Services constitute the largest sector in the global economy today, accounting for 70 % of global GDP, 60 % of global employment and 46 % of global exports measured in value-added terms.

But this sector is not just growing, it is evolving – rapid advances in technology are leading to significant changes in service business models and service provision methods. Faced with these potentially disruptive changes, International Standards offer businesses, governments and consumers tools to create trust, ensure the quality and safety of services, and facilitate their provision across borders.

ISO is hosting a workshop which will focus on how International Standards for services can enable new technologies and business models in the services sector, concentrating on areas such as artificial intelligence and Big Data, e-commerce, cybersecurity, and blockchain. Standardizers, policymakers and industry representatives will come together to discuss the benefits of standards, how they can be effectively implemented, and potential new areas of standardization in the services sector.

NOTE : This event is taking place back-to-back with Seamless Asia exhibition, conference and summit, being held at Suntec City on 26-27 June, which expects 6 000 attendees from banks, retail, e-commerce, government, enterprise and technology. Workshop participants may also wish to attend Seamless Asia – see the website for further details.

The Standards and Regulatory Stewardship Workshop is co-organized by the Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It is taking place as part of the PASC Annual General Meeting, held in Wellington, New Zealand from 8-11 April 2019.

The final program for the workshop is now available for all attendees and interested parties.

The aim of this workshop is to bring together standards bodies, regulators and other stakeholders, to discuss how standards can be used to support good regulatory policy and practice, in general, and regulatory stewardship, in particular.

Dr Bronwyn Evans, who was Standards Australia’s Chief Executive Officer since 2013, left Standards Australia on Friday March 8, 2019.

Mr Richard Brooks, Chairman of the Standards Australia Board thanked Dr Evans for her significant contributions during her time as Chief Executive.

“Bronwyn has been CEO through an exciting time of transformation for Standards Australia. We have benefited greatly from Bronwyn’s leadership of the team. 

“As we reflected on what has been achieved in recent years, and what lies ahead through 2019 and beyond we are pleased to be able to say that she is leaving a legacy of substance, and excellent executive and senior leadership teams in place.”

Dr Evans thanked the Board for its support through her tenure. 

In speaking to staff, Dr Evans recounted the value of the work being done by Standards Australia both nationally and internationally and its impact on the quality of Australian life.

“It has been a great privilege to lead this wonderful organisation – the Executive, Senior Leadership team and staff at every level are outstanding and all passionately committed to Standards Australia. I am proud of what we have achieved in so many aspects of our work. Standards Australia is in a great position with so much opportunity, goodwill and ambitions for the next phase of growth. I look forward to seeing Standards Australia move from strength to strength.”

Dr Evans will be continuing with a number of roles including as a Director of the Australia Japan Foundation and as a Director of the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre.  Dr Evans has also resigned as the ISO Vice President of Finance and IEC Australian National Committee Secretary.

Deputy CEO Adrian O’Connell commenced as Acting Chief Executive Officer from 4 March 2019 and will remain Acting CEO until the appointment of a new Chief Executive.

Realising the potential of digital trade across Australia and the South East Asia region is the focus of a Recommendations Report released today by Standards Australia.

The report is part of the ASEAN – Australia Digital Trade Standards Cooperation Initiative.

The ten key recommendations in the report focus on utilising International Standards as a means to increase economic integration and digital trade in the ASEAN-Australia region.

The recommendations were developed and endorsed by stakeholders from the public and private sectors of ASEAN and Australia, in a two-day Workshop held in October 2018. Collectively, these recommendations will address the complex issues and barriers to digital trade which were identified by stakeholders across the region.

“Through close collaboration with ASEAN, there is now a much better understanding of the challenges in the region and how standards can help provide a solution,” said Dr Bronwyn Evans, CEO of Standards Australia.

“The Recommendations Report maps out mechanisms for increasing the awareness, participation, adoption and use of international standards to ultimately support digital trade in all eleven of the countries involved.”

The Recommendations Report has been presented to the Australian Government and the Governments of ASEAN nations, for their consideration in progressing a second phase of the ASEAN-Australia Digital Trade Standards Cooperation Initiative.

PASC secretariat is pleased to advise that the registration for the upcoming 42^nd PASC AGM and Workshop to be held between 8 – 11 April 2019 is now open. To register, please visit the PASC 42 event website at http://pasc2019.co.nz/. Please do also note that the unique code for registration for the PASC EC meeting is PASC19.

As the PASC 42 AGM will be held in the month of April next year, your early registration would be greatly appreciated.

Should you have any enquiries on the event registration, please feel free to contact PASC Secretariat or PASC AGM host/SNZ’s contact, Ms Carmen Mak at [email protected].

A joint ASEAN-Australia survey has been launched in support of the ASEAN-Australia Digital Trade Standards Cooperation Initiative. The ASEAN-Australia Digital Trade Initiative is a project to strengthen the economic integration and trade between ASEAN and Australia. The initiative aims to promote digital trade and support digital inclusiveness across ASEAN member states and Australia, particularly through the promotion of international standards.

To support this project, the ASEAN-Australia Digital Trade Standards Survey has been developed to assess the ASEAN region’s digital readiness and the current utilisation of national and international standards. It aims to determine areas of opportunity for digital standards harmonisation, technical alignment, regulatory coherence, and policy cooperation and also uncover knowledge and participation gaps across the digital trade sphere.

Standards Australia encourages all ASEAN members of PASC to contribute to the survey. ASEAN and Australia are grateful for all inputs – from an individual, organisation or state level.

The survey is open until Monday, 26 March 2018.

PASC Working Group 3 has developed a Questionnaire on Capacity Building Needs in order to support the future work of capacity building across the PASC members.

Your attention to completing the survey in a timely manner would be appreciated.

The survey is available online here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PASCCapacityBuilding

For any questions, please contact Lucy at [email protected]

Earlier this year the British Standards Institute (BSI) submitted a proposal for a New Field of Technical Activity, including the establishment of a new Technical Committee: Ageing Societies.

The scope of the activity is: Standardization in the field of ageing societies.

Following broad consultation and strong international support throughout ISO members, the ISO TMB has approved the establishment of the new ISO TC Ageing Societies. The secretariat has been allocated to BSI.

The new Technical Committee on Ageing Societies aligns with the recent APEC SCSC initiative on the Silver Economy that was supported and contributed to by many PASC members. The project, The Role of Standards and Innovation in Driving the Silver Economy, highlighted both the challenges and opportunities that are fashioned by the ageing population in the Asia Pacific region.

Standards Australia urges PASC members to continue to positively contribute to this important initiative to leverage the economic, health and social benefits that standardisation can provide to ageing societies and the broader community.