Standards and taking back control

I am a quality professional. Apparently.

And so part of what I do is manage change. Bear with me, there is a point.

There has to be a reason for change, an improvement, saving costs or whatever.

Which brings me to Standards.

Standards are harmonisations, usually international, sometimes under the ISO banner, but sometimes industry of European, American etc.

From Ist January 2022, the European (EU) CE mark to show compliance with appropriate directives is no longer legal in the UK. INstead there is to be a new version of the UK "kite" mark. This offers no actual advantages, only additional costs. As any business that supplies to domestic and European markets will have to be certified against both standards, so double the cost, with there being little difference between the two. But because there is no equivillence, and the UK has taken against ANY EU institution, it has to be duplicated.

Same with chemical management, the EU has REACH, which the UK was very involved in setting up and maintaining. But the UK is leaving REACH and is setting up their own version, which will deal with the same chemicals, same harzards same hazard managements and documentation. With no advantages or improvements, companies will have to prove they are in compliance with both, and such certification currently runs at £10,000 for each.

This does not help UK businesses, it hampers them, and burdens them with additional costs and red tape, as selling to the EU or in the EU means complying with their rules and standards, so they become rule takers not rule makers.

This is the reality of taking back control.

Today, the Irish Government is meeting with representatives of Biden's administration to talk about the NIP and the UK's threats to act without agreements. This comes on top of the probability of legal action by the EU against the UK. The UK might have gotten away with this with Trump as president, but not Biden, and there could be great pressure heaped on the UK to comply with its international obligations.

It seems playing hard to a dmomestic audience would have ramifications on the international stage too.

Well.