Tag Archive: SBS

  1. SBS launches its manifesto for the 2024-2029 EU term

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    Source: Small Business Standards

    Small Business Standards (SBS), the voice of European SMEs in the standardisation process, has launched its “Manifesto for the 2024-2029 EU term – SMEs at the heart of European standardisation”

    SBS represents 22.5 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Europe, helping to promote the participation of SMEs in standards development, and to facilitate the uptake of standards by SMEs. It sees standards as an important cornerstone of the Single Market and as an indispensable tool to make EU policies operational, helping SMEs to ensure conformity and compliance with national and European legislation.

    The manifesto states: “Standards are crucial for developing measurement methods and infrastructure and ensuring data integrity in areas like eco-design, energy efficiency, cybersecurity, and the upcoming Digital Product Passport.”

    “The ongoing evaluation of Regulation 1025/2012 on European standardisation, coupled with a renewed focus on standards and international cooperation, will significantly shape the future of the European standardisation system.”

    “A balanced standardisation system, with SBS at the forefront of these efforts, is essential for SMEs to contribute to standards development and reap the benefits of growth, job creation, and prosperity within the EU.”

    The manifesto outlines 6 key calls-to-action:

    1. Ensure a more inclusive standardisation system that makes the Single Market work better for everyone.

    2. Secure robust funding for standardisation and SME participation and support European global leadership in standards.

    3. Promote SME-friendly digital and sustainability standards, letting SMEs fully harness the opportunities of the twin transition.

    4. Ensure the timely development and citation of harmonised standards, which are key for SME growth.

    5. Invest in the uptake and implementation of standards by SMEs to help them thrive.

    6. Fully implement Regulation 1025/2012 on European standardisation, rather than its revision.

    The full manifesto can be downloaded here.

  2. Webinar series aims to demystify standards for SMEs

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    Source: Small Business Standards

    A webinar series presented by Small Business Standards (SBS) and SME United is designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) master standardisation

    Standardisation is crucial in enabling industries and stakeholders to agree on technical specifications, ensuring interoperability and consistency across sectors. The development of common European standards, as well as the removal of conflicting national standards, has been instrumental in creating a unified European Single Market.

    For SMEs, standards are essential in improving product quality, increasing efficiency, ensuring regulation compliance, and easing access to European and international markets. A webinar series hosted by SBS and SME United aims to bridge the knowledge gap among SMEs around standardisation, by offering valuable insights to SME associations, and empowering them in supporting their members.

    In the series, SBS and SME United will cover various aspects of standardisation in short live webinars, where participants will be able to ask questions and receive practical advice.

    The upcoming webinar sessions are as follows:

    Standards and Regulations: Navigating the Compliance maze
    23 October 2024  | 14 – 14.45 CEST 

    An exploration of the relationship between standards, regulations, and conformity assessment. Discover how voluntary standards interact with mandatory regulations and the legal framework governing these areas. This session is essential to understand how SMEs can use standards to ensure compliance, minimise risks, and understand the legal landscape in which they operate.

    Creating standards: Understanding the process
    27 November 2024  | 14 – 14.45 CEST 

    Have you ever wondered how a standard is developed? This session will take you behind the scenes of the standardisation process and will take place during Meeting Standards week. Discover the stages of developing a standard, from the initial proposal to the final publication. Learn about the key players involved, including Technical Committees and Working Groups. This session will provide attendees with a clear picture of how standards come to life and the critical roles they can play in shaping them.

    Get involved: Shaping standards to the benefit of SMEs
    18 December 2024  | 14 – 14.45 CEST 

    SMEs have a unique opportunity to influence the standards that impact their industries. This session will explore how SMEs can engage in the standardisation process, with discussions around the benefits of involvement, best practices insights from successful SME representatives, and practical tips on where to find information and how to get started.

    To register for the webinars, please send an email to Doris Rabetge: d.rabetge@sbs-sme.eu

  3. SBS granted Right of Opinion in CEN and CENELEC Technical work

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    CEN and CENELEC are committed to fostering an inclusive, open and transparent system and enhance the participation of all stakeholders in their activities, including SMEs and Civil Society representatives.

