The contribution of International Standards to economic and social progress and their role in disseminating technological innovation were highlighted when ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) held its 28th General Assembly on 19-23 September 2005 in Singapore.
“International Standards play a strategic role in addressing challenges in global competition, trade, health and security threats,” said Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr. Lim Hng Kiang at the opening ceremony. “One key strategy for enterprises to gain a competitive advantage is the adoption of internationally harmonized standards.”
“These standards enable products and services of different origins to be compatible and interoperable globally. They also allow enterprises to gain access to more markets,” added Mr. Lim.
This was the first time that Singapore has hosted the ISO General Assembly. It was also the first time that a Southeast Asian country has played host to this annual gathering that brought together 360 delegates from 113 countries and representatives from 10 international and regional organizations.
Opening the Assembly, ISO President, Professor Masami Tanaka, said that due to Singapore’s long experience in standardization, the country can act as a role model for other countries to participate in developing International Standards.
“Singapore is an example of what can be achieved by a small country with few natural resources and should therefore be an inspiration to other small countries and developing economies that have joined ISO in recent years,” he added.
Prof. Tanaka pointed out that according to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the standardization infrastructure in developing countries is often at a very basic level because national standards bodies in these countries lack the technical expertise required for developing standards. Participation in ISO would enable them to influence the future trend of International Standards such as those for security and services.
“ISO standards reduce technical barriers to trade because they make transparent the requirements that products must meet on world markets,” he said. “As a result, suppliers from developing countries can compete on an equal basis with those from developed countries in the global market.”
ISO Secretary General Alan Bryden described in his report the characteristics that must be present in ISO standards to ensure their global relevance. He underlined the growing expectations on these standards, including by the service sector, as well as the need to communicate better to stakeholders and the general public the benefits that ISO standards offer the world economy and how they facilitate sustainable development.
Important items on the ISO General Assembly programme were two open sessions: the “Global trade in services – new challenges for international standardization” and “Security and the global economy – contribution of international standardization”.
Commenting on these, Mr. Cedric Foo, Chairman of SPRING, the ISO member for Singapore, said: “It is heartening to note that International Standards in the areas of financial planning, market research and tourism as well as exhibition management are under development.
“On the security front, the threat of terrorism is very real and it is unlikely to disappear in the in the near future. Security standards help to create a safer environment and conditions for doing business both within and between countries. ISO has risen proactively to meet current global security needs – with the formation of the ISO/IEC strategic advisory group to oversee and coordinate standardization activities relevant to security.”
Among other highlights of the General Assembly was a panel discussion on “Innovation and standardization – friends or foes?” Panellists and speakers gave examples of how companies used standards to encourage innovation and achieve product and service differentiation.
ISO members expressed the opinion that ISO should foster further new initiatives such as the recently established technical committee on nanotechnology and be even more proactive in order to anticipate new fields where international standardization might support the dissemination of innovation.
The message that emerged from the panel discussion was the following: far from stifling innovation, standards encourage it – but this message must be communicated in each country in order to help businesses – and in particular small businesses – to understand the value of standardization.