About us
A world without Standards would soon grind to a halt. Transport and trade would seize up. The internet simply would not function. Hundreds of thousands of systems dependent on information and communication technologies would falter or fail – from government and banking to healthcare, air traffic control, emergency services, disaster relief, and even international diplomacy.
Who is Standards New Zealand?
We are New Zealand’s leading developer of Standards and Standards based solutions. There are 40 of us working across the organisation and we are based in Wellington.
We are governed by the
Standards Council, an appointed body with representatives from a wide range of community sectors, and we operate under the Standards Act 1988.
When a Standard is to be developed, we pull together our committee members who are experts in their fields to draft the Standard (or revise or amend an existing Standard) and we manage the development process. Because we are an autonomous Crown entity and are self-funded we are independent, which means our processes are transparent and robust. It also means a wide cross section of industry, as well as the public, is willing to contribute to the Standards development process.
The majority of our Standards are developed in partnership with Standards Australia. As New Zealand’s representative for the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Standards New Zealand ensures that New Zealand has a voice in the international Standards community.
Please note that we do not test products to particular Standards and we are not a certification body. If you wish to have a product or service tested or certified to a Standard you will need to contact a certifying body. For a list of these organisations, please contact either
International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) or
Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ).
What is a Standard?
Standards are agreed specifications for products, processes, services, or performance. If, for example, an electrical product is marked as meeting a Standard, it means it meets the minimum safety requirements.
New Zealand Standards are used by a diverse range of organisations to safeguard their products and services, improve safety and quality, meet industry best practice, and support trade into existing and new markets.
Why do we need Standards?
We use Standards to improve our lives in a wide number of ways.
- Standards help to keep our homes, buildings, playgrounds, and health services safe. They help to prevent accidents and injuries in a broad range of areas.
- Standards minimise the impact of potential disasters such as earthquakes, or fires and electrical hazards, and also improve the quality of goods and services. They help to protect the environment, and they boost our economic growth and our trade opportunities in existing and new markets.
- A Standard can enable highly technical information, often needed to support policies or legislation, to be written into a document to aid understanding of context by users. An existing Standard can help minimise unnecessary duplication, confusion, and inconsistencies. Standards are especially useful tools to support policy development and implementation.
→ read more about Standards in Why Standards? [PDF 2MB]
→ The economic benefits of standardisation to New Zealand
