The role and importance of standardization in transport safety

Abstract: The very significant role and rank of standardization in the EU’s economic policy are discussed. Standardization is finding increasingly wider applications in supporting legislation, serving to simplify and limit regulations. Areas where the role of standardization has increased include: internal market principles, security strategy, public procurement, removal of technical barriers, innovation policy, and service development. Important areas of the relationship between standards and regulations include: management systems, conformity assessment and accreditation, and safety in various transport sectors. Examples of legal regulations linking provisions with standardization products are discussed, the availability and proper understanding of which determine the possibility of implementing legal provisions.1. INTRODUCTION
Standardization, both in terms of its role and its subject scope and the activities it concerns, has been defined differently in the past. These definitions were also differentiated depending on the political context of the state and the geographical scope. However, the effectiveness, and thus the sense of engaging in standardization activities, was determined by the relationship of standards with the legal system. Currently, in the context of the role of standardization in the economic policy of the European Union and in WTO policy, we speak of its special role as a field supporting legislation.
The breakthrough moments in the history of standardization were undoubtedly the adoption and publication on May 7, 1985, of the EC Council Resolution on a new approach to technical harmonization and standardization, and the adoption in 1994 by the WTO of the Agreement (…)

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