The CEN-CENELEC Guide 17 is a guidance document that proposes a comprehensive approach on how to take into account SMEs’ needs during the entire standard drafting process. The use of this document is still rather limited among standard writers, also because many of them do not even know about its existence.
In order to promote the uptake of Guide 17, EBC Secretary General Riccardo Viaggi – in his role of SBS Board member and expert – presented the Guide at a CEN-CENELEC seminar on 2 December. Riccardo Viaggi also highlighted certain SME-friendly principles to be followed when developing a standard.
The seminar had a huge impact as it gathered over 80 managers of various Technical Committees (TC) and Working Groups (WG) within the standardisation system. TC as well as WG secretariats and chairpersons are influential in organising key stages of the standard making process and are therefore the intended target group of Guide 17.
In this way the seminar represented a significant step towards accomplishing one of the most important objectives of SBS, namely the full application of Guide 17, which is a fundamental tool for SME representation in standardisation.
Representing construction SMEs & craftsmen in Europe