Standards, Technical References and Workshop Agreements

Explore the different types of standards and how they can guide your business in improving operational processes while maintaining quality output.

What are standards?

Standards are practices that help businesses keep up with evolving trends, technologies and operations around the world. They also open doors to new markets with globally recognised benchmarks.

Singapore Standards (SS), Technical References (TR) and Workshop Agreements (WA) are developed in the form of specifications for materials, products, services and systems, codes of practice, requirements of interoperability, methods of test, management systems, guidelines and nomenclatures.

Depending on complexity and whether there are existing regional or international standards for adaptation, developing standards can take from six months to up to three years. The typical development period of an SS is around 12-24 months. A TR is expected to take around 12 months, while a WA takes less than six months to complete.

TRs are developed to address urgent industry needs and are reviewed before the end of their three-year validity period. TRs can be elevated to SSs after review, continue as TRs, or be withdrawn. WAs are fast-tracked standards developed with limited consensus to meet urgent industry needs, and have a validity period of two years.

Enterprise Singapore oversees the Singapore Standardisation Programme through the industry-led Singapore Standards Council (SSC) to develop, promote and review national standards.

Who is it for?

All companies can use standards to:

Facilitate new growth and market opportunities
Drive productivity
Optimise resource efficiency
Support safety and social needs

Browse standards

For soft copies: You can use multimedia stations at the National Library and Public Libraries (except library@chinatown and library@orchard) to browse Singapore Standards, Technical References and Workshop Agreements for free.

For hard copies: You can browse hard copies at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library at Level 7 of the National Library.

Find a standard here.

Purchase standards

You can purchase standards at the Singapore Standards eShop , including:

Singapore Standards, Technical References and Workshop Agreements
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standards
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Standards
Other overseas standards

A note on copyright

Standards are protected by copyright laws. Purchasing a standard in electronic format only allows you to print a single copy of the content. You shall not make multiple copies, transfer the purchased electronic file or reproduce any part of it.

Standards published by Enterprise Singapore may not be reproduced without written permission.

Find out how to access ISO and IEC international standards without infringing on their copyright.

Still have questions about copyright? Email us with your enquiries.

Patent Policy and Licensing Declaration

While standards are being created, there may be overlaps with existing patents. If such an overlap exists fully or partly in a Singapore Standard (SS), Technical Reference (TR) or Workshop Agreement (WA), patent owners must consent for such information to be included in the standards.

If you come across any overlaps in our SSs, TRs or WAs, please fill in the Patent Statement and Licensing Declaration Form and send it to us at standards@enterprisesg.gov.sg.

We will then be able to take further action to ensure our standards do not conflict with patent holders’ rights.