The Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, today held its General Assembly, at which it presented its 2022 Annual Report, which highlights the main activities developed by the Entity during the last exercise; and the UNE Standardisation Awards 2023 were presented. The Deputy Director General of Industrial Quality and Safety at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, José Manuel Prieto, closed the Assembly, attended by a hundred representatives from the Spanish economic sectors, Public Administrations and other relevant entities.
Chief Executive Officer of UNE and vice-president of ISO Javier García highlighted that: "2022 has been a key year in which we have laid the foundations for building the future of Spanish standardisation. The UNE 2025 Strategy has been backed by the publication of the European Commission's European Standardisation Strategy Without a doubt, first-rate political support that places standardisation as an indispensable tool to promote and strengthen a resilient, ecological and digital single market in the European Union."
According to the UNE 2022 Annual Report, Spanish standardisation increased its influence and reputation worldwide, for the benefit of competitiveness in the Spanish productive fabric. Thus, the number of responsibilities of Spanish experts in the technical and governing bodies of international and European standardisation bodies increased from 140 to 149. These include the vice-presidency of ISO, a position which is held by the Director General of UNE, Javier García.
Moreover, in 2022 UNE joined the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as a full member to support the digital transformation of the Spanish business fabric and became a full member of the Boards of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC).
The great Spanish reputation is also demonstrated by the fact that more and more Spanish standards serve as the basis for developing global or European standards in cross-cutting areas such as sustainability, digitisation, cybersecurity and compliance and in vertical sectors such as industrial security, renewable energies and tourism, among others.
87.3% of the catalogue of Spanish standards are of European or international origin. This global dimension facilitates exports and access to international markets of Spanish companies.
Financial benefits
Technical standards are strategic tools to achieve success in the economic growth: They account for 1% of Spanish GDP and other European countries, according to several studies. They also represent up to 5% of income from sales in the companies where they are applied, according to an ISO study. The UNE Standards report for economic recovery impacts this key role.
As for the number of members, 21 new members have joined, reaching a total figure of 532, which represents practically all of the Spanish productive fabric. These include relevant national sector associations, Public administrations, universities, renowned organisations, companies and professionals.
UNE 2025 strategy
The UNE 2025 Strategy, which was launched in 2022 and whose results have been positive, has as a priority to help society and the Spanish economic sectors to successfully overcome their major challenges through standards, in areas such as the dual ecological and digital transition, making Spain, a more resilient country or accelerating access to the market for the results of innovation projects, among other things.
New Board of Directors
In December 2022, all of UNE's Governing Boards were updated, including the Board of Directors, which is now made up of 71 members representing almost all Spanish economic sectors and several public administrations, in a successful model of public-private collaboration based on dialogue and consensus. The new Board of Directors will enrich UNE's contribution to society due to its great diversity of members in terms of their sector of origin, professional profile, experience, gender, age, and so on.
Alfredo Berges (Managing Director of ANFALUM), was appointed as the new Chairman and Luis Rodulfo (President of CEPCO) was elected Vice-Chair.
UNE is a model example of public-private collaboration. It currently has 17 collaboration agreements with the Public Administrations with the aim of supporting them in the efficient deployment of public policies and regulations through standards.
UNE. Shared Progress
Another milestone last year was the renewal of the UNE brand, which materialised in a new identity inspired by the dialogue and collaboration space that facilitates standardisation and its global role. It aims to bring standardisation closer to society by making the benefits it provides visible not only to the Spanish business and industrial fabric and UNE members, but also to citizens in their daily lives. To make them known, the institutional video "UNE. Progreso Compado" was prepared.
