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Small Business Standards

SBS

Small Business Standards (SBS) is a European non-profit association established under Belgian law (aisbl) created in 2013.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Guillaume Roty (Head of Unit Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) and EUROPEAN TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION and

7 Nov 2025 · The quarterly meeting between the DG GROW H3 and the organisations listed in Annex III to the EU standardisation Regulation.

Response to Qualified electronic archiving services

1 Oct 2025

Please find attached the SBS comments on the Commission Draft implementing Regulation on Qualified electronic archiving services
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Meeting with Guillaume Roty (Head of Unit Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs), Guillaume Roty (Head of Unit Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) and

23 Sept 2025 · The upcoming revision of the Standardisation Regulation 1025/2012 and in particular the issue of inclusiveness in standardisation work.

Response to Revision of the 'New Legislative Framework'

29 Aug 2025

Please find attached SBS's comments to the Call for Evidence for the Revision of the New Legislative Framework (NLF).
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Response to Omnibus Directive Aligning product legislation with the digital age

29 Aug 2025

Please find attached SBS's comments on the Omnibus Directive "Aligning product legislation with the digital age".
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Response to Omnibus Regulation Aligning product legislation with the digital age

29 Aug 2025

Please find attached SBS's comments on the Omnibus Regulation Aligning product legislation with the digital age.
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Response to Revision of the Standardisation Regulation

18 Jul 2025

Small Business Standards (SBS), the European association representing SMEs in standardisation, thanks the European Commission for the possibility to provide feedback to the call for evidence on the revision of Regulation 1025/2012. The full submission is attached. Ensuring that standardisation is accessible and beneficial to SMEs must remain a core priority. SBS comments focus on four key areas: 1. Accelerating and simplifying standards development 2. Improving inclusiveness and SME participation 3. Strengthening EU leadership in international standardisation and the need for funding 4. Common specifications
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Response to Update of EU rules on radio equipment for reconfigurable radio systems

26 May 2025

Please find attached the full feedback to the call for evidence from SBS (Small Business Standards).
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Response to EU Start-up and Scale-up Strategy

17 Mar 2025

Please find attached the full reply to the Call for Evidence from SBS (Small Business Standards)
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Response to Single Market Strategy 2025

31 Jan 2025

Please find attached the full reply from SBS (Small Business Standards) to the Call for Evidence on the Single Market Strategy 2025
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Meeting with Henrik Dahl (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Jan 2025 · exchange of views

Response to Digital Product Passport (DPP) service providers

10 Dec 2024

Small Business Standards (SBS), the European association representing SMEs in standardisation, welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the development of rules for Digital Product Passport (DPP) service providers. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and the DPP will foster transparency, circularity, and resource efficiency, but targeted support for SMEs is essential to navigate compliance and adaptation challenges for successful DPP implementation. This includes enabling resource-constrained SMEs to externalize DPP management to a DPP service provider safely and at an affordable price, alongside providing comprehensive training and subsidies for those SMEs preferring to manage their DPPs independently. The definition of DPP service providers should allow for SME associations to be able to offer these services to their members. SME associations are the most aware of SMEs and market needs, can offer tailored guidance, reduce costs, foster trust, and enhance accessibility, ultimately facilitating a smoother transition to sustainable practices. Our key recommendations for DPP service providers: 1) Affordability: Ensure DPP services are accessible to all, especially microenterprises. 2) Privacy and Security: Safeguard sensitive business information with end-to-end data encryption. 3) Data Harmonisation and Interoperability: Align data standards, particularly for automatic data transfer and data exchange, across the DPP and other EU regulatory and reporting frameworks to ensure compatibility with other reporting systems, standardised data formats, and protocols. 4) Allow to change DPP Service Provider: Guarantee the possibility to change DPP service providers easily, ensure interoperability between DPP service providers systems and procedures, and establish mechanisms for the seamless transfer of data and information. 5) Data Portability and Availability: Allow data owners to export and reuse their data for other purposes and other systems, simplifying reporting obligations. Guarantee that, if a DPP service provider ceases operations, SMEs maintain access to their data through appropriate safeguards and continuity measures. 6) Mechanisms for Missing Data: Establish effective processes to address gaps in product information, particularly for components sourced from outside the EU. 7) SME Support and Empowerment: Provide tailored support and training to help SMEs independently establish and manage their DPPs. SBS is committed to supporting a balanced framework that empowers SMEs in their sustainable transition and looks forward to contributing further to the discussion.
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Response to Interim Evaluation of the Single Market Programme (SMP)

12 Dec 2023

Small Business Standards (SBS) welcomes the opportunity to express its views during this call for evidence on the interim evaluation of the Single Market Programme. In attachment the document with the full SBS position.
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Response to Evaluation of Standardisation Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012

29 Sept 2023

Please find attached a joint reply to the Call for Evidence consultation on the Evaluation of Regulation 1025/2012 on European Standardisation, submitted by SBS (Small Business Standards), EBC (European Builders' Confederation) and SMEunited.
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Meeting with Alessandra Basso (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and Confartigianato Imprese and European Builders Confederation

