Who We Are
The Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC) is an independent and voluntary organisation of Pacific Rim National Standards Bodies.
PASC has 25 member countries and four Working Groups that convene to share expertise and resources on separate strategic areas of standardisation in the region.
PASC’s primary role is to support the region’s engagement in the international standardisation system for the advancement of economic, societal, and environmental well-being.
“The Asia-Pacific region accounts for over 60% of the world’s population and has the highest levels of growth in the world. International standards are essential for this region, to facilitate trade; to spread knowledge, disseminate innovative advances in technology and improve market access for goods and services. The Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC) was established in 1972 to strengthen the engagement and participation of the region in the international standardisation system.”.
PASC is strongly committed to the following objectives:
- To exchange information and views between national standards bodies and among organizations interested in standardization.
- To determine the policy and technical standardization priorities of members and establish mechanisms to address items of greatest common interest to PASC.
- To provide a geographically convenient forum to develop recommendations for communication to the international standards bodies, particularly the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
- To work with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), relevant APEC Specialist Regional Bodies (SRBs), and multilateral agencies to support economic and technical infrastructure development and free trade in the region.
- To support and promote adherence to the provisions of relevant WTO Agreements, including the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS), among PASC member countries.
- To actively promote the benefits of standardization and conformance in the region to governments, industry, and consumers.
