An overview of the online working session between STAMEQ and ISO. — Photo courtesy of MoST

HÀ NỘI — The Commission for Standards, Metrology and Quality of Việt Nam (STAMEQ) recently held an online session with ISO Secretary-General Sergio Mujica to discuss the Business Model Review (BMR), an initiative to adapt standards to digital transformation and changing user needs.

BMR is ISO’s process of reviewing its model for creating, distributing, licensing and monetising standards content amid digital transformation, artificial intelligence and changing demand for standards.

Under the initiative, ISO is gradually moving from a model based mainly on traditional standards documents towards licensing content, data and digital services tailored to specific uses.

According to Mujica, BMR is not intended to impose a single business model on all members. With 175 members operating under different functions, market conditions, levels of commercialisation and digital capabilities, ISO aims to establish a common framework while allowing flexibility for individual countries.

Việt Nam supports the overall direction of the BMR, while stressing that the new model should strike a balance between expanding access to standards, protecting intellectual property rights and ensuring the financial sustainability of ISO and its members, STAMEQ Chairman Nguyễn Nam Hải said.

Hải also called on ISO to ensure members’ autonomy in choosing licensing, distribution and standards-use models suited to their laws, market conditions and national circumstances.

Particular interest has been expressed in the use of standards in digital environments and AI applications.

As standards are increasingly converted into structured data and integrated into software, digital platforms and AI systems, STAMEQ called on ISO to clarify members’ rights to translate, adopt, publish, distribute and use ISO content on digital platforms. It also urged the organisation to clarify licensing conditions for ISO/IEC SMART and other technology-enabled forms of standards use.

Regarding free access to standards in certain cases, Hải said appropriate mechanisms are needed for standards used in state management, serving the public interest or widely applied across the economy. However, wider access should go hand in hand with copyright protection and the sustainability of the standards system.

Hải also expressed a desire for Việt Nam not merely to adapt to changes under the BMR but to actively participate in testing and refining ISO’s new model, particularly in licensing, digital distribution, AI and SMART Standards.

At the end of the meeting, STAMEQ and ISO agreed to maintain dialogue to identify solutions suited to Việt Nam’s conditions while contributing to the digital transformation of the national standards system. — VNS