Standards play a significant role in many aspects of everyday life. Standards aim to encapsulate best practices in a set of guidelines to help ensure that products and services are safe, reliable, efficient, compatible and consistently perform the way they are meant to – and all at an economical cost.
Standardisation is a strategic instrument for economic success, providing an array of benefits on a number of levels; economic, environmental and societal. The main focus of this report is on the economic benefits of standardisation. Some of the key findings highlighted in this report, taken from recent research from the UK and Germany, among others, demonstrate how the development and implementation of standards can be seen to:
have positive impacts on business performance
lead to better market position and increased competitive advantage
lead to reduced costs
have impact on global trade and make access to global markets easier
lead to increased compatibility between products worldwide.