The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), through its Sub-Committee on Standard & Conformance (SCSC), has established a Technical Group (TG1) to facilitate coordinated input into the further development of international Standards. This had been done to give effect to an APEC policy on reducing non-tariff barriers to trade. A network of specialist from the building industry infrastructure of consultants, universities and research establishments has been created and supported by CRISO (the industrial research organization of the Australian government) to express regional interests and regional reviews on the internationalization of loading Standards, and APEC/SCSC has asked the Network to prepare inputs into the deliberations of TG1. For this purpose, international Workshops on Alignment with International Standards on Loadings and Structural Design, sponsored by the Australian Department of Industry Science and Tourism (DIST) & the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and organized by the APEC Informal Network on International Loading Standards & CSIRO Building Construction and Engineering, was held many times from 1996-2002, to discuss load standard related issues including harmonization in performance-based structural design in countries surrounding the Pacific Ocean. The past 7 workshops were held successively in Melbourne, Australia (Nov. 1996); Tsukuba, Japan (Dec. 1997); Singapore(Jul. 1998); Shenzhen, China (Mar. 1999); Melbourne, Australia (Mar. 2000); Hanoi, Vietnam (Mar. 2001); and the last one in Bali, Indonesia (Mar. 2002).

The current Workshop on Regional Harmonization of Wind Loading and Wind Environmental Specifications in Asia-Pacific Economies (APEC-WW), initiated by the Wind Engineering Research Center, Tokyo Polytechnic University, through the 21st Century COE Program and the Global COE Program, is an extension of the above workshop, but with a focus on wind only. The Workshops provide a stimulating and constructive forum for researchers and engineers specializing in problems of wind loading and wind environment. The series of APEC-WW follow the spirit set in the 1st APEC-WW, which was held at Atsugi, Japan in 2004. The general purposes of APEC-WW are: 1) to harmonize structural loading standards/codes in the APEC area; and 2) to harmonize bylaws/specifications on wind environmental problems in the APEC area.

Seven APEC-WWs have been held since 2004: APEC-WW2004 in Atsugi-city, Japan; APEC-WW2005 in Hongkong, China; APEC-WW2006 in Roorkee, India; APEC-WW2007 in Shanghai, China; APEC-WW2009 in Taiwan; APEC-WW2010 in Gangneung, Korea; and APEC-WW2012 in Hanoi, Vietnam. At each APEC-WW, all the APEC-WW members are invited to report on their activities and results of Benchmark tests. Resolutions for the wind load group and the wind environment group are made individually after thorough face to face discussions on problems related to current wind standards/codes/bylaws/specifications. Specifically, each workshop is aimed: 1) to reach a common understanding of wind loading; 2) to exchange information on the current status of wind loading standards/codes and to improve individual standards; 3) to discuss bylaws/specifications for wind environmental assessment related to pedestrian level winds in an urban environment; and 4) to discuss bylaws/specifications for air quality outside and inside buildings.

APEC-WW2007 Group Photo		APEC-WW2009 Group Photo
APEC-WW2012 Group Photo