I read in !emc-pstc that Enci <e...@cinepower.com> wrote (in <3.0.6.32.2 0011212134035.00a23...@mail.cinepower.com>) about 'An old chestnut.', on Wed, 12 Dec 2001: >Can someone please remind me again why I have to pay over 1 British Pound a >sheet for standards? (over 2 British pounds a page non-BSI member price) >Where does the money go?
It helps to pay for the administration of the standards-making - the committee secretaries who are BSI staff and their managements. >Does this same situation exist outside the European Union? How much do you >pay? Even within the EU, some national standards committees have lower prices than BSI, and some are higher. The Netherlands and Belgium occasionally publish ENs and other standards in English and they can be low cost. >Is membership on a committee producing a standard a paid position? Well, most of the members are from industry, and they are paid either by their employers or their sponsoring organization. BSI does not pay any members except its own staff. > >For a new line of products in low volume, the costs involved in acquiring >the relevant standards are steep. But how much do you spend on advertising the product? If you regard the total cost of conformity as part of the cost of 'being in the market', not as part of the product development cost, you can see that it's normally only a tiny part of the total cost of 'being in the market'. After all, a non-conforming product can meet its functional specification, BUT you can't sell it - you can't 'be in the market' with it. >With the relative ease in which I can >acquire datasheets online, I have often wondered why standards are not >freely downloadable - would that not increase the safety of equipment >produced by SME's and hobbyists alike? Also as an informed consumer I would >be able to see specific details of the standards applicable to any products >I buy. You can read standards in your nearest *Central* Public Library. Many people agree with you that standards should be free, but we have 100 years of history to overcome. New standards organizations, such as ETSI, have already adopted a cost-free policy, and the ITU will let you have three publications free in any 12 months. -- Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk After swimming across the Hellespont, I felt like a Hero. ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Michael Garretson: pstc_ad...@garretson.org Dave Heald davehe...@mediaone.net For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: No longer online until our new server is brought online and the old messages are imported into the new server.
