standaards

Standards are documented agreements that specify technical requirements, definitions, or criteria used consistently across products, services, or processes. They provide a basis for safety, quality, interoperability, and efficiency, helping buyers and providers assess conformity and enabling markets to operate with fewer surprises.

Standards cover diverse areas such as product characteristics, performance, test methods, terminology, and data formats. Many standards are voluntary, but some are mandated by law or contract, and others become de facto references through broad adoption.

Development is usually carried out by formal standards bodies through consensus-based processes. Work is conducted in committees or working groups, with stages such as proposal, drafting, review, and formal approval. International bodies include ISO, IEC, and ITU; regional and national bodies include CEN/CENELEC, ETSI, ANSI, and BSI, among others.

Standards and regulation intersect; harmonization aims to reduce barriers to trade, as reflected in frameworks like the WTO TBT Agreement. Conformity assessment, certification, and testing verify compliance with standards and support reliability in procurement and service delivery.

Benefits include improved safety, interoperability, and market access, along with clearer specifications for suppliers. Critics argue that standards can raise costs, slow innovation, or lock in dominant technologies if not managed carefully.

Notable examples include ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO/IEC 27001 for information security, HTML and CSS standards by W3C, and widely used connectivity standards like USB and Wi‑Fi protocols.