Technical product standards play a vital part in every industry you can think of. They help ensure your car is safe to drive and that your phone charger fits into a wall socket.
There’s even a technical standard for brewing tea.
It’s helpful to imagine standards as tools which products, processes or services can be measured against. Standards simplify comparisons, promote quality and safety, facilitate trade, and encourage sustainability and innovation. They’re sometimes also required to demonstrate regulatory compliance.
Unlike regulations though, technical product standards aren’t a form of legislation. Adopting them is often voluntarily, unless they become referenced in legislation – at which point compliance with their requirements becomes essential.
Next generation product (NGP) technical standards can be wide-ranging, from providing methods for measuring the constituents of public health interest in a vape aerosol, to assessing the battery safety of a heated tobacco device.
To write a standard, experts in the field – including consumer associations, academia, researchers, NGOs, industry, and government bodies – cooperate to share their knowledge to determine principles of best practice. This consensus ensures they’re a legitimate and reliable tool for assessment.
Technical product standards are usually published by a national (like the UK’s British Standards Institute), regional (like CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation) or international standards body (like ISO, the International Organisation for Standarisation).
Imperial Brands believes in proportionate regulation based on robust, science-based requirements that are aligned with consumer safety and product integrity – which is why our scientists contribute to technical standardisation around the world.
So far, we’ve helped to publish multiple standards on NGP, including the first international standard to determine levels of nicotine, propylene glycol and glycerol in e-liquids.
Technical product standards can support effective, responsible regulation by helping us better understand the harm reduction potential of NGP compared to cigarettes and ensuring every adult smoker who tries an NGP has a satisfying experience they’re keen to repeat. In time, this is likely to have a positive impact on public health.
That’s why we firmly believe technical product standards lie at the heart of tobacco harm reduction.
