The Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) has announced the withdrawal of the Canadian National Standard CAN/CGSB 12.5-M86 Mirrors, Silvered, saying it is no longer compliant with the requirements for a National Standard of Canada as established by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC). The standard had not been updated since it was published in August 1986. In light of the withdrawal, the Glass Association of North America (GANA) is encouraging Canadian mirror manufacturers to reference ASTM C 1503-01, Standard Specification for Silvered Flat Glass Mirrors, and hopeful that the CGSB will recognize the standard as well.

Last November Canadian mirror manufacturers had discussed funding that would be required for CGSB administrative cost to review and update the standard. Participants, however, could not foresee funding being available for the effort.

"Canadian mirror manufacturers felt the CAN/CGSB 12.5-M86 standard was out of date, irrelevant and not well recognized or widely used in the industry," said Lee Harrison, president of Walker Glass Co. Ltd. of Montreal, and chairperson of the GANA mirror division's Canadian standards committee. "Faced with an outdated standard and prohibitive administrative cost to update the original Canadian document, Canadian mirror manufacturers voted to adopt the recently published ASTM International document C 1503-01 …Canadian mirror manufacturers were involved in the development of the ASTM standard and we agreed that adoption of the new standard was the best alternative for consumers, our customers and the mirror industry."

GANA is now hopeful that the CGSB will now begin referencing the ASTM standard as well.

To learn more about ASTM C 1503-01 visit the GANA mirror division's website, www.mirrorlink.org or ASTM International's, www.astm.org.