BSI provides UK experts with the standards development framework to support business and help shape market access requirements around the world. Underpinning this role is BSI’s membership of the international and European standards organizations, which serve an important role in enhancing UK soft power.
Focusing in on one part of the international standards system, the European standards organizations, made up of the independent membership bodies, CEN (European Committee for Standardization), CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), has simplified the condition of market access in Europe across 34 countries in the region. The system has resulted in a reduction in the number of standards that businesses, across all sectors, use for trade across Europe, and European standards are identical to or based on international standards wherever possible.
BSI has the ambition to create international standards providing the best option for industry and consumers. Simplifying business processes, avoiding market fragmentation and facilitating conformity assessment globally. We only develop domestic or regional standards where there is a specific market need that will not be met through an international standard developed through ISO or IEC.
The UK has significant influence in the development of international and European standards. UK experts provide support and leadership in hundreds of standards-developing committees and working groups, from business management through electrical devices in medical practice to children’s playground equipment.
BSI’s standards catalogue is 85% international. In the UK creating these standards involves near 13,000 experts from industry, consumer organizations, academia, trade unions and other stakeholder groups working through 1,200 BSI committees. The UK is among the leading countries in the world to adopt international and European standards as national standards, with a near 100% adoption rate.
BSI membership of the international and independent European standards organizations helps to create a common language for good practice between trading partners, delivering confidence in products and services and facilitating regulatory compliance. In the months and years ahead, knowing how standards are used in target markets will help maximize UK business advantage regardless of the shape of future UK trade policy and trade agreements.
To help our stakeholders and standard makers, the National Standards Body is developing a dedicated trade policy function in order to provide information regarding trade negotiations and the development of an independent UK trade policy. The function will primarily respond to UK government, but will also support engagement with national standards bodies in our trading partner countries and relevant initiatives concerning standards in multilateral fora such as the WTO. It will also help coordinate the provision of expertise from BSI standards-makers and stakeholders to government as trade negotiations continue and will, in parallel, serve as an information service.
International standards
BSI is a member of the international standards organizations ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and their regional independent counterparts CEN, CENELEC and ETSI. ISO and IEC draw their members from across the globe, whereas the European standards system in CEN and CENELEC is made up of 34 member countries from the European region, whose national standards bodies are the members. ETSI’s membership is drawn from both companies as well as national standards bodies. There is also an international equivalent of ETSI, ITU, which is a UN agency and UK membership is managed by the government.
Ensuring access for business
International standards are an enabler of market access. The UK has more participating members in ISO and IEC than any other country and alongside our significant involvement at European level, UK business sets the market access conditions for its products, helping to ensure business can trade successfully at a global scale.
