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The development of standards is initiated and funded by commissioners from a wide range of private and public organisations. In many cases they are industry bodies or government departments.

Standards are developed using a transparent and consensus-based approach that is independent and draws on international intellectual property. Commissioners are central to the development process by providing funding that enables widely accepted, workable, and practical solutions.

Commissioning a standard or standardisation activity enables organisations to achieve their goals and take innovation to market quickly and cost effectively.

Why commission? The benefits of funding standards [PDF, 2.6 MB]

What are the benefits of being a commissioner?

Achieve industry goals

Commissioning a standard enables organisations to achieve their goals and take advantage of opportunities within their industry.

Reduce compliance costs

Involvement from organisations means industry partners are more likely to accept new standards, which reduces compliance costs for everyone.

Respond quickly to change

Standards can be developed and published more quickly than the time needed for legislation to be changed. In a world where rapid development of new technology means products and services are constantly changing, standards offer a responsive and flexible solution.

Standards are:

  • independent, balanced, and consensus driven
  • represented by a cross section of industries, across a range of sectors
  • widely accepted, workable, and practical solutions
  • often based on international standards, which provides a common language to trade more effectively
  • internationally recognised, efficient, and effective.

Often commissioners need solutions to address particular issues, resolve problems, provide a means of compliance with legislation, or support trading opportunities.

Standards New Zealand works closely with commissioners to identify a set of goals that are in the best interests of their industry and their customers. We work in partnership with our commissioners to support growth, competitiveness, and innovation.

In addition, commissioners have the opportunity to contribute to New Zealand’s participation and hence influence the development of international standards by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

International Organization for Standardization(external link)

International Electrotechnical Commission(external link)

Partnered Development Model

Standards New Zealand has developed a Partnered Development Model which allows us to work collaboratively with commissioners to update and create new important standards for New Zealanders.

This model provides flexible and affordable ‘partnering’ options for working with us and developing standards. Partnered Development Model gives organisations, who have the ability to supply some resources to contribute to the project, the option to share project management tasks with us, while benefitting from our internationally-used process and expert-led services. This means you can develop new or updated standards at a substantially lower cost.

The Partnered Development Model has proven to be very popular with organisations looking to work collaboratively with Standards New Zealand and be involved in the process of developing New Zealand standards, whilst reducing their costs. This model has successfully resulted in several standards including the Ministry of Health’s Ngā Paerewa health standard.

Consolidation and collaboration at the core of Ngā Paerewa health and disability services standard