Announcement of Signing of MoU between JSA Group and CSA Group
April 28, 2020
Japanese Standards Association

Left: Toshio Ibi, JSA Group President
Right: Ms. Mary Cianchett, President of Standards, CSA Group

1. Overview
JSA is pleased to announce that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between JSA
Group and Canadian Standard Association (CSA Group), Canada’s largest standards
developing organization (SDO), was signed on April 10, 2020.
JSA Group and CSA Group intend to promote coordination between the two organizationsin international standardization based on the signed MoU.
2. Background
Factors such as economic and social globalization, rapid technological innovation anddigitalization have led to the growing need for establishing a network in standardization workwith different stakeholders in different countries.
In addition, the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have transformative
economic, social and environmental impacts on the world.
The situational changes are contributing to the emergence of the need for global
coordination for addressing new standardization needs associated with the changes.

Reflecting this, JSA Group and CSA Group have agreed to recognize the anticipatedgrowth in the importance of increasing coordination among major SDOs and sign the MoU inorder to increase opportunities for standardization-related information exchange and promotefurther cooperation in developing international standards including ISO/IEC standards.
Prior to the signing of the MoU with CSA Group, JSA had signed a cooperation agreementwith BSI (UK), DIN and DKE (Germany), AFNOR (France) as well as CAS (China).
3. Expected results of the MoU
The signing of the MoU is believed to result in enhanced coordination between JSA Groupand CSA Group in standardization activities taking place in North America, enabling
cooperation in a wide range of projects for developing standards ranging from private
standards to international standards including ISO/IEC standards.
Furthermore, establishing cooperation agreements with major SDOs in Europe, Asia as well
as North America is expected to lead to enhanced coordination between JSA Group and such
SDOs in international standardization activities, allowing JSA Group to extend its ability todeliver standardization solutions as well as services designed to meet our customers’
individual needs.
To this end, efforts are being made to further build a cooperative relationship with othersuch SDOs.
4. Overview of the MoUa)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)

Promote and enhance their communication with a view to achieving a better mutual
understanding of their activities and functions;Share knowledge and exchange best practices regarding their respective standardizationactivities;
Facilitate cooperation on issues of mutual interest;
Conduct meetings and exchange information between the two organizations, in order tocontinue building their staff knowledge capacity;
Explore the possibility of organizing and sponsoring conference, workshops, seminars
and technical symposia on standardization;
Exchange information on legislative and regulatory acts in the field of standardization;andExchange information on possible programs and projects of mutual interest for standards
development.

5. Overview of CSA GroupThe Canadian Standards Association (CSA Group) is the country’s largest SDO and wasestablished more than 100 years ago. The group consists of a non-profit organization
conducting activities for standards development, publication and education, and a for-profit
organization conducting activities for testing, inspection and certification.