CIE Gives Taiwan Access to the Formulation of International Standards

Taiwan's acceptance as a full member of the International Commission on Illumination, better know by its French name of Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE), gives the island's lighting industry an unprecedented chance to participate in the development of standards for the global illumination community.

The CIE's general assembly (the organization is headquartered in Vienna) decided in February this year to accept Taiwan as its 38th full member (after amending its charter to define the basic unit for full membership as “economy” instead of “state”). “Taiwan should not be locked out of CIE, given the scale of its LED production,” explained CIE President Franz Hengstberger at a press conference in Taipei in late March. Taiwan is recognized as the world's No. 1 supplier of LEDs by volume and No. 2 by value.

Director General M.J. Wu of the Department of Industrial Technology, MOEA reported at the press conference that his agency submitted Taiwan's application for membership last year, at the same time coordinating with local illumination-related industries to establish CIE-Taiwan.

“CIE-Taiwan will take part in international work on the setting of standards for illumination technology and products,” Wu said, “signifying a major step toward Taiwan's ideal of becoming an international standards pace-setter.”

Hsin-Sen Chu, executive vice president of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and chairman of CIE-Taiwan, stressed, “Becoming a CIE member is a crucial step for Taiwan's illumination industry at a time when the development of standards is becoming desperately important to the world's LED-lighting industry. Most importantly, CIE offers Taiwan a chance to connect its LED lighting standards and CNS [Chinese National Standard] system directly to international trends, allowing our LED-lighting manufacturers to get a jump on their rivals in the international market.”

CIE-Taiwan, Chu noted, will be Taiwan's exclusive channel for dialogue with CIE and a platform on which all segments of the lighting industry can work out agreements on illumination and photonics standards.

Setting International Standards

Deputy Director L.L. Lee of the Power Electronics Laboratory of ITRI's Energy and Environment Research Laboratories (Lee is also a director of CIE-Taiwan) pointed out that Taiwan has never before had a chance to become involved in the setting of international standards. “When you know the direction in which international standards will go,” he noted, “you can guide your preparations in advance to achieve the final results. That's the primary benefit that Taiwan's manufacturers will gain from Taiwan's admission to CIE.”

Lee noted that CIE sets standards only for illumination measurements, not for lighting products. “It is an illumination-science organization, not an electrical-appliance association,” she explains. “That means it is involved in how you measure illumination and what the results are, because the results have much to do with your vision health.”

CIE was founded in 1913 and has seven divisions engaged in technical activities: vision and color, measurement of light and radiation, interior environment and lighting design, lighting and signaling for transport, exterior lighting and other applications, photobiology and photochemistry, and image technology.

The commission has technical cooperation agreements with the International Standardization Organization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), European Committee for Standardization (CEN), International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), and Professional Lighting Designer's Association (PLDA).

Members of CIE-Taiwan include the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association, Taiwan Lighting Fixture Export Association, Taiwan Optoelectronics Semiconductor Industry Association, Taiwan Lighting Council, Institute of Lighting and Display of National Central University, Chinese Metrology Society, Automatic Optical Inspection Equipment Association, Color Association of Taiwan, National Taiwan Unviersity of Science and Technology, ITRI, Institute for Information Industry, Epistar Corp., China Electric Mfg. Co., Philips Taiwan, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Lite-On Technology Corp., Everlight Electronics Co., Delta Electronics Inc., Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ta Yih Industry Co., and AU Optronics Co.