Standardisation should focus more on innovation

EU standardisation policy should focus more on product innovation and competitiveness, the European commission argued on Tuesday in a new policy paper. Standards and technical harmonisation can help speed-up the uptake of environmental technologies and liberalise trade in rapidly-growing markets, it said.

The commission’s policy paper outlines actions for a more market-led standardisation policy. Current standardisation models in Europe are ”called into question by challenges such as accelerated market cycles… and the trend towards global markets”, the paper says.

Standardisation is key to developing a European sustainable industrial policy and removing barriers to technological advances in ”lead markets” such as renewable energy, recycling, bio-based products and sustainable construction, the commission says. http://tinyurl.com/39gtas