§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures she is taking to push standardisation as part of an export and growth drive. [140536]
§ Ms HewittThe National Standardisation Strategic Framework (NSSF) sets out to promote standardisation to the benefit of business, government and society. Within this Framework, the British Standards Institution (BSI) is aligning its activity in international standards making (ISO standards) to changing British business interests. An objective stated 453W in the NSSF is to "Optimise the use of standardisation as an international gateway to achieve more open markets, reduce technical barriers to trade, UK trading advantage, technology transfer and international development objectives". We are currently determining how best to pursue this objective. It may be that promotion of UK or European standards will form part of the Government's support for certain sectors of UK business in key export markets.