Technical Standards

This Technical Standards subject guide will provide you with information about standards available in the library as well as information about classification of standards, searching and citing standards, and standards vendors in the Czech Republic. At the end of this subject guide, you will find links to reference resources and web pages.

What is a standard?

A standard is a document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines, and/or characteristics for activities and their results aimed at achieving the optimum degree of order in a given context.

Standards should be created on the basis of consolidated results from science, technology, and experience and be aimed at the promoting optimal community benefits.

Definition derived from:

ČSN EN 45020:2007. Normalizace a souvisící činnosti - Všeobecný slovník = Standardization and related activities - General vocabulary. Praha: Český normalizační institut, 2007-06-01. Třídicí znak 01 0101.

Standards development process

The Czech Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing (ÚNMZ) has been the institution responsible for the development and publishing of Czech technical standards (ČSN) since 2009. Information about the development process is available only in Czech.

Information about the ISO Standards development process is available on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) website.

Classification of Czech technical standards (ČSN)

Czech technical standards (ČSN) are divided into classes and groups. Each standard is identified by the abbreviation "ČSN" and six digits (Třídicí znak). The first two digits indicate a class, the second two digits identify a group within a class, and the last two digits are serial numbers.

List of classes for ČSN standards (in Czech)

Any European or international standard (EN, ETSI, ISO, IEC, etc.) that is transformed into the Czech standards format becomes a ČSN standard. Such standards comprise approximately 90% of the total annual production of technical standards in the Czech Republic.

European or international standards are transformed into the system of Czech standards (with a prefix and notation completed by the abbreviation "ČSN") in the following ways:

Patterns and examples of the designation of Czech standards (in Czech)

ICS (International Classification for Standards): Complete guide for free download. It classifies standards into fields that you can use for searching in most of standards databases.

Standards in the library

  • We have over 38,500 print Czech technical standards (ČSN).
  • Contains all ČSN standards that have been published since the end of 2003, plus all standards published since 1.1.2004.
  • Available at the Central Library of Czech Technical University on the 5th floor.
  • Only for in-library use only (cannot be checked out).
  • If you do not find a printed CSN standard in the NTL Fund, and you think we should own it, you can suggest a purchase.
  • For copyright reasons, printing or reproduction is not possible.

Organization of print standards:

Standards are organised into classes, then into groups, and then sorted within groups by standard numbers.

Other print international standards are not available in our library.

Electronic access to ČSN standards

  • We also offer a full-text database for Czech standards, ČSN online (Periodicals Reading Room, 3rd Floor).
  • All ČSN standards are available as well as European or international standards that have been included in the Czech standards system.
  • You can view standards as a library visitor; library registration is not required.
  • For copyright reasons, printing or reproduction (including downloads) of these standards is not possible; please be prepared to take notes while viewing them.

Electronic access to other international standards

Immediate access to full-text of international standards is currently only available via the IEEE Xplore Digital Library database (for registered library patrons only).

Standards in other Czech libraries

The Moravian Land Library in Brno owns a collection of the German DIN standards. This collection is complete for 1993-2000 with only some standards available for 1978-1992.

Searching ČSN standards in the ČSN online database

You can find your standard in many ways. The easiest methods involve using the standard's reference number or selected keywords from a title.

When you use Quick Search (Rychlé hledání), your query will work only using a standard reference number (e.g., ČSN ISO 7220) or only the number without other specific symbols.

For searching by title in English (Název anglicky) or by ICS code (ICS kód), you must use Advanced search (Podrobné vyhledávání v normách).

You didn't find the standard in the ČSN online database?

Tips for searching:

  • Make sure that the search box is empty before you enter a query.
  • Do not use wildcards or truncation (*, ?,  etc.). When searching by title, you can only use root words (e.g., construct method).
  • Standard validity (Platnost normy): Make sure that your choice is valid (Pouze platné) or not valid (Pouze neplatné) when you are looking for a standard that is out-of-date. You can also search across both categories (Platné i neplatné).

Other problems:

  • You see a PDF icon and cannot access the standard's full-text, although you know it's valid.
    Please ask a librarian in the Periodicals Reading Room to login to the database again. You may have been logged out.
  • I am looking for an international standard the library does not have.
    The Moravian Land Library in Brno owns a collection of the German standards DIN (complete collection,1993-2000; some standards from 1978-1992), but they can only be used there. You can purchase standards through a specialized provider or visit the Information centre of the Czech Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing at: Biskupsky dvur 5, 110 02 Prague 1 and they can assist you.

How to cite standards in ISO 690 format

Please follow this format:

Standard reference number. Title of the item: subsidiary title. Edition. Place: Publisher, Date of publication (in the form YYYY-MM-DD). Availability and access (required for online information resources). Other information (Notes).

Data about the reference number, title, place, and publisher are obligatory. Notes are optional and can be used to provide information about classification or validity of a standard; e.g.:

ISO 3584:1975. Road vehicles. Mounting of mechanical coupling devices on rear cross members of trucks. Geneva: International Organization for Standardization, 1975-11-01. ICS 43.040.70.

You can generate and manage your citations with the Citace PRO reference manager, available to all registered library patrons. Select the button NTK - Národní technická knihovna to login using your username and password.

Please do not hesitate to contact our Research team for additional help.

The Czech Office for Standards, Metrology and Testing (ÚNMZ)

  • Sale of international standards
    ÚNMZ provides authorized copies of standards at catalogue price. Useful for ISO, IEC, DIN, BS, ASTM, and STN standards.
  • Sale of Czech standards – print while you wait
    ÚNMZ can copy ČSN standards at your request at the Information Centre, Biskupsky dvur 5, 110 02 Prague 1.

Authorized Czech standards vendors

Catalogs and databases


Other bibliographic databases of standards

European institutions

International organizations

Author: Marek Janik

Editor: Vojtěch Turek Last modified: 16.5. 2023 12:05