“Now is the time for Korean enterprises to get a better understanding of international standards. Countries of the world are making thorough preparations to gain supremacy in the global market in the era of green growth through their own response to climate change. In this situation, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has set tackling climate change through standards as the theme for World Standards Day 2009 – Oct. 14 each year,” said Insuk Nam, administrator of the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) under the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.
He made the remarks before departing for Cape Town, South Africa on Sept. 14 to attend the annual ISO general assembly on Sept. 16-18 and a session of council meeting on Sept. 19. He also said, “Under these circumstances, we need to create a green ocean through international standardization of our technologies, including wind power, solar energy and LEDs, and focus all our efforts on helping our country become advanced.”
Tackling climate change has been highlighted as the theme of “World Standards Day 2009,” as climate change is posing a very serious threat to mankind. Korea is now at the early stage of a subtropical climate, with unpredictable torrential downpours falling and many changes about to occur in crop zones. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was launched to cope with climate change, a matter of global concern, established principles to implement energy and environmental policies in accordance with international standards. Other international organizations such as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also regard international standards as global norms. All this shows how important international standards are in concluding free trade pacts or conducting trade negotiations.
Standards play a very important role in the global business environment, in which the global market is being integrated as a single entity. Enterprises are using standards as ways to have a stronger grip on the market. Consumers are using them as criteria to select goods, and nations as strategic means to control technical barriers to trade. Therefore, the KATS has formulated KATS-2012, a medium-range plan to satisfy demands of citizens and enterprises and step up the government’s comprehensive policy implementation functions.
Under the plan, the KATS will let the private sector develop 80 percent of all required standards and train about 300 international standards experts to help Korea join the world’s seven largest standards powerhouses. To this end, the agency will make sure that Korean technologies will contribute to helping Korea grab a larger share in the global market. The agency will also strengthen functions of technological support services to introduce the nationally integrated certification mark, "KC," and expand the role of the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (KOLAS).
As it turns out, Korea has been elected to be a member of the ISO council from 2010. On the meaning of the election, Nam expressed high hopes, saying, “As the council member that makes and implements major ISO policies, the ISO council supervises the process of making top decisions of the international organization. As a council member, Korea will have more chances to have views of the Korean industry reflected in a positive way. Besides the membership of the ISO council, Korea already is a member of the ISO Technical Management Board. There are only eight countries that hold both memberships.” Just like the United States, the UK and Germany, Korea will most likely emerge as a leading nation in international standardization.
Before he departed for Cape Town, Korea’s top standards administrator gave an interview to the Korea IT Times on World Standards Day, the comparative advantages of Korea, and green global standards. Some excerpts follow:
Q: What is the background of World Standards Day and how does the government observe it
A: Three international standards organizations – ISO, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – designated World Standards Day in 1970 to galvanize international standardization efforts. Since then, each country has been observing the day separately. Korea, too, has been observing the day since 2000, while publicizing the importance of standards far and wide. The government will hold a ceremony to observe the day on Oct. 14, where it will give awards and citations to a total of 43 experts and organizations for their meritorious services in successfully introducing Korean and international standards.
Q: In what sectors does Korea have comparative advantages against advanced nations
A: The most important thing in international standardization efforts is making suggestions on technological standards. The accumulated number of Korea’s new proposals stood at a mere 11 until 2000. It grew to 280 as of June 2009. Especially, Korea made 63 proposals in 2008 alone, accounting for 3.3 percent of all 1,727 proposals from around the world and pushing the country to eighth place among countries of the world in this regard.
Korea, however, ranks fifth in the world in the electrical and electronic sector, including information and communications, and digital electronics industries. In other words, Korea is a leading country in international standardization efforts as a whole. By the way, Korea ranks 12th, if all other things, such as ISO cost sharing and committee attendance rate, are taken into consideration.
Q: What is the policy direction for “global green standardization” of Korea’s new growth engine industries and the green industries
A: A long time ago, the ISO and IEC launched technical committees and strategic advisory groups to introduce standards for low carbon and green growth. The KATS has already provided industries with guidelines on how to respond to various environmental regulations, such as the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) and the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), and with information on new technologies related to low carbon and green growth. It has also tried to cope with the international trends on green growth by establishing greenhouse gas measurement standards.
In December last year, the KATS formulated a “green standardization” to give active support to the industries in grabbing larger shares of the global green industrial markets. Under the plan, the agency has been operating a green standards technical society consisting of experts from 32 subsectors. Again in February this year, the agency released a medium-range roadmap on green standardization.
The entire idea is to improve Korean enterprises’ green technologies and grab more global market shares by developing standards suitable to each sector, working out strategies for international standardization of outstanding Korean technologies, improving the green industry-related certification system, and introducing mutual certification systems with foreign nations. All this will be carried out, with green standards divided into four categories – “response to the Global Climate Change Treaty,” “recycling of resources and enhancement of efficiency of energies,” “green energy industry,” and “international standardization of new growth engine industries.”
