14th October: World Standards Day

Each year on 14 October, the members of the IEC, ISO and ITU celebrate World Standards Day, which is a means of paying tribute to the collaborative efforts of thousands of experts worldwide who develop the voluntary technical agreements that are published as International Standards. World Standards Day 2020 is themed “Protecting the planet with standards”. International standards provide a way to get work done more efficiently. These standards also remove technical barriers to trade and improve supply chains. Compliance with these standards helps consumers, too. They know products are safe and good for the environment. Some of the industries and organizations using international standards include:

• Communication
• Manufacturing
• Measurement
• Science
• Symbols
• Time

Examples of items requiring standardization for communication include Braille and the International Code of Signals. The manufacturing industry standardizes products like paper sizes. Tracking time is an excellent example of standardization. We see it in the calendar, time zones, and clocks.