The Spanish Association for Standardisation, UNE, held its 2018 General Meeting on 30 May, attended by a hundred representatives from its members.
At this meeting, UNE showed the results for last year's standardization work and international cooperation, which were very encouraging, as well as its Strategic Plan for 2019-2021. This aims to encourage companies and public administrations to adopt necessary standards to help tackle their major problems.
A clear example are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Over 4,000 UNE Standards from the Spanish catalogue, comprising nearly 33,000 norms and standards, help companies achieve the United Nations 2030 Agenda's 17 ODS.
These standards help organisations achieve the different SDGs, since they help facilitate a common ground of understanding and provide measurable criteria based on knowledge, consensus and collaboration, so essential in meeting this global challenge. Standards are documents within everyone's reach which give a market consensus on good practices when dealing with key business issues.
Numerous standards, for example, help to achieve the 9th SDG regarding Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. One of the most important of these is the UNE-EN ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard. It is the most widespread quality management tool in the world, and over one million organisations effectively implement it.
The UNE 0060 and UNE 0061 Specifications that state the requirements for an Industry to be considered Digital are also particularly important. These have been strongly promoted by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.
32,930 standards in the catalogue
2018 saw the addition of 1,883 new technical standards to the Spanish standards catalogue, which totalled 32,930 standards, making it one of the most extensive in the world. In terms of international cooperation, UNE was involved in 11 projects in relevant business areas for Spanish companies.
2018 saw the publication of the new version of the UNE 178501 Standard for Smart Tourist Destinations, helping to achieve the 11th SDG on Sustainable Cities and Communities. It is a world first Spanish Standard. More and more Spanish standards are becoming the basis for drawing up international standards. Furthermore, by the end of 2018, Spanish experts were at the head of 127 international and European technical standardisation organisations.
Technical standards are the language spoken in international markets. In fact, according to the OECD, 80% of products traded in the world are subject to them, simplifying the export of goods and services.
Standards also help public administrations comply with statutory obligations and implement public policies. In fact, 12% of the standards in the Spanish catalogue are quoted in national legislation.
UNE comprises over 500 members representing practically the whole of Spain's industrial network. These include 140 national sectoral associations. UNE members have approved both the 2018 balance sheet and the 2019 management plan and its budget.
