With the rapid move towards globalisation, business organisations are striving hard to focus on their core values to be more competitive and to equip and sustain themselves to meet the demands of consumers.

REUTERS

LONDON, Feb 14 – Discoveries so far of horsemeat in products sold as beef are likely to be the “tip of the iceberg”, a British parliamentary report into the scandal said today.

This brochure aims to provide national standards bodies (NSBs) – both member bodies of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and national committees of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) – as well as other standards development organizations (SDOs), with practical guidance on achieving consumer participation in standardization. It covers why and when to involve consumers in standardization, the value that consumers bring to standards development, how to organize effective consumer participation and defining who is a consumer representative. The brochure also deals with ISO’s Committee on Consumer Policy (COPOLCO), funding and training of consumer  representatives, and resources and links for further study. Case studies show how these different issues have been addressed, especially in a national or regional context.

Elements of Standards and Conformance Infrastructure

The Standards and Conformance Infrastructure, comprising metrology, standards and accreditation, and conformity assessment impacts on the simplest daily activities, such as the accuracy of an alarm clock, the way seatbelts in a car operate, and the safety of food. The same technical infrastructure also underpins the complex technologies and industrial processes that drive economic growth.

A Desktop Reference Handbook

The Vietnamese Directorate for Standard and Quality (STAMEQ) of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) has requested technical assistance from the U.S.Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Support for Trade Acceleration (STAR) project to develop a handbook on metrology, standards, conformity assessment, and the TBT Agreement. This handbook is the result of that request.

The handbook reflects basic concepts developed by numerous national, regional, and international MAS-Q organizations such as ISO, IEC, the WTO, the World Bank, Codex, BIPM, ILAC, IAF, ITC, NIST, ANSI, SIM, and many others.