On 14 March 2017, EFTA announced that Iceland signed the Joint Initiative on Standardisation in the meeting of the European Commission’s Committee on Standards which took place in Brussels on 9 March, thus joining Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein in committing to this Initiative. The announcement said:
The EFTA States put great importance on a well-functioning Single Market underpinned by good quality European standards developed in a timely manner. With the Icelandic signing, all EFTA states have now committed to the Joint Initiative on Standardisation. Managing Director Gudrún Rögnvaldardóttir also signed the Initiative on behalf of Icelandic Standards
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The main emphasis in 2017 is on the 15 actions being developed under the Joint Initiative. These focus on issues such as how standards can better support innovation, how collaboration among the various actors that develop standards can be improved, raising awareness of the important role that standards play and international aspects of standardisation. EFTA is monitoring the work of the actions and the EFTA Secretariat participates in a Steering Committee that oversees their implementation.
