Representatives of the Japanese Standards Associations visit Vienna for working meetings
The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement entered into force on 1 February 2019. This opens up opportunities for Austrian enterprises: non-tariff barriers to trade are dismantled and access to public procurement contracts becomes easier in Japan.
Bilateral relations in the field of standardization also help overcome these barriers. In the interest of Austria's economy, Austrian Standards therefore maintains close contacts to national standards organizations such as the Japan Standards Association (JSA). The two organizations held a working meeting in Vienna on 21 February.
Tapping the opportunities of digital transformation and globalization together
The visit of the JSA representatives focused on the impact of the digital transformation on the development of standards. In addition, the increasing importance of service excellence related to standards was discussed.
"Standards are an important driver of innovation and constitute the basis of world-wide progress. In order to ensure that we can optimally use those opportunities it is helpful to look to other countries and see how they address the challenges of today and tomorrow," explains Austrian Standards' Director Dr. Elisabeth Stampfl-Blaha.
Strengthening Japanese-Austrian relations
The visit that the Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz paid to Japan in the course of his trip to East Asia last week also highlighted how important it is to deepen relations between Japan and Austria.
