Why ISO Standards Matter
ISO standards:
- make the development, manufacturing and supply of products
and services more efficient, safer and cleaner
- facilitate trade between countries and make
it fairer
- provide governments with a technical base for
health, safety and environmental legislation, and
conformity assessment
- share technological advances and good
management practice
- disseminate innovation
- safeguard consumers, and users in general,
of products and services
- make life simpler by providing solutions to
common problems
Who standards benefit
ISO standards provide technological, economic and
societal benefits.
- For businesses, the widespread adoption of
International Standards means that suppliers can develop and offer
products and services meeting specifications that have wide
international acceptance in their sectors. Therefore, businesses
using International Standards can compete on many more markets
around the world.
- For innovators of new technologies,
International Standards on aspects like terminology, compatibility
and safety speed up the dissemination of innovations and their
development into manufacturable and marketable products.
- For customers, the worldwide compatibility of
technology which is achieved when products and services are based on
International Standards gives them a broad choice of offers. They also benefit from the
effects of competition
among suppliers.
- For governments, International Standards provide
the technological and scientific bases underpinning health, safety
and environmental legislation.
- For trade officials, International Standards
create "a level playing field" for all competitors
on those markets. The existence of divergent national or regional
standards can create technical barriers to trade. International
Standards are the technical means by which political trade
agreements can be put into practice.
- For developing countries, International
Standards that represent an international consensus on the state of
the art are an important source of technological know-how.
By defining the characteristics that products and services will be
expected to meet on export markets, International Standards give
developing countries a basis for making the right decisions
when investing their scarce resources and thus avoid squandering
them.
- For consumers, conformity of products and
services to International Standards provides assurance about their
quality, safety and reliability.
- For everyone, International Standards contribute
to the quality of life in general by ensuring that
the transport, machinery and tools we use are safe.
- For the planet we inhabit, International
Standards on air, water and soil quality, on emissions of gases and
radiation and environmental aspects of products can contribute to
efforts to preserve the environment.
More about the ISO
benefits ...
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