BSI is appointed by the UK Government as the national standards body (NSB), holds the Royal Charter, and represents UK interests at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the European Standards Organizations (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI). BSI is the UK’s first national standards body to be created.
We represent UK economic and social interests across all European and international standards organizations and in the development of business information solutions for British organizations of all sizes and sectors. Our role is to help improve the quality and safety of products, services and systems by enabling the creation of standards and encouraging their use.
We publish over 3,100 standards annually, underpinned by a collaborative approach, engaging with industry experts, government bodies, trade associations, businesses of all sizes and consumers to develop standards that reflect good business practice.
BSI shares knowledge, fosters innovation and instils best practice as the UK’s national standards body. Find out more about how we do this here.
Delivering Best Practice Knowledge
Knowledge sits at the core of every successful business. This has always been true, but with ever more information at our fingertips, real knowledge can be very elusive. How can you be sure that your business, your organization has access to the best available knowledge?
British Standards are knowledge. They’re the distilled wisdom of experience and expertise, carefully assembled in a dependable format, tried and tested yet flexible and dynamic.
The knowledge in a British Standard has been refined by our processes of comment and consultation and represents a consensus position of everyone who has contributed to it. We review it regularly and keep it up to date. You can be confident that it is also the knowledge that others are using as the basis for their own business decisions; your partners, your suppliers, your customers, your competitors.
You can use our knowledge in our standards and other publications to supplement knowledge you already have, or as the basis for more knowledge you want to create.
Our knowledge is there for you to use in your business, in whatever way suits you best. Visit BSI Group website to learn more about our work.
Four Areas of Purpose
BSI has four key areas of purpose as the UK’s National Standards Body;
· Support government policy
· Support UK business and industry
· Support UK education
· Support UK consumer rights and safety
Supporting Businesses Through Standard Development
An important part of BSI’s role as the UK’s National Standards Body is to facilitate the development of the standards needed by UK businesses.
Standards cover a wide range of subjects and industries. They can be very specific product standards or more general good practice for managing businesses We also facilitate the involvement of UK experts in international standards making, which accounts for 95% of BSI’s standards programme. We have approximately 12,000 experts working through 1,200 BSI committees to ensure the maximum possible influence for UK businesses and industry on the content of European and international standards.
Standards also play an important role in supporting innovation, helping to create new markets at home and abroad for UK businesses.
The benefits of standards apply to businesses of all sizes. BSI provides tools to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) understand standards and their benefits, get involved in standards development and find the right standards for their business.
Browse our huge range of standards and start experiencing the benefits of standards today.