ISO / TC229 (ISO's technical committee on Nanotechnology) online meeting was recently held in November,2020. Delegates from more than 20 countries participated in the event where Iran proposed the development of 4 new standards and presented a progress report of two of its ongoing international standards.

Considering the recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Iran presented its proposal on characterizing nanotechnology-based disinfectants as well as assessing the release of nanomaterial in nano-enhanced respirators masks.

Currently, few countries including Iran produce COVID-19 related nanotechnology products. Considering the applications and efficiency of these nanotechnology products, the proposed two standards were greatly received by the participating countries. Currently, nanotechnology-based masks and disinfectants are produced by several Iranian companies and are readily available in the market. This enforces the importance of standards in this area. The other proposal from Iran was about evaluation of the performance and durability of super-hydrophobic nano-coatings and super –hydrophobic textile containing nanomaterials. Super-hydrophobic nano-coatings have different applications and several Iranian companies produce these materials. The initial design and proposal of the aforementioned standards were prepared with the help of experts and manufacturing companies and the special support of the INIC.

In addition to the above proposals, two other international standards that are already being developed by leadership of Iran were also discussed in the meeting. “Antibacterial textiles containing nanomaterials- performance determination" is one of the Iran-led standards which was finalized and submitted for publication. Another standard that is currently being developed is "Measurement of bioavailability of nanomaterial produced in aquatic environments.”

It is worth mentioning that International Committee for Nanotechnology Standardization meetings are held every six months in order to review the policies of the committee. In these meetings, members discuss new projects and standardization proposals submitted by main member countries. Iran is among the active members of the International Committee for Nanotechnology Standardization, which has so far developed seven international standards.