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The UNE General Meeting approves the 2030 Strategy, which has three objectives: to make technical standards a driver of shared progress in Spain, to promote awareness of the benefits of standards, and to ensure UNE’s sustainability.
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In 2024, UNE published new standards to help Spanish companies address major challenges in areas such as the twin digital and green transitions, market access, innovation, and social challenges — including the first global standard aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Spain strengthened its international leadership in standardization, with Spanish experts holding 161 positions of responsibility in global standardization bodies. The Director General of UNE, Javier García, was re-elected Vice-President of ISO for a new two-year term.
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Technical standards are strategic tools for economic growth and business competitiveness: they contribute 1% to Spain’s GDP and account for 5% of the sales revenue of companies that implement them, according to various studies.
Madrid, 28 May 2053 - The Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, today held its General Assembly, at which it approved the 2030 UNE Strategy, which will guide the association's steps in the coming years, and the 2024 Annual Report was presented, which contains the main activities developed by UNE in the past year. The Director General for Industrial Strategy and SMEs at the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, Jordi García Brustenga, closed the Assembly, during which the 2025 UNE Standardisation Awards were handed out.
Chief Executive Officer of UNE and vice-president of ISO Javier García highlighted that: “The UNE 2030 Strategy sets out, with an appropriate level of detail, the steps we must take in the coming years to fulfil our purpose: to contribute to shared progress in society and to the creation of a safer, more sustainable and competitive world through the development of standards”.
This UNE 2030 Strategy, which follows on from the 2025 Strategy. is based on three objectives: to make technical standards a driver of shared progress in Spain, to promote awareness of the benefits of standards, and to ensure UNE’s sustainability.
In line with its strategy, in 2024 UNE published new standards to help Spanish companies address major challenges in areas such as the twin digital and green transitions, market access and exports, innovation and professional training.
In addition, the Spanish Association for Standardisation developed standards that contribute to making Spain a more resilient country, in areas such as the protection of critical infrastructure, sound governance, the provision of consulting, management, and professional services, and the prevention of food fraud.
Financial benefits
Standards are strategic tools for the productive and business community and have economic benefits. In this regard, they contribute to Spanish economic growth. 1% to Spain’s GDP and account for 5% of the sales revenue of companies that implement them, according to studies by the Institute of Economic Studies (IEE) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In addition, they reduce business costs by 7% and improve productivity by 13%, according to these studies.
In a social dimension, the first global standard for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda was published last year. UNE was actively involved led its translation into Spanish.
International leadership
Another milestone in 2024 was the drive to internationalize Spain's leadership in standardization. in fact, the number of responsibilities of Spanish experts in international and European standards bodies rose to 161. Among them is Javier García, the Director General of UNE, who was re-elected Vice-President of ISO for another two years, which will complete a four-year term. More and more Spanish standards are becoming the basis for drawing up European or international standards. A good example: Spain took the lead in Europe on standardisation initiatives pertaining to the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in 2024.
New UNE members
In 2024, 26 new members joined the UNE's partnership base, which is made up of 548 members, representing virtually all of Spain's production and economic fabric. These include the 200 leading Spanish business associations, major companies, public administrations, universities, and technology centres. UNE's members are the engine and foundation of Spain's standardization system.
Last year, UNE also published the fourth annual report from its Market Surveillance Observatory, with the aim of strengthening public-private collaboration in this field and supporting the marketing of compliant, safe products and services.
UNE Awards 2025
During the General Assembly, the UNE Standardization Awards 2025 were presented, which recognize the commitment and professionalism of the Standardization Committees and the people who make them up. This year's winners were:
- López Agüí award for outstanding UNE-TSC: CTN-UNE 60 Gaseous fuels and gas installations and appliances, whose secretariat is led by SEDIGAS; and CTN-UNE 321 Lifts, escalators and moving walkways, for which FEEDA is responsible for the secretariat.
- UNE Award for the most outstanding UNE-TSC or UNE-SC president: Antonio Valladolid, chair of CTN-UNE 205 Lamps and Associated Equipment.
- UNE Award for the most outstanding CTN-UNE or SC-UNE representative: Ismael Caballero, partner and director of DQTeam (CTN 71/SC 7 Software and information systems engineering)
- UNE Award for the Integration of Standardization in Innovation: AIMPLAS technology centre.
View the 2024 UNE Annual Report here.
