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THE NEXT LEVEL BEP trio


BSI Principal Consultant Jennifer Bisset worked on the successful bid and will also be a core member of the delivery team. “China is a priority country for the


Prosperity Fund; this programme aligns with business environment reform initiatives in China and also with the UK Government’s trade strategy. China is committed to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and adopting more international standards will help them do that.” The programme has been designed


to deliver three outcomes. The first is to help China improve its adoption and use of international standards. The Chinese government understands that by adopting best practice in the form of standards it can promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth and increase international trade and investment. As Jennifer explained, “As well as facilitating


market access, adopting international standards can serve as a catalyst for developing better market frameworks – stimulating the upgrading and modernising of supply chains, providing incentives for the adoption of better labour practices and taking into account environmental impacts and the sustainable management of natural resources.”


This part of the programme will involve selecting between five and seven sectors to work on and understand why Chinese businesses are not currently adopting international standards in these areas. “We’ll


BSI Principal Consultant, Jennifer Bisset speaking at a meeting of the UK China Standardization Cooperation Commission (SCC)


“The Programme aims to support China in increasing its capability in proposing and leading international standards”


will most likely be in an innovative technology where a jointly developed proposal for an international standard will meet a need in that area.


Another way is to set up and run pilot


projects in specific cities or industries that will act as catalysts for Chinese businesses to increase their adoption of international standards. “This will be a practical exercise and


then look at ways of improving the level of adoption,” said Jennifer. The second aim is to increase China’s understanding of the international standards development process and to improve the quality of proposals initiated by China for new international standards that strengthen the rules-based international economic system. “The Programme aims to support China


in increasing its capability in proposing and leading international standards. We will help them better understand the process for a national standards body to progress a work item through to adoption and build their capacity to do that successfully,” said Jennifer. One way of doing this is to identify areas of mutual interest to the UK and China. This


involve knowledge transfer. If the pilots are successful, we’ll use the learning to develop case studies and see if there are opportunities to scale them up.” The third outcome is to improve the understanding of the economic and social impact of adopting international standards in China by conducting research in specific sectors and regions. “BSI commissioned a similar study in 2015 to assess the impact and value of standards in the UK and this programme presents a great opportunity to build on that research methodology,” said Jennifer. The results will of course be of interest to China but also to other countries around the world facing similar challenges such as rapid urbanization, an ageing population and widespread inequality of wealth.


CONTENTS


CONTACT THE TEAM


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