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On World Standards Day, the Spanish Association for Standardization (UNE) highlights the key role played by standards in promoting the ecological transition, harmonising best practices and providing reliable and consensual tools to companies and legislators.
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There are numerous UNE standards that support the ecological transition: from a more general scope, such as the UNE-EN ISO 14001 on environmental management, to specific fields, such as the UNE-EN ISO 14064 on carbon footprint verification in the fight against climate change and UNE-EN ISO 50001 on energy efficiency.
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The Spanish standardisation body would like to underline the relevant contribution of standards to Spain's economic recovery. Some illustrative examples include the UNE-ISO 31000 Risk Management standards and the UNE-EN ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management standard.
14 October 2020. On World Standards Day, the Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, wants to highlight the significant contribution of technical standards to Spain's economic recovery in the current context resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Standards play a key role in many areas: from business competitiveness to the development of society and environmental protection.
This year, the slogan chosen by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is "Protecting the Planet through Standards", through which the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) seek to underscore the need to protect the Earth. UNE is the Spanish member of the European and international standardisation organisations.
The crisis caused by the coronavirus has highlighted the importance of sustainability and resilience. We have before us the challenge of rebuilding economies and safeguarding life while preserving the planet for future generations.
In this context, standardisation has proven to be a successful tool for supporting the deployment of European public policies over the past 30 years and now it will contribute to the goal of advancing the ecological transition and towards a sustainable European economy through practical and efficient standards that generate confidence.
Standards harmonise best practices, establishing a common understanding and providing reliable and consensual tools in many environmental areas. Illustrative examples include environmental management (UNE-EN ISO 14001), the circular economy (CTN 323 standards), climate change (UNE-EN ISO 14064 to calculate the carbon footprint), energy efficiency (UNE-EN ISO 50001), and others.
UNE's contribution to economic recovery
On this Day, the Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, would like to remember the relevant contribution of standards to Spain's economic recovery. During all these months of the pandemic, the Spanish standardisation body has worked tirelessly on the development of UNE standards to overcome the current economic crisis, supporting companies and Public Administrations.
In order to achieve this, it has drafted standards, in record time, for business management and the quality and safety of products for reducing risks against COVID-19.
These initiatives include:
- The UNE 0064 and 0065 Specifications for hygienic masks, which establish the minimum requirements that must be met by reusable and non-reusable hygienic masks.
- The UNE 0066 Specifications, developed together with the ICTE, establish the guidelines and recommendations for reducing the risk of the spread of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in the tourism sector. They are the basis for a future ISO standard in this field.
- The UNE 0069 Specification, developed together with PANASEF, establishes the hygienic and sanitary requirements and recommendations for funeral companies.
- The UNE 0068 Specification, endorsed by ANFALUM, establishes the safety requirements for the use of UVC radiation for the disinfection of premises and surfaces.
- Also important for overcoming the current scenario are the UNE-ISO 31000 Risk Management and UNE-EN ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management standards.
Technical standards represent 1% of the Spanish GDP. The application of standards represents up to 5% of a company's annual sales revenue.
World Standards Day, celebrated internationally each year on 14 October, honours the efforts of the thousands of experts from all over the world who participate in the development of standards. In Spain alone, around 12,000 experts collaborate in the development of technical standards within the Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE.
