SMEs are important to the European economy: they account for 99% of enterprises, 70% of jobs and 50% of value added. However, owing to constraints in terms of human resources and finance, the participation of SMEs in standardization is low. The European Commission has therefore commissioned a study aimed at identifying adequate policies across Europe and describing best practices for supporting the participation of SMEs in standardization.

Interview with Mr Hans-Werner Müller, President of the European Office of Crafts, Trades and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises for Standardisation (NORMAPME) and Secretary General of the European Union of Crafts, Trades and SMEs (UEAPME). Mr Müller's term as UEAPME Secretary General will come to an end in summer 2007.

The recent SME study by EIM analyzed the effectiveness of measures to improve the participation of SMEs in standardization. The 23 successful measures described in the study are however very limited in number and have reached at best a few thousand SMEs. Additional measures are therefore urgently needed in order for an effective network of assistance to SMEs to be achieved.

"Those who own the standards own the markets". This comment by Otto Schlecht, former State Secretary of the German Ministry of Economics, demonstrates the importance of standards - both for large multinationals, and for the 900,000 small and medium-sized businesses in the German trade sector. Standardization assures the comparability of goods and services. This comparability is essential to the functioning of modern economies.

In a study launched by the European Commission, 23 best-practice examples for promotion of the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in European standardization activity were selected from over 400 proposed measures from 32 European countries. Those selected included two German examples: the KAN Reports of the Commission for Occupational Health and Safety and Standardization, and NAM, the standards committee responsible for mechanical engineering.

Familiarity with the individual stages of standards development is advantageous if OH&S concerns are to be submitted in a timely manner and through the proper channels to the standardization process. KAN Report 34 contains important information in this respect with regard to ISO standardization. KAN Report 35 now describes the creation of CEN standards and the OH&S lobby's scope for influencing the standardization process.