Bureau of Indian Standards visits EFTA

On Wednesday 29 June, EFTA House received a delegation of around 20 persons from BIS, the Bureau of Indian Standards, which is currently in Brussels to learn about the European Standardisation System and the main actors in that system: the three European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs) CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI, the European Commission, EFTA, national standardisation and accreditation bodies, and representation of SMEs and societal stakeholders in standardisation.

Mrs Hege Marie Hoff, Deputy Secretary-General, and Mrs Gudrun Rögnvaldardottir, Senior Officer, welcomed the delegation in the EFTA House and gave a presentation on EFTA, the EEA Agreement, and how EFTA is involved in the European Standardisation System.

The delegation spent two days with the European Commission and subsequently visited EFTA before continuing with a visit to CEN and CENELEC. They will then travel to southern France to visit ETSI and will finish the European programme with the French national standardisation body AFNOR in Paris.

The Seconded European Standardisation Expert in India (SESEI), an expert position funded by the EC, EFTA and the ESOs, organised the visit.