The TAPPI Standards regulations require public review of standards that are up for ballot. TAPPI members can view any drafts that are in ballot by logging in to the TAPPI web site (www.tappi.org), clicking on "My TAPPI," and then clicking on the "Standards Public Draft Review" link on the left side of the page. If you would like to review and comment on any draft and are not a member of the corresponding Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG), you may view the draft on line or you may request a copy of the draft being balloted by writing to standards@tappi.org. TAPPI members may join SSIGs as permanent members; go to the Subject Category page to download forms for this purpose. Nonmembers of TAPPI may join any SSIG as a voting member; to do so, send a message to standards@tappi.org to receive a copy of the draft and a ballot.

Listed below are TAPPI Standards that have recently gone out for ballot to the corresponding Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG). The date in parentheses is the closing date for voting.

T 653 "Specular gloss of paper and paperboard at 20 degrees" (December 2, 2011)
T 1215 "The determination of instrumental color differences" (December 5, 2011)
T 1216 "Indices for whiteness, yellowness, brightness, and luminous reflectance factor" (December 9, 2011)
T 536 "Resistance of paper to passage of air (high-pressure Gurley method)" (December 23, 2011)
T 568 "Physical area of sub-visible contraries in pulp, paper, and paperboard by image analysis" (January 3, 2012)

 

T 574 pm-04 "Wax in pulp, paper and paperboard" has been withdrawn by the Quality and Standards Managmenet Committee due to lack of progress in its review. It is also a requirement in the TAPPI guidelines that Provisional Methods must be withdrawn after seven years if the standard has not been revised and upgraded to Official Method status.

Withdrawn Test Methods may be reinstated by the Standard-Specific Interest Group for that standard. Any TAPPI members interested in working toward reinstatement of T 574 should contact standards@tappi.org.

 

T 552 "Determination of wetting tension of polyolefin films and coated surfaces via the Mayer rod technique" recently came up for five-year review. The initial ballot resulted in only a 23.1% return (over 50% is required).

If the current members of the Standard-Specific Interest Group (SSIG) continue to fail to respond to ballots, they will be dropped. This is why we need to recruit more members for this SSIG in the hopes that this standard can be retained.

If you would like to join the SSIG for T 552, please send a message to standards@tappi.org no later than January 3, 2012. After that date another ballot will be attempted.

 

Classical Test Method T 665 "Analysis of talc" came up recently for ten-year review. The initial ballot to the existing SSIG only had a 25% response rate; over 50% is the minimum requirement to validate the ballot.

Some current members of the SSIG who have not responded may be dropped whenever they have missed three ballots in a row. Although it may take a couple more ballots to accomplish this, it would then result with not enough members on the SSIG to validate the SSIG (10 is the minimum).

Therefore, new members must be recruited to join the SSIG for this standard. If we are unable to constitute a valid SSIG that responds to ballots, then the standard could be in danger of withdrawal.

If you are not already a member of the SSIG for T 665 and would like to join to keep this standard active, please send a message to standards@tappi.org no later than November 18, 2011. A working group chairman has accepted the assignment for this standard and will be resolving the comments received on the first ballot so that a new draft can be balloted to the SSIG some time after November 18.

 

... that to participate in the balloting process for TAPPI Standards you must sign up for the Standard-Specific Interest Groups (SSIGs)? Although drafts for ballot are available for anyone – members or nonmembers – to review and comment on, you must be a TAPPI member in good standing to receive official ballots and cast a vote on new or revised Standards.

Each Standard has its own SSIG – so you have to sign up for each Standard that you have an interest in. Links to all of the SSIGs (by subject category) can be found on the Subject Category for Standards web page.

 

For details on these commonly-used acronyms in the development of TAPPI Standards and TIPs, please see the Standards Guidelines and the TIP Guidelines, or send your questions to standards@tappi.org.

TIP = Technical Information Paper
Q&SMC = Quality and Standards Management Committee
SSIG = Standard-Specific Interest Group
SARG = Standards Advisory Review Group
WI = Work Item
WG = Working Group
WGC = Working Group Chairman
om = Official Method
pm = Provisional Method
sp = Standard Practice
cm = Classical Method
ss = Standard Specification
sg = Standard Guideline
gl = Standard Glossary
wd = Withdrawn Standard
UM = Useful Method

 

Details on how to search and order TAPPI Standards and TIPs can be found on the TAPPI website's Search and Order page.

All individual TIPs or Standards are available for electronic or paper delivery. For electronic delivery, the documents are e-mailed in PDF format. Hard copy documents can be mailed or faxed, but shipping and handling costs will apply.

For Individual Standards, order Item Number: 0104T____ (Insert Standard number)
For Individual TIPs, order Item Number: 0108____ (Insert TIP number)
For Individual Useful Methods order item number: 0104UM_____ (Insert Useful Method number)

List price: $49; TAPPI member price: $32. There are no shipping or handling charges for electronic documents.

The 2011 collection of Standards, TIPs, and UMs, published in March of 2011, is available on CD. An Individual or Company License for access to the continually updated collection of Standards, TIPs, and UMs via the web is the best way to always have a current set of documents accessible. A print-on-demand version of either the Standards, TIPs, or UMs, current and updated as of the date printed, is also available.
For information and quotes on company licenses, contact Lisa Stephens at lstephens@tappi.org or +1-770-209-7293. For regular orders (including individual online licenses), contact Member Connection at 1-800-332-8686 (US), 1-800-446-9431 (Canada), or +1-770-446-1400 (international), or order on line at www.tappi.org.