"Too many standards": AFNOR separates fact from fiction

Stung to the quick, AFNOR defends useful standards . The headline chosen by the daily newspaper Les Echos in an article dated February 15 is well chosen: at AFNOR, the voluntary standards organization, we felt under attack during the January 2024 agricultural movement, which vilified "excessive standards." Accused of generating bureaucracy, administrative red tape, disconnect from the needs on the ground, financial overruns, contradictions, and unfair competition (from countries with less stringent standards), standards took a beating. "We're walking on our heads," "It's a topsy-turvy world," "These standards are driving the French crazy," as here in Var-Matin... And at times like these, it's difficult to ask people to pause and explain what we're talking about!

Voluntary standards, co-developed by the grassroots

AFNOR therefore used the media to offer an educational opportunity, distinguishing between administrative standards, which derive from laws, decrees, orders, directives, and regulations, and which are at issue here, and voluntary standards, the "useful standards" referred to by Les Echos. To escape the "hell of standards" and show "the other side of standards ."

Listen to AFNOR's explanations on Sud-Radio

Standards co-constructed from the ground up and that this same standard is optional, as described by AFNOR's CEO, Olivier Peyrat, on Sud-Radio's morning show Friday, February 2.

The foundation is made up of some 20,000 experts involved in all sectors of the economy, as AFNOR President Guy Maugis pointed out. in an opinion piece published on January 30 in Le Cercle des Echos  and entitled "Too many rules yes, too many standards no!" Standards that we would like to call norms, as the British do, if there weren't a slight semantic difference between the two terms, a difference that we will explain to you. in our FAQ. In any case, standardization is not regulation: regulation deals with the "why," the direction to follow; standardization deals with the "how," the instructions and the best way to do things.

The world would be less simple if the format of bank cards varied.

The standard recommends best practices. And it is not anti-democratic to say that the latter is sometimes more effective. , says Franck Lebeugle, Director of Standardization Activities at AFNOR, on LinkedIn .

With a clear result: far from causing confusion, voluntary standards simplify life. If a French person can use their bank card in London just as they would in Hong Kong, it is because a number of standards have been defined, such as the size and thickness of the card, as well as data processing protocols. The world would be a lot less simple if card sizes and ATM readers varied from one country to another! , explains the president of AFNOR in an interview with Challenges magazine in February 2024 (article reserved for subscribers).

This is an opportunity to encourage you to consult the book. "30 extraordinary stories" , published in 2017 by AFNOR Editions (€23.60). Or delve into the history of barrier masks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: a group of professionals working together at AFNOR designed A tutorial on how to make masks for the general public , a sort of mini-standard downloaded 1.5 million times.

Or listen to entrepreneurs talk about their discovery of the world of voluntary standards... and the benefits they bring to their businesses, such as Stéphane Penari, founder and CEO of Métalskin, a company that has developed an antibacterial coating. This entrepreneur turned to standards because he needed an objective and consensual method to measure the effectiveness of the antibacterial action. He found it in standard NF S90-700, which became NF ISO 7581 so that the methodology would be the same internationally: a true intercontinental passport!

Administrative standards: the never-ending story of simplification

We concede that there are undoubtedly things that could be simplified in the world of voluntary standardization. But the real work of simplification lies in the area of regulatory standards! From parliamentary report to parliamentary report (such as those by Jean-Claude Boulard and Alain Lambert in 2013, and by MP Louis Margueritte in early 2024), from François Hollande to Bruno Le Maire recently in favor of SMEs, many political missions and figures have launched this project.

Listen to Stéphane Penari, founding director of Métalskin, talk about his discovery of voluntary standards.

Just recently, even Prime Minister Gabriel Attal beat his breast: To date, the number of words used to describe standards on Légifrance stands at 44.1 million. That is almost twice as many as twenty years ago. At all levels, I want to reduce bureaucracy in France. , he said during his policy speech. With this enormous bill: We lose €60 billion because of the procedures and complexities of our daily lives.

E Listen here to the February 7, 2024 broadcast of Le téléphone sonne on France Inter. , with the distinction between regulatory standards and voluntary standards at the 24-minute mark.

We contrast the often-cited figure of 400,000 regulatory standards, without any clear indication of the source, with our 34,500 voluntary standards and their constant volume: when a new standard is published, an old standard is withdrawn!

This is evidenced by our figures for December 31, 2023: 674 new standards published, such as the excellent ISO/IEC 42001 on artificial intelligence, and 1,530 were removed, 22% of which permanently, with the others being replaced by an updated version.

And with still very few standards made mandatory by regulation: around 500.

We conclude with this nod to the agricultural world, from which we borrowed the codes of the upside-down city sign for our illustration: there are few voluntary standards in agriculture itself. It is mainly the downstream sector (processing, preparation, distribution) that is concerned, notably with the famous ISO 22000 on food safety And when professionals felt the need to write about it, it was also to protect people: spraying equipment, agricultural machinery... Safety first!