The annual General Assembly of ISO members took place in Berlin this year. In order to promote dialog between the regional standardization organizations (RSOs), PTB’s Technical Cooperation Department organized an interactive workshop during the General Assembly. The one-day workshop was called »Regional Standardization Organizations in the International Context«.
More and more regions and sub-regions all over the world are implementing economic integration agendas, for which the harmonization of standards plays a decisive role. Regional standardization organizations are particularly at the focus of this. A strong dialog between the RSOs and ISO stimulates the introduction of international standards and has a positive effect on trade.
The event’s opening session started with contributions from PTB’s Dr. Marion Stoldt, Chair of the DIN Management Christoph Winterhalter and Vice President of ISO Scott Steedman (politics). After the opening session, a round table followed at which the participants were able to get to know each other. The participants presented their plans for the future at the closing discussion in the Marketplace. At the end, there was an opportunity to freely share thoughts on the topic of cooperation.
The goal of the workshop was to strengthen the mutual understanding of the similarities and differences of the RSOs’ work. It was just as important to create a space for exchange between the RSOs and ISO. For many regional organizations, this was the first time that they were able to share their experience in such a setting among themselves. At the same time there were many discussions about the challenges that the RSOs are faced with and what they often have in common. The exchange of ideas was in-depth thanks to the interactive and experimental format of the workshop – as evidenced by a great number of concrete results. From our point of view, the experiment was a success.
