PRESS RELEASE

November 2013 PR 11(13)

Effectiveness of accredited standards guidebook launched to ministers

A guide to using standards and accreditation to deliver better regulation has been published by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). Produced in partnership with the British Standards Institute (BSI), the handbook is aimed at ministers and explains why and how standards and accreditation can be used in their departments as an effective alternative to regulation.

Jon Murthy, Marketing Manager at UKAS said. "Whilst regulation can be an effective tool for bringing about change, it can be expensive to enforce, be burdensome on business and most importantly fail to deliver the intended result. Together, standards and accreditation provide policy makers with a cost effective alternative which delivers increased adoption of best practice and the highest degree of confidence in compliance. This new guidebook aims to raise awareness of the potential benefits of using these business-friendly tools to deliver better regulation through increasing good governance, fair markets and public confidence."

Standards and accreditation are currently used across a number of sectors to support better regulation. These include diverse areas such as medical laboratories, food safety, climate change, forensic sciences, energy, and building regulations.

The guidebook is part of UKAS' ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of using accredited standards, which includes annual events at the House of Lords and Holyrood. Murthy continued. "We are delighted that the handbook has received support from the top level of government and hope that its message of accredited standards being an effective alternative to regulation permeates throughout government departments."

The guide is available in PDF format as a free download from the Information Centre area of the UKAS websitehttp://ukas.com/Library/Media-Centre/Promotional-Materials/Brochures/Ministers%20Handbook.pdf. In addition, department officials can also make use of a free e-learning course on the Civil Service Learning website.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

BSI

BSI is a non-profit distributing Royal Charter Company and the world's first National Standards Boy, founded in 1901 as the Engineering Standards Committee. BSI is recognised by UK Government as the UK's National Standards Body; this status is formally codified in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU also recognises BSI's status as the UK member of the international and European standards organisations (ISO/IEC and CEN/CENELEC respectively). BSI is also a signatory to the Code of Good Practice for the preparation, adoption and application of standards, Annex 3 to the WTO TBT Agreement.

UKAS

As the national accreditation body, UKAS is the only body recognised by government to assess organisations carrying out conformity assessment activities against internationally recognised standards. UKAS:

• Is a non-profit-distributing company limited by guarantee

• Has over 40 years' experience

• Operates under a MoU with BIS

• Represents the UK in three international accreditation forums, negotiating mutual recognition arrangements that help to reduce barriers to trade

• Is regularly reviewed by its international peers

www.ukas.com

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