The BSIA and its Security Equipment Manufacturers Section has renewed its call for a quality mark which is recognised across all EU member countries.
It says this will “ensure higher and more uniform quality of products and systems, promoting technical innovation”.
A BSIA statement said: “Currently, each UK company intending to export their security solutions across the EU are forced to undergo separate testing of said products for most of the countries they wish to export to.
“This means, for example, that an alarm that is compliant to the auditing requirements in France cannot necessarily be sold in Germany, unless it is retested specifically for the German market.
“This onerous process is not only time consuming, but is also financially burdensome, as the costs and time associated with the separate testing of the same products in each country is considerable.
“This issue is in direct conflict with the primary mission of the European Union, to allow for fairer trade across its member countries and stimulate competition.
“Smaller companies, in fact, risk being discriminated against, as they are unable to sustain the costs they encounter each time they set out to achieve local quality marks.”
Streamlined testing needed
Geoff Pye, of the BSIA’s Security Equipment Manufacturers (SEMS) section, said: “Although the European Union has proved successful in shaping regulations and standards applicable to the security industry, it has not managed to streamline the testing process for security solutions.
“A uniformed testing process could be achieved by introducing pan-European certification, which would provide a one-stop shop for all quality marks across the continent.
“This would mean that security products exported would be assessed against requirements shared by all EU countries, therefore dramatically improving the quality of products entering the market and reducing the confusion surrounding which tests are needed for each country.
“In addition, pan-European certification would reduce costs for companies, allowing even smaller businesses to stand a chance to compete on a European level.”
The BSIA’s SEMS section has been a long-term supporter of making pan-European certification a legal requirement in the EU, as it is the section’s belief that this would provide a more favourable international trading environment for security manufacturers.
The BSIA statement says that for this reason the section and its members will continue to engage with key decision makers in the national and European policy framework, in an effort to reach an agreement that will help streamline and simplify the testing process abroad.
