Standards Institute (Photo: Flash 90, Yonatan Zindel)
Compliance with the standard is actually a commitment by the manufacturer to a series of regulatory requirements, rules and standards.
Compliance with the standard is often a condition for the product to enter the market.
The requirements, naturally, vary from product to product and market to market, and cover various aspects such as: electrical safety, chemical composition, energy efficiency, child safety, cyber security, consumer information, extended manufacturer's warranty, etc.
Each country is free to choose which aspects of a product it wants to emphasize through regulatory requirements, and which product categories should be covered by it.
The methods of proving that the product meets the regulatory requirements may also vary from country to country.
Among the most common standards evaluation procedures are:
Reot Goldman (Photo: Sharon Yitzhak)
Self-certification / Declaration of Conformity
: The manufacturer is solely responsible for ensuring that it meets the regulatory requirements and standards.
He may (but is not required to) have his product tested by a third party.
Registration:
The manufacturer is required to register products with a designated authority before they can be imported or sold.
For example, a car importer must register with the Ministry of Transport.
Third party testing:
when the manufacturer must test its products by an independent certified body to receive official test results, for example the Ministry of Health or the Standards Institute.
Certification:
The product is not only tested by an independent testing body but also required to receive official certification based on the results of the test, for example by checking proper production conditions, kosher testing, etc.
Who knows the standard characters?
Consumers are usually not interested in the technical standards, and are not aware of all the testing and certification procedures that the product must go through.
What they do see are various signs and symbols that appear on product labels or packaging.
For example, the common CE marking indicates that the product meets the European quality standard.
One of the least known standards among consumers is the ISO9001 of the International Organization for Standardization.
This is a standard that refers to the standardization of work processes.
This standard sets requirements for managing the quality of the product or service, such as striving for continuous improvement, evidence-based decision-making, focusing on the customer, and more.
A common standard in many sectors and helps businesses in marketing efforts because it increases consumer trust and satisfaction.
The ISO allows the company to understand whether its quality management system is fit for purpose and whether the company provides the quality products or services it claims to provide.
For example, during the process of complying with the standard, the company can identify problematic points in the service it provides such as: slow delivery, poor quality of products, lack of communication, etc.
Accordingly, the company can take appropriate steps to correct the problematic points.
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Standardization for products as a trade barrier
In the beginning, the rationale behind the idea of product standards was, first of all, to protect the consumer from dangers.
However, countries quickly discovered that product standardization can also be used as a trade barrier and a tool to protect their markets.
Requirements such as local representation and local inspections in the country of trade or technical standards may delay the import of goods and significantly increase costs.
While some of the obligations, such as a local representative who can be contacted in case of problems, may be understandable, other requirements, such as the need to test the product twice according to the same standards, can be considered "economic harassment" aimed at blocking imports.
Unlike tariffs, which have been decreasing around the world for several decades as part of a process of globalization and the expansion of economic cooperation between the countries of the world (such as, for example, the free trade area agreement between Israel and the countries of the European Union), technical barriers and light bureaucrats are a more convenient way to block imports because it is often possible to "justify" them under the pretext of product safety or consumer protection.
Lack of uniformity and variable regulation
One of the main challenges that entrepreneurs and companies face is the difference between the standardization systems in the world.
Each country has its specific characteristics that manufacturers or importers need to know and understand in advance in order not to make costly mistakes.
Also, the extents of affected products are very different between different markets: the fact that a product is not marked by the European Union standard does not mean that it is not regulated, for example, in China.
Sometimes it is a challenge to even assess whether the product requires standardization and if so - which one.
If the country has a comprehensive catalog of approved products, this may make it easier for the manufacturer, but if he has to interpret vague and unclear legal definitions to understand whether he will receive approval for the product or not, this complicates the evaluation of the product's viability.
Another challenge that is important to take into account in the product design phase are different technical requirements and standards between countries.
Although attempts are made to create uniformity of standards at the international level (for example in organizations like IEC - International Electrotechnical Commission), many countries still decide to develop their own standards so that very often, even if the manufacturer adopts international standards, those countries will force him to go through an additional testing procedure locally , which of course increases the costs.
In addition, the regulatory reality changes rapidly and different countries enact new laws with new technical requirements that must be met, as well as various prohibitions that block the product from the market.
This can be due to political reasons (the embargo on Russia, the "trade war" between the US and China), environmental reasons (global warming which brings with it a ban on the use of certain substances, international agreements, regulations regarding pollution, etc.), and many other reasons.
Beyond digital systems
Beyond the standards themselves, the approval process is also constantly changing.
The existing systems are being digitized which changes the way of communication with the certification bodies.
Without regular monitoring and up-to-date analyzes of new regulations affecting their products, manufacturers may suddenly find themselves out of compliance so that certain markets have become blocked for them.
In this context, it is important to note the artificial intelligence revolution that will certainly bring with it new standards: the advertiser may have to state in the advertisements that the character shown is artificial intelligence, restrictions may be imposed on the use of user information to improve the system, etc.
Israel and the rest of the world's governments and regulatory bodies can take several steps to make it easier for manufacturers.
First, make the digital transformation accessible.
The supervisory bodies must launch a broad explanatory process that guides how the certification process can be passed digitally, to the same extent that banks try to make digital banking accessible.
In addition, the supervisory bodies should have the willingness to "align" with each other.
For example, in Israel we can rely more on the European Union standard and thus save importers the need for certification to the Israeli standard - alignment that already exists in some products, but can be expanded.
In conclusion
A standard is a critical step in the product development process.
No matter how good it is, without meeting the appropriate standards, the product has no chance of succeeding and penetrating the relevant markets.
In the rapidly changing reality, the manufacturers and the supervising bodies must find a way to cooperate and facilitate the standardization process.
This is to enable global economic prosperity and also to ease the costs, which are almost always passed on to the consumer.
The consumer, for his part, can afford to be more critical in both directions.
That is, sometimes the consumer pays more for a standard that he does not necessarily need, such as an "official importer" when purchasing a smartphone, and sometimes he is willing to compromise on a product without a certain standard even though it is a critical standard, such as energy saving or safety.
The author is Attorney Reot Goldman, CEO of the Geomatrix Group.
Member of the "Helsinki" Committee at Blinson Hospital, and member of the Board of Trustees of Schneider Children's Hospital
Marketing and digital
Entrepreneurship
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