The Environmental Technical Committee Holds Its 13th Meeting and Completes the Review and Update of Several Palestinian Standards

The Environmental Technical Committee held its thirteenth meeting via Google Meet, with the participation of representatives from ten public and private sector organizations, as well as relevant academic institutions. The meeting was conducted as part of the Palestinian Standards Institution's ongoing efforts to develop and update the Palestinian standards system in line with the latest international standards.

Agenda:

1. Follow-up on the implementation of the previous meeting's decisions.
2. The Committee's 2026 work plan.
3. Review of PS 1557 series: Water quality — Digestion for the determination of selected elements in water.
4. Review of PS 1558 series: Water quality — Application of Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS).
5. Review of PS 1560 series: Water quality — Determination of cyanide.
6. Review of PS 1561:2019: Water quality — Determination of selected phthalates using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).
7. Review of PS 1562-1:2019: Water quality — Determination of selected alkylphenols — Part 1: Method for unfiltered samples using liquid-liquid extraction and gas chromatography with selective mass detection.
8. Draft update of PDS 1642: Environmental management systems — Requirements with guidance for use.
9. Draft update of PDS 1643: Environmental management systems — General guidelines on implementation.
10. Draft update of PDS 1652: General principles and requirements for bodies validating and verifying environmental information.
11. Review of PS 2264:2018: Acoustics — Estimation of occupational noise exposure — Engineering method.
12. Review of PS 2265:2018: Acoustics — Preferred reference values for sound and vibration levels.
13. Draft update of PDS 3060: Soil quality — Determination of effective cation exchange capacity and base saturation level using barium chloride solution.
14. Draft update of PDS 3065: Soil quality — Determination of total cyanide.
15. Draft update of PDS 3078: Soil quality — Determination of total nitrogen content by dry combustion (elemental analysis).
16. Draft update of PDS 3154: Soil, treated biowaste, and sludge — Determination of dioxins, furans, and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) using gas chromatography with selective mass detection (High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) and Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS)).
17. Draft update of PDS 3157: Soil quality — Determination of exchangeable acidity using barium chloride solution as the extractant.
18. Draft update of PDS 3221: Soil quality — Effects of pollutants on juvenile land snails (Helicidae) — Determination of the effects of soil contamination on growth.
19. Scheduling of the Committee's fourteenth meeting.

The Committee discussed nine draft Palestinian standards and decided to submit them to the Institution's Board of Directors for approval as updated Palestinian standards to replace the previous editions.

The Committee also completed the review of eleven Palestinian standards. It decided to update ten of them, while confirming the continued validity of one standard after verifying that it remains technically appropriate.

This meeting forms part of the Palestinian Standards Institution's ongoing efforts to develop and update Palestinian standards across various sectors in line with scientific and technological advances, thereby contributing to the protection of public health and the environment and enhancing the quality infrastructure in Palestine.