How much does a standard cost to make?
Standards cost a significant amount of time, effort and investment to develop, revise and publish. On average each standard cost £15,000 and takes between one and three years to create.
Does BSI profit from the sales of standards?
No. As a non-profit-distributing body, BSI reinvests profits from sales into the standards development programme. To make standards even more accessible BSI offers a 50% discount for standards and subscription services through our Membership programme.
BSI published over 3,000 last year and maintains a portfolio of over 37,000 British standards. Of these about 2% generate enough income to cover the cost of their preparation. BSI cross-subsidizes much of the cost of creating a standard, and then prices standards based on a simple page count, in line with most national and international standards bodies. For example, sales of ISO 9001 Quality Management, which has a wide range of applications, funds a considerable part of the broader standards programme each year. More on how standards are made.