To curb the proliferation of substandard flat glass in the market, the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) Bureau of Product Standards has imposed mandatory product certification for flat glass.
All manufacturers and importers of flat glass are required to have their products tested based on the PNS 193:2005, prior the sale so as not to pose hazards to consumers.
Flat glass is a major construction material that is primarily used for mirrors, coatings, glazing, special application, and general architectural or residential and commercial construction.
The product is known through its process of manufacture as sheet glass, float glass, plate glass, patterned glass, wind glass, and polished wind glass.
The bureau Technical Committee on Glass and Glass Products, which is composed of representatives from other government agencies, industry associations, consumer organization, academe, and professional organization, has prepared PNS 193:2005.
This covers the quality requirements of annealed and monolithic flat glass of rectangular shape supplied as cut sizes or stock sheets.
It also specifies the quality requirements of flat, transparent, clear and tinted glass having glossy, apparently plane and smooth surfaces, and patterned or wired glasses.
The scope of flat glass covered in the implementation of mandatory product certification are the transparent (Type 1) flat glass, which consist of Class 1 (clear) and Class 2 (tinted), and patterned and wired (Type II) flat glass, which consists of Class 1 (clear) and Class 2 (tinted).
Reflective glass, mirror glass, industrial processed glass and other related glass (with ceramic prints, etched glass) are not covered in the scope of the PNS and that it is not included in the mandatory product certification.
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