CLEVELAND and NORTHBROOK, Ill. - CSA America and Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) have announced plans to jointly develop and publish a new standard that will set requirements for the process of extracting hydrogen from fuels, such as natural gas, to power fuel cells. The new standard will be one of the primary hydrogen generation standards for North America and is expected to be completed by December 2004.

As part of the collaborative effort, CSA America and UL will share requirements they have previously developed for hydrogen generators that use fuel processing. UL will also continue to chair the Standard Technical Panel responsible for the new standard. This consensus body will include representatives from both CSA America and UL and a cross section of hydrogen generator and fuel cell industry leaders, government agencies, regulatory authorities, manufacturers, users, and other interested parties.