On September 27, 2024, a meeting of the heads of national standardization bodies of the BRICS member states was held in Moscow on the site of the Russian Energy Week for the first time in history. The event was initiated by Rosstandart as part of the approved Program of events within the framework of Russia's BRICS presidency.
The event, chaired by Anton Shalaev, Head of Rosstandart, was attended by the heads and delegations of the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT), the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), the State Administration for Market Control of the People's Republic of China (SAMR/SAC), the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technologies of the United Arab Emirates Emirates (MoIAT), as well as the Iranian National Organization for Standardization (INSO), The Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality (EOS) and the Institute of Standards of Ethiopia (IES).
Sergio Mujica, Secretary General of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and Philippe Metzger, Secretary General of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), noted the importance of this meeting in their video addresses.
In turn, Valentin Tataritsky, member of the Board (Minister) for Technical Regulation of the Eurasian Economic Commission, noted in his welcoming address that "technical progress is impossible without standardization."
The heads of standardization bodies discussed areas of cooperation, as well as prospects for cooperation between national standardization bodies in the context of the development of technological, industrial and economic cooperation among the BRICS member states. Among the main issues are the involvement of industry in standardization work, the harmonization of standards and approaches to digital transformation, the introduction of "green" standards in the construction sector, approaches to conformity assessment and standardization of artificial intelligence using the example of healthcare and agriculture.
The participants were also presented with the Russian experience in developing a standard methodology for evaluating commercial companies and ranking them according to the level of reliability, social and environmental responsibility within the framework of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which makes it possible to visually assess the contribution to achieving national development goals and identify a "responsible business" worthy of government support.
Andrey Lotsmanov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Committee on Technical Regulation, Chairman of the Council for Technical Regulation and Standardization under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, delivered a report on the Role of Industry in bringing Technical regulation and Standardization of the BRICS countries closer together.
In his speech, he spoke about the main activities of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Committee on Technical Regulation. Among the priorities in the work is the expansion of international cooperation in the field of technical regulation and standardization. This area is developing in close cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Commission.
Andrey Lotsmanov spoke about the participation of the Russian industry in improving the standardization system in the country, noting that currently more than half of the standards are funded by Russian companies.
The speaker also spoke about the actively developing processes of digitalization and standardization. The preliminary national standard "Smart standards" has been approved. General provisions". The adoption of this document will allow us to move on to the development of machine-readable standards.
An integrated Information Technology Standardization platform (IPS:IT) has been created, which will allow analyzing large arrays of standards, including foreign ones.
The Coordinating Council of Chairmen of Technical Committees for Standardization in the field of Digitalization, created on the initiative of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Committee, is actively working.
Andrey Lotsmanov made a proposal to create a unified information platform for the exchange of experience in the field of technical regulation of industry in the BRICS countries. The creation of such a platform with the participation of government authorities, industry, and public organizations will make it possible to place regulatory documents and standards of the BRICS countries on it, which will ensure the growth of trade turnover and the implementation of joint projects.
Summing up the event, Anton Shalaev noted that "the meeting of the heads of national standardization and metrology authorities of the BRICS countries is taking place for the first time, despite the fact that the dialogue on the need for convergence in the field of standardization of the participating countries has been conducted since 2016. We can say that today a permanent body has been created — the Council of heads of national standardization bodies of the BRICS countries. And this dialogue should become permanent."
