In 1898, a group of scientists and engineers, led by chemist, industry leader, and proponent of standardization Charles Dudley, formed the American Society for Testing Material (ASTM) to address the frequent rail breaks affecting the fast-growing railroad industry.

SEI is an accredited third-party certification organization that certifies various types of PPE[clarification needed] to industry consensus standards.

[3] On June 9, 2022, it was announced that the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and ASTM International agreed to extend and expand a Technical Cooperation Agreement from 2019.

The standards may become mandatory when referenced by an external contract, corporation, regulation, law, or government.

The 1995 National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act requires the Federal government to use privately developed consensus standards whenever possible.

The law makes the ASTM F963 standard a mandatory requirement for toys while the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) studies the standard's effectiveness and issues final consumer guidelines for toy safety.