Consumer Participation in Standardisation: A Case Study of Involvement in the Development of ISO 23599: 2012 &lsquo;Assistive Products for Blind and Vision-Impaired Persons &ndash; Tactile Walking Surface Indicators&rsquo;
Authors: Thomas Carol  
Published: February 2025

Consumer participation in standardisation A case study of involvement in the development of ISO 23599: 2012 &lsquo;Assistive products for blind and vision-impaired persons &ndash; Tactile walking surface indicators&rsquo; The author, Carol Thomas, Director of Access Design Solutions UK, represented ANEC on ISO TC 173 Assistive products for Disabled People Working Group 8 to develop ISO 23559: 2012 Tactile Walking Surface Indicators. ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation, defends consumer interests in the process of standardisation and certification. This means we represent the European consumer interest in the creation of technical standards, especially those developed to support the implementation of European laws and public policies. ANEC also gets involved in the development of International Standards. Although the consumer lead in ISO (International Office on Standardisation) is taken by Consumers International (CI), ANEC provides expertise to CI through a Memorandum of Understanding as well as participating directly in some ISO and IEC technical bodies where CI is not active. The Challenge for ANEC: Despite its importance in representing the consumer interest, ANEC is not permitted a central role in the European Standardisation System. ANEC has observer status on CEN and CENELEC; and on International Standards. Nonetheless, ANEC has had considerable success in influencing European and International Standards attributed to the knowledge and commitment of its experts, the professionalism of its Secretariat, and the quality of its arguments. This paper will consider how ANEC influenced the development of ISO 23599 and the factors which contributed to achieving influence on behalf of consumers. The Challenges for development of ISO 23599: This International Standard took over 10 years to be completed. Around 1990, the first working group (WG 6) on the standardization of TWSIs was established under ISO/TC 173. However, the work was cancelled and restarted twice because consensus could not be reached within the ISO time limit. In 2010 a new Working Group was set up and ANEC joined as an observer. In March 2012, ISO 23599 was finally completed by ISO/TC 173, working group WG 8, Tactile walking surface indicators, under the chairmanship of Dr. Shigeru Yamauchi of Japan, with a secretariat of Dr. Seiji Mitani and Hidekatsu Aoki, also of Japan. The paper will consider why this standard took so long to be developed; what enabled completion by the Working Group set up from 2010 to 2012; and the contribution made by ANEC. Conclusion: The paper will conclude with a summary of the contribution ANEC can, and should, make on behalf of consumers; how ANEC maximises influence on the development of standards despite the challenge of only having observer status; and what developments would enable ANEC to play a clearer role in representing the interests of consumers in standardisation.