CINA was established to provide voluntary certification of products for the gas distribution industry to nationally recognized consensus standards. As an independent third-party certification agency, CINA's objective is to provide certification of products that are recognized as technically acceptable by Local Distribution Companies in the United States.
The resin, pipe, fitting, and appurtenance industry for gas distribution applications in the United States has, until now, been self-certifying. LDCs and manufacturers have had to expend considerable time and money negotiating individual sets of criteria for technical acceptance of a product; this is a very time consuming process for the LDC and a very costly process for the manufacturer. Without third-party validation to industry-wide standards, the result was repetitious testing by individual LDCs and manufacturers and a lack of standardized acceptance criteria. In addition, system requirements and the impact of one product on the performance of others were not always considered or understood.
CINA offers a voluntary method to provide for enhanced safety in the technical quality of new and existing products, eliminate the need for repetitive testing, and provide a greater degree of standardization within the gas distribution industry. By cooperating with manufacturers, LDCs, and regulators to develop standards for the gas distribution industry, CINA certification provides for increased safety, reliability, and prevention. The CINA mark is synonymous with safety.