Hierarchy of standards

To give credibility to a certification, can we follow any standard? What type of standards should Brazil follow? These are questions we sometimes ask ourselves when we go to buy a product or hire a service.

As we saw in the previous post "Credibility in Conformity Assessment", one of the 3 pillars of certification is the choice of the normative basis, that is, selecting the technical standard(s) that the product or service must (m) compliance is very important and must meet the objectives of the Certification Rule. There are standards that deal with safety, some with performance, others with the management system model, test methods, terminology, and other objectives. Certifiable standards are those that define REQUIREMENTS and criteria that products/services must comply with. A standard that defines a test method is not certifiable, as it does not contain requirements but rather indicates "how to perform" a specific test and will serve as a reference for laboratory accreditation, for example.

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Within the SBAC - Brazilian Conformity Assessment System, a priority is defined for the use of standards:

• Priority 1 - Brazilian standard (NBR), Regulatory Standards, IN - normative instructions, and/or decrees, laws,

• Priority 2 - when there is no Brazilian standard, priority is for International standards for which Brazil has a multilateral agreement, namely: ISO, IEC

• Priority 3 - when none of the first 2 exist, a regional standard can be used (CE, Mercosur, EN, ...)

• Priority 4 - national standard, even if of foreign origin (e.g. ANSI, DIN, VDE, )

• Priority 5 - association standards (industries, CBs, ...)

Comparing the currently existing standards (2024), there is no specific NBR standard for Data Center infrastructure, so the priority would be an international standard - the ISO/IEC 22237-X series. In Brazil, this series is not yet known by the Data Center market, which has been opting for ANSI-TIA-942B, which is a "national" standard created by an industry association, but published by a standardization body (ANSI).

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What is the difference between an ANSI or NBR standard and a standard from an association or a company, for example? Standards published by a standardizing body follow an internationally accepted rite and have legitimacy, as the draft standard goes through an analysis process by a balanced group of experts representing society and the government and then, through a public consultation, where any citizen You can give your suggestions, approve or disapprove the draft standard.

A certification has more credibility, for example, in a dispute, whether judicial, related to insurance, or even in a bidding process, if the basis of the certification is a recognized standard.