Detailed Overview

ASTM International is a globally recognized leader in the development and delivery of voluntary consensus standards. Today, over 12,000 ASTM standards are used around the world to improve product quality, enhance health and safety, strengthen market access and trade, and build consumer confidence.

Our leadership in international standards development is driven by the contributions of our members: more than 30,000 of the world’s top technical experts and business professionals representing 140 countries. Working in an open and transparent process and using ASTM’s advanced IT infrastructure, our members create the test methods, specifications, classifications, guides and practices that support industries and governments worldwide.

We welcome and encourage participation from around the world. Our open consensus process, using advanced Internet-based standards development tools, ensures worldwide access for all interested individuals.

ASTM International standards are the tools of customer satisfaction and competitiveness for companies across a wide range of markets. Through more than 140 technical standards-writing committees, we serve a broad range of industries: metals, construction, petroleum, consumer products and many more. When new industries — like nanotechnology, additive manufacturing and industrial biotechnology — look to advance the growth of cutting-edge technologies through standardization, many of them come to ASTM International.

ASTM standards are passports to a successful global trading strategy. Our high quality, market-relevant standards, developed in accordance with the guiding principles of the World Trade Organization, fuel trade by opening new markets and creating new trading partners for enterprises everywhere. For businesses ranging from Fortune 500 leaders to emerging startups, our standards help level the playing field to foster competition in the global economy.

Beyond standards development, ASTM offers certification and declaration through our subsidiary, the Safety Equipment Institute, as well as technical training programs and proficiency testing. All of our programs complement our standards development activities and provide enterprise solutions for companies, government agencies, researchers and laboratories worldwide.

The American Society for Testing and Materials was formed in 1898, founded by Charles B. Dudley, Ph.D., a chemist with the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 2001, we changed our name to ASTM International.

ASTM’s world headquarters are located in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, with offices in Belgium, Canada, China, Peru and Washington, D.C.