Setting common ground rules for European standards
Standards are required to maintain a level of efficiency, reproducibility and quality in various sectors. To apply the same standards at a European or international level, an integrated approach is required that can be applied across multiple disciplines. The key objective of the EU-funded project ‘Development and validation of a standards comparison methodology’ (Compare) was to develop a generic methodology for comparing standards from various international standardisation bodies. To help validate this methodology, the consortium compared the standards used in the Ukrainian space industry with those of the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS), an organisation that aims to improve standardisation within the European space sector. A ranking scheme was initially developed for determining the level of equivalence amongst standards and elaborating any differences with respect to their scope and objectives. Standards from the ECSS project organisation, configuration management and quality assurance domains were used for comparison with the corresponding ones in the Ukraine and the European Space Agency (ESA) member states. Identifying standards of mutual acceptability and harmonisation potential, the developed methodology led to revision and adaptation of Ukrainian standards used in the space sector to those in application at the ECSS. Compare succeeded in developing and validating a generic methodology for standards comparison. The consortium illustrated the potential of this methodology in the space sector but other industry branches also stand to benefit from its exploitation.