three standards are in progress [2]. In Iran, secretary of correspondingtechnical committee of REMCO is in Sistan and Baluchistan which is actively participate inthe development of international standards, with over 70 professional members. Currently, anational standard associated with the reference material is being prepared with close contributionof Iran Nanotechnology Innovation Council. Reference materials are referred to thosethat are sufficiently homogeneous and stable according to specific properties and used to controland trace the results of measurements and also to validate measurement methods, calibrateof equipments, control of the performance of methods and staff and compare with interlaboratory results. They are used in almost all aspects of today s life, since these materials arecritical to control the quality of products. In the quality management systems that require laboratoryapprovals for the issuance of national and international standards such as ISO 9000and ISO 17025, the use of reference materials is compulsory. All persons and organizationsdealing with reference materials, academicians, industries, etc. can participate in the compilationof national and international standards and also in the developing of the internationalstandards dealing with reference materials through ISIRI/REMCO.