1. Just what is ITSC?
ITSC is an industry partnership supported by SPRING Singapore and IDA Singapore, looking into IT standardization issues and representing Singapore in international standards fora. It is part of the national standardisation programme coordinated by SPRING Singapore, which is the national standards body.
The standardisation programme develops Singapore Standards on a consensus basis under the guidance of an industry-led national Standards Council. ITSC operates as one of the Standards Committees under the purview of Standards Council.
2. Who runs ITSC?
Standardisation in Singapore is a collaborative effort amongst the government agencies, tertiary institutions, professional bodies and the IT industry. Contrary to what most people think, ITSC is an industry-led initiative under the able leadership of the ITSC Chairman, currently Mr Robert Chew, Partner of Accenture Pte Ltd.
The ITSC Council, comprising of representatives from industry associations, academia and government agencies, charts the directions and policies for the operations of the committee. On the other hand, the Technical Committees and Working Groups comprising technical experts from the industry, academia and research institutes, are the ones developing and promoting national infocomm standards, and participating in international infocomm standardisation activities representing Singapore.
Standardisation activities are carried out by volunteers, with the IDA Standards Team providing the secretariat support to the Council, and various Technical Committees and Working Groups.
3. Are Singapore Standards recommended by ITSC mandatory or voluntary?
All the standards recommended by ITSC are voluntary. However, regulatory authorities may make reference to them, and make them mandatory requirements.
4. Does ITSC have standards for everything?
ITSC appoints Technical Committees and Working Groups to undertake standardisation works. At present, there are 10 Technical Committees addressing infocomm standards in areas of
- Automatic Data Capture
- Biometric
- Cards and Personal Identification
- Construction Industry IT Standards
- eFinancial Services
- Information Exchange
- Intelligent Transport Systems
- Learning Standards
- Multimedia Representation
- Security and Privacy Standards
These form the spectrum of infocomm standards which ITSC monitors and develops. Where possible, ITSC mirrors its Technical Committees after ISO or ISO/IEC JTC1 on Information Technology, which Singapore is a ‘Participating’ member.
5. Which ITSC TC maps to which ISO/IEC JTC1 SC?
- The Automatic Data Capture TC is a 'P' member of JTC1/SC 31 on Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques
- The Biometric TC is a 'P' member of JTC1/SC 37 on Biometrics
- The Cards and Personal Identification TC is a 'P' member of JTC1/SC 17 on Cards and Personal Identification
- The Construction Industry IT Standards TC does not currently mirror any JTC1 SC
- The eFinancial Services TC is an 'O' member of ISO TC68 on Financial Services
- The Information Exchange TC/Unicode WG is an 'O' member of JTC1/SC 2 on Coded Character Sets
- The Intelligent Transport Systems TC is an ‘O’ member of ISO TC204 on Intelligent Transport Systems
- The Learning Standards TC is an 'O' member of JTC1/SC 36 on Information Technology for Learning, Education and Training
- The Multimedia Representation TC is a 'P' member of JTC1/SC 29 on Coding of Audio, Picture, and Multimedia and Hypermedia Information
- The Security and Privacy Standards TC is a 'P' member of JTC1/SC 27 on IT Security Techniques
6. What are the Singapore Standards developed by ITSC and where can I obtain a copy?
The list of standards can be found here.
To purchase any of these standards, you may contact:
SNP Corporation Ltd
Office Address : 1 Kim Seng Promenade #18-01
Great World City East Tower S(237994)
Operating Hours : Mon to Fri: 9.30am to 6.00pm
Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays
Customer Service Hotline: + (65) 6826 9691
Fax : + (65) 6820 3341
Email : singaporestandardseshop@snpcorp.com
Website : http://www.snpcorp.com/
Softcopy standards can be purchased and downloaded at http://www.singaporestandardseshop.sg