Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they celebrated World Standards Day together as TOBB and Turkish Standards Institute, and said, “We are holding a panel that will share the experiences of the private sector in this year's event themed Give Direction to International Standards.”

Stating that everything has a standard, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “From the big industrial machinery to the cap of the water bottle in front of me, everything has standard. When the standard of a product changes, if we are manufacturing according to that standard, we shape our processes according to the renewed standard.”

Emphasizing that standards are related to the production and the way of doing business, TOBB President said, “How, then, are these standards determined? Organizations such as CEN, CENELEC, ISO, IEC determine them through their own standards committees. Well, how does this happen? Now, there are member states of these organizations. We are one of the member countries. Let's give an example, for simplicity, from the water bottle in front of me. The international organizations I just mentioned are forming a committee for this product. In this committee, many countries have chairs. Many countries like France, Germany and Italy have a chair. Actually, we have a chair. But the industrialists or traders of France, Germany, Italy and many other countries have thought that the issue is important, while some of our chairs have been vacant until now. So far, someone has set standards for us. We just watched and had to do what they decided. From time to time, determined by the production standards, some markets have experienced difficulties.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu emphasized that with standardization committees, traders and industrialists will be able to eliminate the threats to production of the country by preparing for the possible standard changes and annotating the changes and gaining the opportunity to share a great experience in this field.

Calling on the private sector, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “If we want to sell more goods to the world, we have to work on these committees. That is why we should represent Turkish industry more in these places. We can achieve this with a more successful result with the participation of the private sector.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they will provide standardization training for private sector employees as TOBB and Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) and expect support from TSE to increase the participation of private sector committees.

- Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank

Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank stated that if Turkey is to become more powerful in the global market it must take an active role in the standardization organizations, “The business world should join with thousands or even tens of thousands representatives in the standard formulation process.”

Varank said that the common standards which gain global identity are important and act as a bridge between producers and consumers.

Varank pointed out that the actors who want to be successful in international competition are taking an active role in the standard making process. The producer who sets the standard enters the market early and takes over. Developed countries are actively participating in standardization activities in order to maintain their superiority in global trade. These countries are trying to dominate in countries with weak standard infrastructure, for example, they tend to provide part of their assistance to underdeveloped countries on the condition of receiving services from their own institutions, so that their producers have advantage when entering these markets.

- TSE President Şahin

Head of TSE Dr. Adem Şahin stated that the Mirror Committees were established within the TSE and added, “As an institute, we actively participate in international standardization organizations, and by taking the opinions and suggestions of the industrialists, entrepreneurs and academicians of our country through the Mirror Committees, we inform the organizations as to the opinion of the country.”

Stating that they aim to enable industrialists to participate more effectively in standardization work with the action plan they prepared in 2017, Şahin said, “We foresee that our business world will stand out in the world competition with this. But today, compared to developed countries, we find very little participation in the Mirror Committees.”