    Source: SBS

    For this reason, during the CEN and CENELEC Annual Meeting that was held in Amsterdam on 24-27 June, the CEN and CENELEC Administrative Boards agreed to grant Small Business Standards (SBS) – the recognised Annex III organisation representing SMEs’ interests in the European Standardisation System under EU Regulation 1025/2012 – the Right of Opinion in the CEN and CENELEC Technical work.

    SBS, of which LEVA-EU is a member, has been a long-time Partner of CEN and CENELEC under CEN and CENELEC Guide 25. The close cooperation between the 3 organisations has shown successful outcomes over the years, with greater consideration being given to the needs of SMEs in the development of standards. SBS is directly involved in over 60 Technical Committees and Sub-Committees across CEN and CENELEC, in a wide variety of sectors.

    The Opinion Mechanism, described on CEN BOSS and CENELEC BOSS, was established in 2017, allowing the Annex III Societal Stakeholder Organisations in partnership with CEN and/or CENELEC – ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation,  ECOS – Environmental Coalition on Standards, ETUC – European Trade Union Confederation – to submit an opinion on standards under development, as a complementary tool to their key participation at the national level.

    During the Annual Meeting week, the CEN and CENELEC Administrative Boards extended the Right of Opinion to SBS as an important step to further facilitate its effective and valuable contribution to the European standardisation process. The Right of Opinion is an additional right to the right to submit comments at the Enquiry and Final Vote stage, which is already granted to the 4 Annex III Partner Organisations (ANEC, ECOS, ETUC and SBS).

    In addition, the Boards further encouraged SBS to reinforce their activities with national SMEs and SME associations in engaging with CEN and CENELEC Members to exploit the full benefits of the national delegation principle.

    This new step is fully aligned with CEN and CENELEC’s strategic objective to foster an inclusive CEN and CENELEC system as the gateway to standardisation in Europe, as laid out in the CEN-CENELEC Strategy 2030 and is in line with the European Standardisation Strategy, in particular pillar III on upholding the integrity, inclusiveness and accessibility of the European standardisation system.

  4. Last Call for LEVA-EU Standardization Workshop 27/02

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    Tomorrow, Tuesday 27 February, LEVA-EU is presenting an exclusive workshop on standardization for light, electric vehicles, including EPACs, E-Cargocycles, E-Scooters, etc. This insightful event is co-organized with  SBS and promises a deep dive into the realm of standardization, offering invaluable information.

    The event will take place online only from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

    Participation in the workshop is free for LEVA-EU and for SBS Members. Non-members pay € 175 for one participant, € 325 for 2 and € 450 for three. Participants must register in advance here: https://rb.gy/aq6s9p.

    Upon registration (members) and payment (non-members), we will send you an invitation with a online link to the workshop shortly before the start of the meeting.

    The agenda is as follows:

    1. Short presentation LEVA-EU and SBS

    2. What are standards?

    3. Why European/international standards?

    4. How is a standard being made?

    5. How is a standard structured?

    6. What’s the procedure to make and vote standards?

    7. Why and how participate?

    8. What’s the relation between standards and legislation?

    9. What is (the use of) harmonizing standards?

    10. How is a standard applied/used?

    11. Which standards, relevant for light electric vehicles are currently being drafted?

    12. What are the relevant published standards?

  5. SBS to host conference on SMEs and smart manufacturing – Standards as accelerators of industry change

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    Small Business Standards (SBS) invites interested parties and stakeholders to join the online conference this November

    Closing the SBS Meeting Standards campaign, the conference, moderated by Jenny Baker, will focus on the opportunities and challenges smart manufacturing brings to SMEs and discuss the role of standards in the digitalisation of manufacturing and the adoption of new manufacturing technologies. Through the presentation of SME case studies, the aim is to discuss the policy and legal context, standardisation activities and developments in this area and how they can support the adoption by SMEs of smart manufacturing technologies so that SMEs remain competitive in this area.

    When: 21 November – 13.15 – 16.15H (Brussels time)
    Where: Online

    Visit the official website to find out more and register

    Small Business Standards (SBS) is a non-profit association representing and defending Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’ (SMEs) interests in the standardisation system at European and international levels. Its 22 members are national and European sectoral and inter-professional associations representing SMEs in 32 European countries.

