SBS, Small Business Standards, this year appointed 78 experts to standardisation bodies at European and International level. These experts cover more than 260 Technical Committees (TC) and Working Groups (WG). 

One of these 78 experts is LEVA-EU’s Eddie Eccleston, who works for the light electric vehicle sector in TC333, both in WG5 – EPACs and WG9 (e) carriercycles. Eddie Eccleston will organise at least two mirror committee meetings this year. These meetings will be open to all SMEs, interested in an update on standardisation for LEVs. If in the meantime you have any question concerning standardisation, you can contact him at eddie@leva-eu.com.

The experts met in Brussels for their annual meeting to discuss the latest developments in European policy as well as the European and International standards organisations with representatives from the European Commission, DG GROW and DG CNECT, and representatives from CEN-CENELEC (European Committee for Standardization/ European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization), ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). Among other things, the following topics were discussed: revision of the Regulation 1025, which is the basis for the representation of SMEs in the standardisation process, and the SBS position on the future of the European Standardisation System, key digital standardisation areas in 2026 and the work of SBS in the high-level forum on standardisation. 

SBS presented its updated version of the SBS SME Compatibility Test, a tool which can be used to evaluate the SME compatibility of a standard at different stages of its development. The Compatibility Test is based on CEN-CENELEC and ISO Guide 17 “Guidance for writing standards taking into account micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) needs”. The Compatibility Test can be used both by standards developers and standards users, and is based on a mix of 25 multiple choice and open questions to assess the SME-friendliness of any given standard, whether already published or still under development. The SBS SME Compatibility Test provides concrete guidance on how to draft standards following the needs and specificities of SMEs and gives an even clearer picture of where existing standards can and should improve to make sure that SMEs can use them and fully reap their benefits.

SBS also informed about the meeting standards campaign which will take place this year from 22 to 30 June 2026.

This was the first experts’ meeting chaired by the SBS Secretary General Jon Echanove who started working for SBS in November 2025.