Every child knows the „DIN A4“ paper format. DIN EN ISO 11664-4 (formerly DIN 6174) describes the CIELAB colour space, an important part of our work. These are just two examples of the thousands of standards published and managed by the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN), which we all have to deal with on a daily basis.
The German Institute for Standardisation e.V. celebrated its 100th birthday in 2017. It is fair to say that standardisation has since had a beneficial effect on the lives of all market participants (or rather almost all: except for that of a previous monopolist) through more rational production, compatibility, comparability, falling prices.
„DIN is the independent platform for standardisation in Germany and worldwide,“ is how DIN defines its tasks on its website today. Two excerpts from the statutes:
The task (purpose) of DIN is to initiate, organise, control and moderate standardisation and standardisation for the benefit of the general public while safeguarding the public interest in orderly and transparent procedures. The work results serve innovation, safety and understanding in business, science, administration and the public as well as quality assurance and rationalisation and occupational, environmental and consumer protection. The results of the work are published and their application is promoted. (...)
As a technical and scientific association, DIN promotes science and research and pursues exclusively and directly charitable purposes within the meaning of the „tax-privileged purposes“ section of the German Tax Code. DIN is a non-profit organisation. It does not primarily pursue its own economic purposes. DIN may only use its funds for the purposes set out in its statutes. DIN may not favour any person through expenditure that is alien to the purposes of DIN or through disproportionately high remuneration. Members shall not receive any benefits from the organisation's funds.
We are happy to endorse this transparently presented objective, which is oriented towards the common good. In our view, there is a lack of meaningful (freely calculable and open) standardisation from a neutral body (not primarily interested in self-interest), especially in the colour sector.
We have therefore joined DIN e.V. as a member. A first project in this context is the development of the DIN SPEC „Open Colour Communication“ (see Blog entry). We are looking forward to working together - let's see what all comes of it.
