"A standard has the advantage of being more manageable by professionals than regulation and therefore closer to the concerns of businesses. The first return on investment is to be able to anticipate the normative and regulatory texts to come and adapt our organization, or even find the rules already in place in our structure.
The second return on investment is that the use of the standard should lead to reduce environmental litigation for businesses. Eventually, improve the visibility of the profession to the government via standardization."
Jean-François Gobichon, AQUASSYS Leader and
Board Member of the Union of companies drilling water (SFE)
- Source: AFNOR - Association Française de Normalisation, France
- Language: French
- Link to testimonial
"Standards promote competitive advantage, increase customer confidence and improve internal organization."
Mike Chilman, Managing Director, MC Fire Protection
(Supplies and maintains fire-safety equipment and
provides fire-safety assessments and consultancy services)
"Participation in the standards committee brings us considerable advantages because we know what's coming early on. When the rules are changed, we can adjust our play equipment accordingly even before the standard is published and can quickly put new products on the market that conform to the standard."
Torsten Frank, General Manager, COROCORD Raumnetz GmbH
"The measures set by the Small Business Act are organized in 10 guiding principles for the formulation and implementation of policies both at a European and a national level. The most important guiding principle for is the one on "Helping SMEs to benefit from the opportunities offered by the single market, increasing the EU funding that promotes participation and defence of the interests of SMEs in standardization and improve the information for SMEs on European Standards and their use."
Member States should encourage National Standards Bodies and business associations to ensure better access to technical standards for SMEs.
Today, technical standards play a key role in the evolution of the market. Technical standards are increasingly an integral part of market systems and, consequently, constitute a factor to measure the success or failure of a company.
Until now, SMEs have not played an active role in defining the standard processes, and have had to adapt to conditions that do not meet their specific requirements.
Ivan Malavasi, President CNA (Italian National Confederation of Craftsmanship)
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