What is a standard?

Why you need to know about Standards

"Standards are so much a part of our daily routine that we use them without even being aware of doing so, and without giving thought to how they are created or the benefits they provide." ¹

"International Standards are basic technology and economic building blocks similar to DNA because they affect everything we do. It is estimated that more than 500,000 Standards exist in the world today to support the global marketplace." ²

What is a Standard?

Standards have existed for thousands of years. For example, the first long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The ruts created by the Roman chariots were then used by all other wagons and later became a gauge for laying the first railway lines.

A Standard is an agreed way of doing something. It can be recorded and published formally, or may simply be a company's informal unwritten procedure.

Formal Standards, such as British, European or international Standards vary according to what they provide. For example, they may specify requirements for the features or characteristics of a product, such as the components for solar heating equipment, or recommend the best way of doing something, such as the service supplied by furniture removal companies, or for a system such as a company's system for managing information security.

Why are Standards important?

Standards provide benefits to business and to individuals, by defining accurate measurements and lowering production costs; improving product performance, quality, uniformity, interoperability and functionality; and providing a method to improve health, safety, the environment, communications, competition, international trade, and improving the quality of life.

Different types of Standard

Standards may be one of the following types:

Private Standards are used only by the organization that developed them
Open source Standards are made available for anyone to use and adapt. An example is computer software that is freely available on the Internet, and which provides the original source code so advanced users can modify it.
Formal Standards are produced through a Standards organisation for national, European or international use, for example:

National Standards, e.g. British Standards (suffix BS) are produced by a country's National Standards Body (NSB). In the UK, British Standards are developed together with the UK government, businesses and society. Some are enforced by regulation, but most Standards are voluntary.
Publicly Available Standards (PAS) can be, for example, a Standard produced by a trade association that may be used by any organization. Under the PAS scheme, BSI helps organizations to draft best-practice methodologies for products or processes.
European Standards (suffix EN) are produced by CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, whose members are the national Standards bodies of the European Union countries.
International Standards (suffix ISO) are produced by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, whose members are the national Standards bodies of countries all over the world.
International Electrotechnical Standards (suffix IEC) are produced by the Electrotechnical Commission.

Who creates formal Standards?

Formal Standards are created following discussions with a variety of interested organizations and groups.

National
A country's National Standards Body (NSB) is usually its biggest producer of formal Standards. The NSB brings together representatives from relevant sections of business, government and society in technical committees that develop the Standards. BSI British Standards is the national Standards body in the UK. It produces British Standards and ensures the representation of UK interests in European and international forums. Other NSBs include AFNOR in France, DIN in Germany and ANSI in the US.

European
CEN (European Committee for Standardization) members are the national Standards bodies of countries in the European Union, including BSI. CEN promotes voluntary technical harmonization to reduce trade barriers in Europe and worldwide. All European Standards are adopted by the EU countries. In the UK, they are adopted as British Standards (BS EN). An example of this is the toys Standard BS EN 71, which relates to the EU Directive for the trade of new toys in Europe.

International
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is the world's largest developer of Standards. Its membership comprises the National Standards Bodies of countries around the world. BSI is a leading member of ISO and represents the UK's interest in the development of international standards. BSI also decides which international Standards to adopt as British Standards (BS ISO).

IEC is the International Electrotechnical Commission. IEC oversees the development of electrical and electronic Standards for participating countries.

How are Standards created?

Most Standardization work takes place through groups of experts (known as technical committees). At national, European or international level, committees are made up of representatives from businesses, trade associations, government, academia, consumer and other groups.

BSI does not write the Standards but is responsible for drafting them and ensures that all organizations represented are involved in discussions until a consensus is reached and that all stages of development of a Standard are followed.

Reliable and well-defined procedures are essential to ensure agreement is reached on Standards, such as fairness, openness, transparency, and methods to ensure consideration of the views for all interested parties.

Before final publication, formal Standards are made publicly available for review.

How do we know products and services conform to Standards?

Standards are vital tools of industry and trade because they promote understanding between buyers and sellers. For example, buyers may not be able to tell whether a product is suitable to meet their needs. Information on whether a product, service or system meets a particular Standard can tell a buyer about the product's safety and suitability.

In the UK we have the Kitemark scheme, which is a mark of quality and indicates that a product has been tested against a particular Standard and meets the requirements. Find out more about how products and services are tested for conformance to Standards here.

Standards are voluntary and not legal documents although they may be called up in legal cases. They are often linked to UK legislation or EC directives.

Companies that rely on conformity assessment results (for example, to know that a product they trade meets the requirements of a supplier) need to know and understand which types of conformity assessment activities were included in the process. Conformity assessment activities typically include:

inspection
testing
laboratory accreditation
certification programs and their accreditation
management system assessment/registration and accreditation
recognition of the competence of accreditation programs

In the UK, conformity assessment is regulated by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service).

Are you giving a lecture about what a Standard is?

BSI has created a brief set of PowerPoint slides, with speaker notes, to help you explain what a Standard is to your students.

Download the 'What is a Standard?' PowerPoint presentation here.
To download this file to your computer, right click on the link above and select 'Save Target as...' from the menu.

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