The British Standards Institution is reviewing the specification for how to make a cup of tea, ahead of World Standards Day on 3, 14 or 16 October

A core definition of Britishness, the official six-page specification for how to make a cup of tea, is officially "under review". But don't panic. It is standard procedure for the British Standards Institution (BSI) to do a "systematic periodic review" of each of its many specifications which, piecemeal, define nearly everything British.

Belying stereotypes of peremptory rigidity in anyone or anything that officially tells the populace what's what, the BSI is nice about what it does. "British Standards are voluntary in that there is no obligation to apply them or comply with them," it says. The standards are "devised for the convenience of those who wish to use them". That sentiment appears in the 44-page specification for standard number BS 0, "the standard that governs the way BSI produces standards", copies of which are available free of charge.

The cup-of-tea standard, officially numbered BS 6008, has been unchanged since 1980. It does come at a cost: £82 per copy, more than triple the £24 price, in effect, when I profiled it eight years ago.

There are also specifications for black tea (BS 3720), and for green tea (BS 11287). And (BS 7390) for "instant tea". It, like the cuppa standard (BS 6008), is under review.

By the BSI's count, there are 34,634 current standards. The total would be higher were it not for the withdrawal of some old chestnuts, such as BS 6048 (a now-obsolete "specification for black tea"), BS 1722-4 (an obsolete specification for "cleft chestnut pale fences") and BS 2854 ("specification for soiled linen trolleys").

The BSI cooperates with its counterparts elsewhere, especially the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). The ISO is, I believe, unique in having a former president who is himself a standard. In 1958, when Oliver Smoot was a student at MIT, his fraternity mates used his body as a measuring stick. Repeatedly lifting, displacing, and dropping young Smoot, they marked out the entire length – 364.4 Smoots plus one ear – of a bridge that connects Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

You can celebrate all published standards on World Standards Day, which, say its organisers, "celebrates the collaborative efforts of the thousands of experts worldwide who develop international standards".

This year, 2013, World Standards Day is Monday 14 October.

The US will celebrate World Standards Day on Thursday 3 October.

Canada will celebrate World Standards Day on 16 October.

In many nations, 16 October will be a Wednesday. But standards do vary. The Standards Council of Canada says on its website: "The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) will be celebrating World Standards Day (WSD) 2013 in Vancouver, BC, on Thursday, October 16, 2013."

• Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prize