Standards Australia Limited

Founded	1922
Headquarters	Sydney, Australia
Website	http://www.standards.org.au/

Standards Australia was established in 1922 and is recognised through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commonwealth Government as the peak non-government standards development body in Australia. It is a company limited by guarantee, with 72 members representing groups interested in the development and application of standards and related products and services. Through its Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian Government, it is Australia's member of the two major international standardising organisations, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (the IEC).^[1]

Standards Australia also sells consultancy services to business, regarding standards compliance issues. Since 1991, Standards Australia has run the annual Australian International Design Awards.^[2]

In 2003 Standards Australia disposed of its principal commercial interests in Publishing and Assurance Services when it floated its subsidiary company SAI Global Ltd on the Australian Stock Exchange. Initially it retained a 40% interest in SAI Global, but progressively sold this shareholding down to zero, enabling it to focus exclusively on its core business of developing and managing its collection of 7000 Australian Standards and representing Australia's interests in international standardisation.

[edit] Controversy

Standards Australia was criticised over the way it represented Australia's position in Microsoft's quest to have its OOXML document format ratified as a standard with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Computer magazine ITWire described Standard Australia's decision to cast an "abstain" vote as "bizarre".^[3] In February, 2008, it was revealed the delegation that Standards Australia sent to the ISO included Rick Jelliffe, who was associated with the pro-OOXML position and had previously done paid consultancy work for Microsoft.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Standards Australia website