Enci The need to pay for standards is not confined to the UK. Virtually all countries and organisations do the same - from ANSI and UL in the USA to SA in Australia. In some countries I understand you even have to pay to be represented on the committees that prepare standards!!
This money goes towards the cost of devising, preparing and printing the standards - that all takes an awful lot of time and money. Governments do sometime contribute towards these costs, but never anywhere the full amount except possibly where there are very specific and dangerous hazards for which standards may be required for legal reasons. They do not contribute the whole cost because "industry" must show that they really do need these standards and are thus prepared to pay for them - and because "industry" is the beneficiary of standards which allows them to sell products at a profit. Otherwise, governments could be accused of providing hidden subsidies to "industry". Finally, the provision of standards comes a long way down the financial priority level in government eyes - would you generally put the provision of standards before that of health, education, defence, etc? Regards John Allen Thales Defence Ltd Bracknell (and ex-BSI Standards Project Manager!) -----Original Message----- From: Enci [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 12 December 2001 13:41 To: [email protected] Subject: An old chestnut. Hi Group, Can someone please remind me again why I have to pay over 1 British Pound a sheet for standards? (over 2 British pounds a page non-BSI member price) Where does the money go? Does this same situation exist outside the European Union? How much do you pay? Is membership on a committee producing a standard a paid position? For a new line of products in low volume, the costs involved in acquiring the relevant standards are steep. With the relative ease in which I can acquire datasheets online, I have often wondered why standards are not freely downloadable - would that not increase the safety of equipment produced by SME's and hobbyists alike? Also as an informed consumer I would be able to see specific details of the standards applicable to any products I buy. Enci ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Michael Garretson: [email protected] Dave Heald [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: No longer online until our new server is brought online and the old messages are imported into the new server. ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Michael Garretson: [email protected] Dave Heald [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: No longer online until our new server is brought online and the old messages are imported into the new server.
