The Member Governments of the International Cotton Advisory Committee, meeting during the 484th Meeting of the Standing Committee on July 18, 2006 in Washington, DC, gave approval to the work of the Task Force on Commercial Standardization of Instrument Testing of Cotton, and the Standing Committee confirmed the roster of official members of the CSITC.

The CSITC was formed in December 2003 on instruction of the 62nd Plenary Meeting in Poland. The objective of the CSITC is to facilitate standardized use of instrument testing systems at the producer level in order to uphold the standards and tolerances that maintain the integrity of high-quality testing. The CSITC has identified actions to encourage worldwide testing of cotton with standardized instrument testing methods and procedures, and the first of quarterly CSITC Round Trials will be conducted during the Fourth Quarter of 2006.

The Standing Committee confirmed the following roster of members of the Task Force on CSITC:

Andrew Macdonald, former Director, Santista Téxtil SA of Brazil, Chair of the CSITC Zbigniew Rostwitalski, Executive Vice President, Director, Gdynia Cotton Association, Rapporteur

Members:
Romano Bonadei, Chairman of Filati Filartex in Italy Axel Drieling, Testing Methods Department, Bremen Fibre Institute Darryl Earnest, Deputy Administrator, Cotton Program, USDA/AMS Graham Fogg, Agricultural Services, SGS Jean-Paul Gourlot, CIRAD, France Urania Kechagia, Director, Cotton and Industrial Plants Institute, Greece Jimmy Knowlton, Chief, Standardization and Engineering Branch, Cotton Division, USDA Lau Cheuk-Wai, Quality Control Department of Central Textiles in Hong Kong Ibrahim Malloum, General Manager of Cotontchad and President of the African Cotton Association John Mitchell, Immediate Past President of the American Cotton Shippers Association P.D. Patodia, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Prime Textiles, India Joao Luiz Pessa, Farm Director of Fazenda Nova in Brazil Jolly Sabune, Managing Director, Cotton Development Organization, Uganda Anton Schenek, Chair, ITMF International Committee on Cotton Testing Methods Ralph Schulzé, former executive director of the Australian Cotton Research & Development Corporation Peter Wakefield, Director, Wakefield Inspection Services

The 6th Meeting of the CSITC will held in Goiânia, Brazil on 10 September 2006 in the International Convention Centre from 13:30 to 16:00. Observers are welcome.