Small Business Standards (SBS) has published its Manifesto for the 2024-2029 EU term, titled “SMEs at the heart of European standardisation”, outlining its priorities for ensuring that SMEs are fully represented in the European standardisation system. EBC, as a partner of SBS and responsible for coordinating its construction activities, supports SBS in its efforts to shape a regulatory framework that advocate for the competitiveness of SMEs.
In the Manifesto, SBS highlights the importance of standards in making European legislation workable for SMEs, in areas like the eco-design, energy efficiency, or cybersecurity, among several others. Standards in support of such legislation are essential for ensuring that SMEs can comply with regulatory requirements and maintain access to the internal market.
The main request of SBS is a more inclusive standardisation system, achieved via robust funding for SME participation. Moreover, SBS calls for the timely development and citation of harmonised standards. In the construction sector, these aspects are critical to achieving compliance with legislation such as the Construction Products Regulation. The manifesto stresses that without a clear and efficient framework, SMEs will struggle to meet growing demands, especially in light of the EU’s green and digital transitions.
As part of its efforts to increase SME participation, SBS also proposes concrete actions, such as creating monitoring tools for SMEs to track standardisation developments and ensuring national governments support SME involvement in standards setting.
The SBS manifesto will be communicated in all upcoming political activities and fora, to ensure that standardisation policies reflect the needs of SMEs.
As part of its efforts to raise awareness on standards to SMEs, on 28 November, SBS organises its annual conference in the EFTA House, in Brussels. This year’s event, titled “Repair for SMEs Growth,” will explore the implications of the new Right to Repair Directive and standards linked to the Eco-design for Sustainable Products legislation. The discussions will focus on how these developments affect SMEs and the opportunities they offer for integrating repairability into business practices, while maintaining competitiveness and ensuring compliance with EU regulations.
To register to the annual conference, click here
EBC will support this call for a better inclusiveness in standardisation arenas, as part of its commitment to SME representation in the community of standards.
 | To read the SBS Manifesto, click here |
