Standards committees seek experts to develop standards

Sustainability is the biggest challenge of the future. The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs of the United Nations outline how we can all achieve a more sustainable world. Standards provide a clear framework for converting those 17 SDGs into concrete action plans. This means they are a crucial tool for any organisation that wants to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

However, you can't have standards without standards development. It all starts with the experts who come together in committees to develop standards.

How does standards development work?

NBN brings the Belgian standards committees together to develop standards with a focus on certain priority fields. Experts from those fields have a seat at these standards committees.

Focus on 6 Belgian standards committees

The NBN emphasises a number of horizontal domains:

Circular economy

Moving from a linear to a circular business model to make all human activities fully sustainable in terms of environmental impact. This is a major challenge facing all organisations in the coming years. Standards help them to effectively meet that challenge. More information

Environmental management

How do you implement internal policies and strategies that reduce the environmental impact of your activities? The set of environmental management standards shows you how, regardless of whether you are an SME or a multinational. More information

Biodiversity

Providing organisations with tools and guidelines to limit the impact of their activities on living beings whether on land, under water or in the air. This is the aim of the development of international biodiversity standards. More information

Energy management and energy performance of buildings

Within 3 committees, development of European and international standards that offer requirements and guidelines for a more efficient use of energy to reduce emissions and to manage the energy performance of an organisation. Emerging technologies to support this also fall under these committees. More information

Health and safety at work

These standards focus on occupational risk control and on improving an organisation's performance in terms of the health and safety of its workers. More information

Quality management

The core document of quality management is the well-known ISO 9001. This set of standards provides organisations with requirements and recommendations to guarantee a high level of quality in their services, products and processes. These standards allow them to continuously improve their quality. More information

Contributing to standards development works to your advantage

You will be the first to know about future developments and trends, which will strengthen your organisation's competitiveness on an international, European and national level. Do you want to be ahead in your field and ahead of your competitors? Then become an expert in our national committee.

Early access to such strategic information offers you the opportunity to anticipate future changes.

You exert influence during the standards development process. Your organisation can protect its investments in products, research and development. Whatever you do, you ensure that your interests are safeguarded in international, European and national standards.

You build a network with everyone who is working towards creating a global and regional framework in your field. A standards committee is the ideal place to make new contacts and to exchange ideas with people who, like you, are shaping the future of your field.

You learn and exchange knowledge. The people who sit on standards committees are experts in their field and have in-depth knowledge. They share this knowledge and learn from one another. By sitting on a committee yourself, you gain first-hand knowledge. And you get a comprehensive overview of all the underlying aspects of a certain field.

Who can become an expert?

Any Belgian organisation can nominate experts who are familiar with one or more of the priority themes. These include large and small companies, NGOs, consultants and researchers, consumers, governments and regional or national agencies, trade unions, environmental organisations, financial institutions, employers' federations, the recycling, waste or repair industry, retailers, water, gas or electricity companies, etc.

Will you become an expert?

Are you interested in participating in a standards committee?

- Please contact Alexandre della Faille (NBN project manager) at alex.dellafaille@nbn.be.
- Or join the next ‘Standardisation – The Basics’ webinar where more information is provided about standardisation (approximately 40 min).
- More information about ‘becoming an expert in a standards committee’ is also available on this webpage.

Standards development experts wanted!