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In May, the European Commission announced the publication of a new Standardisation Strategy Roadmap in support of EU’s strategic autonomy and fundamental policy objectives for the third quarter of 2021. This initiative aims to address the challenges facing the European standardisation system and to improve it. It is a response to the need to be more assertive and strategic at international level and seeks to better respond to the standardisation needs arising from the green and digital transformation of the EU’s industrial ecosystem. The Commission opened a consultation in June to gather input from stakeholders on the issues to be addressed in the future strategy.
In relation to this strategy, Small Business Standards (SBS), the association representing European Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in standardisation, yesterday published a position paper highlighting the main points to be considered to ensure the future strategy meets SME needs
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In the paper SBS underlines how one of the main objectives of the future strategy should be to improve the development, assessment and citation of harmonised standards. Moreover, the strategy should propose and further promote actions to improve inclusiveness. In this context, the strategy should support the development of tools to monitor standards and be able to identify those that are particularly relevant for SMEs. A final but fundamental aspect to be carefully taken into account by the Commission is a stronger focus A on the uptake of standards rather than on the pre-normative and development phases.
You can read the full Position Paper here.