Standardization for Better Living Regime

KATS announced a plan to develop 'standardization for Better Living', on November 24, identifying 50 standardization tasks for the benefit of the general public and promoting them by 2012.

Under the plan, KATS intends to identify 100 standardization task desired by the general public through diverse channels, such an a standardization demand survey and consultations with related institutions, including consumer organizations, finally select 50 tasks in consideration of urgency and ripple effects and promote and complete the standardization tasks by 2012.

In line with its industrial development-oriented policy direction in the 1960's, Korea had established standards that focused mainly on industries and technologies. In the course of harmonization with international standards, ISO, IEC, etc. starting in 2000, the nation introduced standards for socially vulnerable classes like the disabled and aged persons.

KATS has set 2010 as the first year for Standardization for Better Living when the Agency will carry out its social integration role through improvement of national standards from the perspective of low-income classes and socially vulnerable people who have been thus far alienated in the course of industrial standardization.

The consumer-oriented standardization regime consists of three fields - Convenient Society; Heathy Society; and Future Society.

Convenient Society encompasses standardization tasks for convenient living and areas to enhance reliability for society, such as home-appliance remote controls, security of mobile-based financial transaction and funeral & wedding hall services.

Healthy Society covers standardization tasks to protect life and property and to maintain healthy living, such as standardization of road and transportation facilities & functional requirements for crime prevention materials, standardization for Better Living for the aged & disabled and medical equipment & devices.

Future Society includes not only standardization of high technologies, ranging from standardization of the functional requirements for service robot and charging systems for electric vehicles to standardization of mobile phone batteries and standardization of food quantity per person to economize resources.

For those areas where corporate interests are in sharp conflicts, KATS plans to pursue consensus in the course of promoting standardization through public hearings and explanatory sessions so that interested parties can reach agreement.

To promote the standardization tasks efficiently and continue to identify and improve them, KATS plans to collect opinions from the public after organizing a 'Promotion Council for Standardization for Low-Income Classes' headed by a private expert and participated in by numberous private citizens, launching a website, examining induced tasks.

In addition, KATS intends to establish full-time systems to identify standardization for Better Living tasks and strengthen communication with the people, including regualr discussions with consumer organizations, stnardization related organizations and government ministries, public opinion surveys and operation of a twitter system where a large number of unspecific people can participate, utilizing IT.