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Phil Gallagher has been working
with Small Business Standards
(SBS), the European Commission
organisation representing the
interests of SMEs in Europe, to
help improve the way in which
European Standards can help
small businesses innovate and
compete in the European market.
This culminated in him being part
of the panel at a standards Q&A
chaired by the political editor of
the FT and attended by senior
figures from BSi and the World
Trade Organisation amongst
others.
SBS is a European non-profit
association which aims to
represent and defend small and
medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs)
interests in the standardisation
process at European and
international levels. Phil Gallagher
was part of the panel discussion
at SBS’s Annual Conference
in Brussels that was entitled
‘SME-compatible standards: a
prerequisite for market access?’
The debate addressed issues
around the ways in which
standards can help and hinder
SMEs to compete in the EU and
asked if all standards be tested for
their SME compatibility, especially
if they are intended to support EU
policy.
“The debate was very wide
ranging and frank and gave a UK
SME a great chance to engage
with some of the key people in
standards policy development
from across Europe and the
world,” says Phil. “Standards are
a very important factor in the UK
hardware industry and at Astra we
believe that it is vital that standards
drive and reflect the very best
practice in design, fire safety and
specification.”
Adam Pinney is Expert
Coordinator at SBS and believes
that robust and objective standards
are a vital means to help SMEs
compete on a level playing
field across the EU and further
afield. “SMEs represent 99% of
all European companies, and
standards are vital to help them
compete effectively,” he says.
“Strong and reasonable standards
facilitate product compliance,
foster innovation, and promote
competitiveness. Improving
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL.CO.UK | SEP/OCT 2018
compatibility and interoperability
will simplify and reduce the cost of
product development, and speed
time to-market for SMEs.”
Philip Gallagher is managing
director of Astra Door Controls,
a leading UK manufacturer of
concealed door closers. He is one of
the UK fire door industry’s leading
experts on door closers, Philip
is a passionate advocate for the
correct specification, installation
and maintenance of fire doors.
He has been instrumental in the
specification of tens of thousands
of fire doors in apartments,
commercial buildings and hotels
across the globe,and played a
significant part in the development
of a number of innovative door
closers including the CE Marked
3000 Series of jamb-mounted
concealed closers. Astra is a member
of the Guild of Architectural
Ironmongers and the Door
Hardware Federation in the UK.