Canada and Ireland launch cooperation on standards to strengthen innovation and trade

The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) have signed a new cooperation agreement, marking the start of closer collaboration between the two countries as national standards bodies. The agreement reflects a shared commitment to strengthen the role of standards in supporting innovation, sustainable growth and trusted trade.

Standards provide the common rules that allow technologies to scale, supply chains to function smoothly and businesses to access new markets with confidence. This cooperation builds a bridge between Canada and Ireland’s standards systems, ensuring that both countries can share expertise, align on priorities and increase their influence internationally.

The new partnership between Canada’s national standards body and Ireland’s national standards body also opens the door for collaboration in key areas such as digital technologies, sustainability and infrastructure resilience. For businesses, it means greater predictability, fewer duplicative steps and stronger confidence that Canadian and Irish standards will support competitiveness at home and abroad.

Geraldine Larkin, Chief Executive Officer, National Standards Authority of Ireland said: “At the heart of the global standardisation system is the principle of working together. This agreement between the NSAI and SCC demonstrates the power of global partnership. By working together, we can better align on emerging priorities, strengthen international cooperation and ensure that standards continue to drive innovation and sustainable growth in both Ireland and Canada.”

Chantal Guay, Chief Executive Officer, Standards Council of Canada added: “Standards create the trust that underpins innovation and trade. By launching this cooperation with NSAI, we are reinforcing Canada and Ireland’s leadership in shaping international standards that support growth, open markets and give businesses the confidence to compete globally.”

Developed through collaboration and consensus-driven approaches, standards embed resilience into products and services, making them safer, more trustworthy, more sustainable and more adaptable.  In addition to developing standards at national and regional level, the SCC and NSAI help ensure that technical experts from both Canada and Ireland contribute to developing ISO and IEC International Standards.

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