DIN: Encyclopedia - DIN

DIN

Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN, the German Institute for Standardization) is a German national organization for standardization.

DIN and mini-DIN connectors are familiar to computer users all over the world, but DIN issues standards in any conceivable area. One of the oldest and surely most popular is DIN 476, specifying paper sizes since 1922. It became an international norm.

DIN is a registered association (e.V.), founded in 1917, originally as Normenausschuss der deutschen Industrie (NADI, standardisation committee of the German industry). In 1926 the NADI was renamed to Deutscher Normenausschuss (DNA, German standardisation committee), in 1975 the DNA was finally renamed to DIN. Its headquarters is in Berlin. Since 1975 it has been recognized by the German government as the national standards body and represents German interests at international and European level.

The acronym DIN is often wrongly expanded as Deutsche Industrienorm (German industry standard). This is largely due to the historic origin of the DIN as the NADI. The NADI indeed published their standards as DI-Norm (Deutsche Industrienorm, German industry standard). E.g. the first published standard in 1917 was 'DI-Norm 1' (about taper pins). Many people still wrongly associate DIN as an abbreviation for the old DI-Norm naming of standards.

DIN - DIN standard designation

The designation of a DIN standard shows its origin (# denotes a number):

• DIN # is used for German standards with primarily domestic significance or designed as a first step toward international status. E DIN # is a draft standard and DIN V # is a preliminary standard.
• DIN EN # is used for German edition of European standards. DIN ETS # is used for standards prepared by European Telecommunications Standards Institute.
• DIN ISO # is used for German edition of ISO standards. DIN EN ISO # is used if the standard has also been adopted as a European standard.

DIN - Example of DIN standards

See the list of DIN standards for a complete list.

• DIN 476: international paper sizes (now ISO 216 or DIN EN ISO 216)
• DIN 72552: electric terminal numbers in automobiles
• DIN 31635: transliteration of the Arabic language.

See also

• Standard data model
• List of standards topics
• List of electronics topics
• Film speed

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "DIN", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki