Germany Approves New Standardization Strategy

October 5, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS

The approval was welcomed by the Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN) - the German Institute for Standardization - which helped craft the strategy.

"The concept is the federal government's logical extension of the German standardization strategy," said Torsten Bahke, director of DIN. "The strategy was developed by DIN together with representatives from industry, science and the state, and presents standardization as a means of strengthening the economy and society as a whole."

The government's strategy coordinates its standardization policies and sets the following goals:

• Support standardization in order to strengthen Germany's competitive ability and sustainability.
• Use standardization (formal and informal) to implement innovations and research results.
• Facilitate and accelerate legislation.
• Promote the means of informing interested parties and enhancing their opportunities to participate and exert influence.
• Increase the use of standards in public procurement procedures.

In its concept, the German federal government stressed standardization's significant role in the functioning of the European Single Market and global trade. According to this document, "normsand standards can contribute greatly to opening markets, the transfer of technology, and the deregulation of technical legislation."

In addition to the government's standardization aims and measures for their implementation in each governmental department, the Standardization Policy Concept also described what the federal government expects from standards organizations and experts:

• Suitable structures for avoiding duplication of work.
• Appropriate composition of standards committees.
• Removal of all barriers to participation in standardization and the referencing and application of standards.
• Improved standards collections.
• Efficient financing of standards work.
• Increased awareness and knowledge of standards.
• Improved connection between standardization and research.
• Transparent procedures for dealing with industrial property rights.

At the same time, the concept paper discussed the challenges facing standards developers. Globalization, technological convergence and the increasing complexity of cross-sectoral topics are putting high demands on the organization and management of standards work.

By implementing the German standardization strategy, Bahke said DIN has already reaped results that are suitable for meeting the expectations formulated in the government's concept, who confirmed that DIN will continue in this direction.

In fact, a number of measures have already been introduced to strengthen DIN's orientation as a service provider, further improve the quality of its products and services, and implement a new transparent financing concept.

Over the past few months, several new services have been added that will help involve all stakeholders in standardization and support small and medium-sized businesses, which tend to be highly innovative.

Moreover, the online availability of tables of contents of standards, the free online portal for accessing draft standards and the virtual meeting platform are all means of reducing costs for those who have a stake in standardization.

Source: Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V.