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World Standards Day 2020: Protecting people and planet with standards
Today is World Standards Day 2020. Standards impact most areas of everyday life, from universal symbols and signals to assurances about product quality, performance, composition and processes. Standards also help protect consumers by making the world easier, safer, more sustainable and more accessible, as well as allowing comparison and benchmarking across a broad array of sectors.
The United Nations’ Guidelines on Consumer Protection (UNGCP) are the only set of global recommendations for government, business and consumer groups to advance consumer rights. The UNGCP promotes both sustainability and establishing minimum standards, which shows the link at the international level between sustainability issues and the use of standards.
Since Consumers International’s creation in 1960, we have worked to ensure consumers have a voice in standardisation. On World Standards Day 2020, which focuses on “protecting the planet with standards”, we are promoting the vital role of standards for a sustainable future. Read on to explore three areas where standards are critical for protecting both consumers and the environment and the work we are doing to ensure continued safeguarding.
