CHAPTER IITRANSPARENCY AND STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION

Article 6Access of SMEs to standards

1.

National standardisation bodies shall encourage and facilitate the access of SMEs to standards and standards development processes in order to reach a higher level of participation in the standardisation system, for instance by:

(a)

identifying, in their annual work programmes, the standardisation projects, which are of particular interests to SMEs;

(b)

giving access to standardisation activities without obliging SMEs to become a member of a national standardisation body;

(c)

providing free access or special rates to participate in standardisation activities;

(d)

providing free access to draft standards;

(e)

making available free of charge on their website abstracts of standards;

(f)

applying special rates for the provision of standards or providing bundles of standards at a reduced price.

2.

National standardisation bodies shall exchange best practices aiming to enhance the participation of SMEs in standardisation activities and to increase and facilitate the use of standards by SMEs.

3.

National standardisation bodies shall send annual reports to the European standardisation organisations with regards to their activities in paragraphs 1 and 2 and all other measures to improve conditions for SMEs to use standards and to participate in the standards development process. The national standardisation bodies shall publish those reports on their websites.