15 Nov 2022 · Construction Products Regulation

Meeting with Malte Gallée (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

16 May 2022 · Amendment to the Standardisation Regulation

Meeting with Reinhard Bütikofer (Member of the European Parliament)

19 Apr 2022 · Speaker: “EU Standardisation Strategy – ReinforcingEurope’s role in global standards-setting”"

Response to Amendment to the Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 European standardisation

7 Apr 2022

SBS thanks the Commission the possibility to provide feedback on the proposed amendment to Regulation 1025/2012. SMEs represent the core of Europe’s economy and are potentially the biggest user of standards. It is, therefore, essential to ensure they are around the table and their interests properly represented in the standards development and decision-making process. SBS supports the objectives of the targeted amendment proposed by the Commission. We also believe there is a need for a more effective implementation of the provision of the Regulation in relation to articles 5 and 6 on stakeholder participation and access of SMEs to standards. Further facilitating and increasing SME participation at the national level is also essential to be able ensure a balanced representation at the European and International levels. This is why SBS is proposing some additional wording to the amendment proposed by the Commission. The attached paper further elaborates on the SBS position.
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Response to Requirements for Artificial Intelligence

6 Aug 2021

SBS thanks the European Commission for the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposal for a European Act on Artificial intelligence (the AI ACT). SBS has prepared feedback regarding the impact of the AI ACT on SMEs, especially on technical issues, quality assurance and certification, and impact on innovation. The feedback is currently pending approval from SBS members and we will submit it in the coming days.
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Response to EU strategy for sustainable textiles

2 Feb 2021

SBS welcomes the consultation on the Roadmap for an EU strategy for sustainable textiles. The implementation of sustainability and circular economy principles in relation to the textile sector is very much welcomed. It represents a great development opportunity for companies, including SMEs, which are a big part of the textile and textile care sector in Europe. The attached document includes a series of aspects we think are important to consider in relation to the future EU strategy on sustainable textiles.
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Meeting with Eszter Batta (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton) and SMEunited aisbl

11 Dec 2020 · Standardisation strategy

Response to Review of the Construction Products Regulation

19 Aug 2020

Small Business Standards (SBS) would like to make some comments on the role of the standardisation system in the current CPR. Standardisation plays a crucial role for the European construction sector. Construction product manufacturers and contractors strongly rely on standards and need them to remain aligned with changing market and regulatory demands. Without up to date standards, the Internal Market for construction products could neither be achieved, nor maintained. However, in recent years the integration of standards in the regulatory system has often failed and resulted in less efficiency in the construction sector and damage to the internal market.The current list of harmonised standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) is outdated. New versions of harmonised standards are available, but their citation was rejected. This rejection is often not based on incompatibility with or non-implementation of policy priorities, but on legalistic grounds irrespective of the quality of the technical work performed by the experts. The consequences of unavailable or outdated harmonised product standards include an increase in direct or indirect costs for the businesses (especially SMEs). Moreover, there is acute confusion in the market, especially when new or revised/updated standards have been published but not cited in the OJEU. This situation is unsustainable for stakeholders using standards. The Commission is not offering short-term solutions to resolve the current backlog of uncited standards in the OJEU. Its goal is the revision of the CPR that, if successful, will only deliver results in 10 years’ time. In the meantime, the Commission is questioning the value of standards and criticising the role of the industry in the process. The short-term actions of the Commission are focused on maintaining legal certainty without considering the impact of these actions on the market. A remarkable example of this kind of practice is the discussion about the content of harmonised standards. On one hand, the Commission is threatening to de-harmonise some standards, withdrawing them from the OJEU because they are not up to date according to the current state of the art, and, at the same time, is blocking the citation of the updated versions. The standardisation system is currently cornered without having the means to react to the issues raised by the Commission and respond to policy priorities defined by European Institutions. As regards the long-term revision of the CPR, the European Commission has presented several policy options to Member States but seems to be focusing on going back to the old approach in which technical rules are written by regulators at European level with the involvement of Member States according to the delegated or implementing acts procedures. This is especially worrisome as such a centralised process would restrict the possibility of smaller companies to express their voices and see their views being integrated within the standardisation work. Consequently, the construction sector supports the development of an alternative option to those presented by the EC, keeping standardisation at its core. Standardisation should be an industry driven bottom-up process involving all concerned parties working together in a cooperative and flexible manner to have up-to-date standards which are crucial to enable sustainability and digitisation and support innovation in the construction sector in a timely and rapid manner. This process allows a better representation of multiple technical points of view and the inclusion of SMEs’ perspectives in the technical work. Some of the challenges of the standardisation system should be solved as soon as possible within the current legislative framework through pragmatic solutions, while others may require changes in the CPR with a long-term perspective. Some further details can be found in the attached document.
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