LamprouMemo25

Memo 25 If we view the issue of the development of standards from a technical side, that of regulation and organization, there is nothing else that can be said in a discussion on standards. But the world has changed and in the new order of free economy and global trade a good sense of smell and probably good teeth are not enough to ascribe quality. But furthermore standards and their development cannot be viewed as just a technical issue anymore. They are procedures which engage technical aspects and processes but at the same time moral, social, economic, and power aspects. Not only technology and science have developed but at the same time who can be consider an expert in standards isn’t a simple issue. Standards not only frame technoscientific products and procedures they define ways of acting and living, they provide us with order and discipline. Lay knowledge is becoming valuable and important in policy making and standards development and policy decisions are made with public participating. Experts are not anymore the only one capable of participating and contributing in policy decisions. In Europe at the same time a fourth criterion is been added to the policy discussion, in addition to the three traditional one (safety, efficacy, and quality) the evaluation of socio-economic effects. Furthermore, the perception that the public sector is the main body responsible for standards development, doesn’t apply anymore and there is a shift of viewing standards from being a public issue to view them as being a private sector manager. Private organizations are responsible and have the power openly given by the governments to play a leading role in discussing, deciding, and developing standards.