  6. SMEs and accessibility standards

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    Approximately 87 million people in the EU are affected by a disability or some kind of limitation that affects their daily lives and restricts them from performing everyday tasks. But ultimately accessibility is relevant to all of us, since we all can potentially become temporarily or permanently disabled, and all of us experience a reduction in our functional abilities as we age.

    The European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) was adopted in 2019 and aims to make certain everyday products and services accessible for persons with disabilities and to improve the way the internal market functions in this area. The Directive is a result of the commitment to accessibility made by the EU and all Member States upon ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

    Member States had to put in place the necessary provisions at national level to implement the Directive by June 2022. The Act lays out a minimum set of accessibility requirements for a range of products and services such as computers and operating systems, telephones and smartphones, passenger transport-related services, TV equipment, emergency services or e-commerce. Understandably, given their increasing importance in terms of communication and participation in the economy, digital technologies are the focus of the European Accessibility Act. The Directive also foresees the possibility for Member States to adopt requirements in relation to accessibility of the built environment.

    Businesses selling products and services covered by the Act will have until June 2025 to ensure that these comply with the common EU accessibility requirements. An exemption is foreseen for microenterprises providing services.
    On 22 November, SBS organised a webinar aimed at raising awareness among SMEs and SME organisations of the Accessibility Act and the related standardisation work. The Directive foresees the use of harmonised standards as a possible means to ensure that products and services conform with its requirements, and the Commission has issued a series of Standardisation Requests, one of them quite recently, asking for the development of such standards.

    SMEs are very often involved in both the production of technological solutions and in services for elderly persons and people with disabilities. Participating in standardisation is important for SMEs to be able to influence the framework within which they must operate, a point emphasised by SBS expert Rudolph Brynn during the webinar.

    Mr Brynn is an accessibility expert at SBS and works for a company that provides advice on universal building and outdoor design, digital accessibility and usability, and legislation and standards. He presented the SBS’ activities in this context and pointed out important aspects that SMEs should know about and the potential impact they might have on them.

    The other webinar speaker was Ms Inmaculada Placencia Porrero, Senior Expert in the European Commission’s social affairs unit, responsible for Disability and Inclusion. She provided an overview of the Disability Act, its objectives, and its main provisions.
    The European Commission recently issued a Standardisation request (M/587) to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI to develop three new standards and revise existing ones related to the accessibility of ICT products and services and their procurement, accessibility of the built environment, design for all, and accessibility of emergency communications, support services and non-digital product information.

    You can find the webinar presentation material here.

  7. SBS-Survey to identify key areas of standardisation for SMEs

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    SBS launched a study at the end of 2020 to identify key areas of standardisation for SMEs spanning the next five years. Both European and international standards cover an extremely broad range of goods and services, and the number of standards being developed or revised is growing every year. The study will assist SBS in focussing its activities on standardisation areas that have been identified as especially relevant and strategic from the SME perspective.

    As a part of this effort, SBS has developed a questionnaire to be completed by SMEs to assist in prioritising sectors and topics of particular SME relevance. The deadline for submission of the questionnaire is 15 July 2021. The questionnaire is available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish here

  8. Eddie Eccleston appointment as SBS-expert extended

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    Further to the call for experts published in June 2020, the SBS General Assembly confirmed the selection of 61 experts to represent the European SME position on standardisation Technical Committees, Sub-Committees and Working Groups in CEN, CENELEC, ETSI, ISO and IEC.

    The selected experts, from 15 countries across Europe, will be active on 70 standardisation Technical Committees and more than 150 Working Groups, allowing SBS to influence the development of standards across more than 14 sectors. 

    LEVA-EU is very pleased with the reappointment of Eddie Eccleston to defend SME-interests in WG 5 – EPACs and WG 9 – (e)cargobikes of CEN TC 333.

  9. Launch of the SME Compatibility Test for Standards

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    In October, SBS has launched the SME Compatibility Test for Standards.

    This online test, accessible from the SBS website, can be used by any standard maker who wishes to assess the SME-compatibility of a standard. The test is the starting point for possible improvements to a standard if it appears to be unsuited to smaller businesses.
    Try it out to test a standard!
    Do you want to know more about the test? Watch the 10-10 webinar organised together with CEN and CENELEC on the participation of SMEs in standardisation.

    Photo by Kristin Wilson on Unsplash

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