SMEs representation in drafting Standards

Work in Technical Committees

A Technical Committee (TC) is a group responsible for development and drafting of standards which are then ratified by European Standards Organisations.

All stakeholders interested in the draft standard are entitled to participate, but only representatives of National Standardisation Bodies have the right to vote in the Technical Committee.

Committees comprise experts who are familiar with the area being studied. They provide input and feedback based on their professional knowledge and experience.

One of SBS’ most important activities is its direct participation in the standardisation process through CEN, CENELEC, ETSI and ISO Technical Committees (TCs). SBS carries out this task by appointing experts – nominated by its member SME organisations – to attend the committee meetings and report back to their SBS coordinator. Indeed, this enables SBS to closely monitor development of new directives, directive reviews and standardisation work in general to then lobby towards the European Institutions and further encourage them to take SMEs into account.

Selection of Technical Committees (TCs)

In 2015, SBS has appointed about 50 experts so far to take part in the work of CEN-CENELEC and ISO (the International Organisation for Standardization) Technical Committees so as to directly contribute to the creation of standards. The experts, coordinated by SBS, will monitor that standards are SME-friendly and will therefore promote a better adaptation of standards to fit SME needs. SBS will also, through its members, put forward SME point of views in all relevant Fora, Working Groups and platforms shaping the standardisation system. Moreover, SBS will consult and keep its members informed about Internal Market policies related to standardisation issues affecting SMEs. The due application of standards in business models will give entrepreneurs several advantages, such as enlarging the potential market for products, facilitating product compliance, lowering transaction costs, reducing external effects (e.g. environmental impact), improving management systems, and more.

Formal procedure for New Experts

The selection of TCs is periodically reviewed by the SBS secretariat. This periodic evaluation guarantees the actual relevance for SMEs of the pool of TCs in which SBS experts are appointed.

Criteria for new applicants are (through call of interest) :

  1. Expression of interest by one or more SME associations;
  2. Number of SMEs: this criterion takes into account the size of a given sector and the share of SMEs present in that sector;
  3. Importance for SMEs: this criterion takes into account the type of standards, eg national/ European / International, harmonized / non harmonized, and their possible use within legislation or public procurement;
  4. Impact on SMEs: this criterion is based on estimations of the costs and resources for the implementation of the standards in SMEs; this is according to the use the companies make of the standards depending on whether they are manufacturers, installers, maintainers, consultants etc;
  5. Number of standards under development: this criterion gives an indication on the level of activity of the TC

No call currently available.