Information and Assistance on Standards

Questions on standards? Contact our Information Services!

If you have any questions regarding standards, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our Information Services will provide you with the advice and assistance you require. You can find out what standards suit your specific needs, what are their latest versions and what is the status of draft standards being developed. The Information Services will also help you find contact information of the parties responsible for drafting specific standards.

We’ll help you keep up to date with standards, guidelines, laws and regulations concerning your field of industry and your products and services.

Read more about the SFS Information Services.

SFS Information Service

Our Information Service can be reached by email. We are available also by phone on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Between 15.7. and 9.8. information service is only available by email.

09 1499 3455

info@sfs.fi

SFS Library collects, records and distributes information on standards

Our library is a specialised library for standardization, and it is open for public. Its mission is to collect, record and distribute information on standards and technical regulations.

SFS Library provides access to an extensive collection of standards, literature, regulations and other information as well as databases and networks, such as the Perinorm reference database of European and national standards and various reference databases on metals. In addition, our collection includes catalogues of several standardization organisations, reference books, glossaries, manuals, standardization journals and the Official Journal of the European Union.

Our library personnel will help you find information from different sources.

While material cannot be borrowed from the library, the collections, databases and reading spaces are at your disposal. Should you be unable to visit, we are happy to answer any questions by phone during the opening hours of the library.

SFS Library

Open Mon to Fri 9 a.m to 3 p.m. Arrange your visit in advance by contacting us at info@sfs.fi or by phone on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

+358 9 1499 3455

tuomo.hirvonen@sfs.fi

WTO Enquiry Point responds to foreign enquiries on standards

Finland has two national Enquiry Points of the World Trade Organization: one on the draft technical regulations at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland, and the other on standards here at SFS.

Founded in 1995 to ensure compliance with the rules of global trade, the WTO is an organisation of well over a hundred member states. The members have signed the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement, according to which each member state has an obligation to maintain an Enquiry Point that distributes information on technical regulations and standards of the other member states. In Finland, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment is responsible for the information exchange systems specified in the TBT Agreement and required by the EU. Information exchange on standards has been entrusted to the WTO Enquiry Point at SFS.

The WTO Enquiry Point at SFS responds to foreign enquiries on standards and maintains a database on standards approved and being developed in Finland. The database used is that of the SFS Shop, through which information on standards, their scope and tables of content can be accessed.

Member states in the WTO information exchange systems provide notifications of any technical regulations being prepared that may have a significant impact on global trade. The purpose of the information exchange systems is

• to remove technical barriers to trade,
• to prevent the creation of technical barriers to trade,
• to affect the content of future regulations, and
• to provide organisations with an early opportunity to conform to future regulations.

The goal of the notification system is, then, to prevent the creation of undue barriers to international trade through national measures taken by member states. By following notifications, any negative impact on Finnish business by a future regulation can be seen from early on, and companies can therefore prepare for the coming changes in the export market.

For more information and guidance on the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement, see the website of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland.

In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland provides information on WTO agreements on the global trade of agricultural products. These include the Agreement on Agriculture and the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). The overall responsibility in regard to WTO lies with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.