Cyprus Organisation for Standardisation


The Cyprus Organisation for Standardisation, or CYS, is the national standardisation body of Cyprus, whose principal activity is the production of standards and the supply of standards-related services.
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Introduction

Since January 2005 it is autonomous from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, and operates under The 2002 Law for Standardisation, Accreditation and Technical Regulation.
The sole shareholder of CYS is the Minister of Finance who appoints, for a three-year term, its seven-member board of directors representing the major national stakeholders for quality issues: Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Tourism, Employers Federation, Chamber of Commerce, Technical Chamber, Consumers Association and Academia.
CYS is a full member of European standards organisations as well as broader standards organisations ISO and IEC.
Through its active participation in European and broader standardisation, CYS promotes Cypriot national interests through issuing and application of standards.

History of standardisation

Archaeological evidence indicates the use of standards in Cyprus began in ancient times. Copper oxhide ingots were seen in Cyprus between the 16th and 12th centuries BC. During this period Cypriot copper manufacturers designed a standard shape for the copper ingots to facilitate handling, transport and storage. In addition, most of the ingots had a standard weight of. Furthermore, Cypriot producers introduced a marking system using Cypro-Minoan script to indicate that the ingots were made from Cypriot mines that followed standard procedures of production and quality control.
Standards started being used nationally in the field of public works at the beginning of the 20th century with the implementation of British standards during colonial administration and continued after the establishment of the Republic of Cyprus in 1960.
Standardisation was made more systematic in the mid-1970s with legislation establishing the Cyprus Organisation for Standards and Control of Quality.
In 2002, through the Standardisation, Accreditation and Technical Information Law, the activities of standardisation have been allocated to the Cyprus Certification Company, which is now known as the Cyprus Organisation for Standardisation.

Cyprus national standards

CYS, as a full member of CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, has the obligation to adopt all European Norms issued. Furthermore, in case an ISO or other national standard is proven necessary for the national market CYS has the authority to adopt the standard as national, in collaboration with the issuing standardisation body.
In general, the name of a CYS standard shows its origin:
  • CYSCypriot national standards, developed primarily for the specific needs of the Cypriot society and economy
  • CYS ENAdopted European standards published by CEN and CENELEC
  • CYS ISOAdopted ISO standards
  • CYS IECAdopted IEC standards
  • CYS EN ISOISO standards that have been adopted as European standards and therefore as Cypriot
There are only 31 valid purely national standards, as the majority were withdrawn due to the existence of equivalent or superseding European standards.

CYS mirror and technical standardisation committees

In order to facilitate the dissemination and application of European standards, CYS has divided standardisation into 15 business sectors, each of which includes several sub-categories.
CYS sets up technical committees for the creation of national standards.
NumberTitle
01Agriculture, Food and Feed
02Chemicals, Metals and Plastics
03Construction and Buildings
04Electrotechnical
05Energy
06Environment
07Healthcare
08Information Communication Technologies
09Management, Quality and Conformity Assessment
10Mechanical and Machines
11Occupational and Consumers Health & Safety
12Physical Security and Fire Safety
13Services
14Sustainability
15Transport and Packaging

DesignationTitle
CYS/TC 1Building lime
CYS/TC 2Aggregates
CYS/TC 4Bricks
CYS/TC 5Natural stones
CYS/TC 6Concrete
CYS/TC 8Plastics piping systems
CYS/TC 13Solar thermal systems
CYS/TC 14Precast concrete products
CYS/TC 15Concrete reinforcement steel
CYS/TC 16Playground, waterparks and go-karts safety
CYS/TC 17Asphalt concrete
CYS/TC 18Eurocodes
CYS/TC 20Doors and windows
CYS/TC 21Cyprus Lefkara embroideryLefkaritiko
CYS/TC 22Hydrocarbons
CYS/TC 23Translation and adoption of the BS 7671
CYS/TC 24Gender equality in the workplace
CYS/TC 25Fythkiotiko yfanto
CYS/TC 26Circular plastic products
CYS/TC 27Climate neutralitycarbon sequestration from tree planting
CYS/TC 28Mountaineering and hiking trails
CYS/TC 29Climate neutral cities and communities

Both, mirror and technical committees monitor their respective standardisation activities at the international and European levels and consult CYS accordingly, e.g. if standards need to be withdrawn, the preparation of national annexes or the development of supplementary standards.
To facilitate the operation of the committees, CYS has been working with ISO to provide an electronic platform, Livelink, where members can exchange information and manage the respective committees at minimum effort and cost.

Centre for information and customer service

The CYS centre for information and customer service provides full access to all international, European, and national standards and is open to the public in order to provide all relevant information.
It offers the possibility of reading, studying and purchasing standards. Furthermore, it provides free access to users in international databases of standards like .
CYS makes available for salein hardcopy and electronic formall the standards of many organisations: the global ISO and IEC, the European CEN and CENELEC, and the national BSI, ΕΛΟΤ, CYS, and DIN.