Why Are There Standards?

The Importance of Standards

From air conditioners to artificial intelligence - there's a standard for almost everything. Standards are considered a seal of quality and safety worldwide. For example, some standards define testing methods and product performance to ensure safety and quality.

• EN 71 defines the specifications for a test cylinder that is used to check whether a toy can be swallowed by a small child.
• EN 149 defines the standard for a particle-filtering face mask that covers the nose, mouth, and chin.
• ISO 8601 regulates around the world that a calendar week is "a time interval of seven days that begins on a Monday"

Along with national standardization organizations, there are also supranational groups such as European Standards (EN), made up of three organizations, and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which promotes consistency among international standards.

In TÜV SÜD's article, "Why are there standards?", from our magazine About Trust, we look at where standards are particularly useful and how they shape the global economy.

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