Benefits of EU Membership

Standards stipulate technical requirements for products and services. In Europe, three standardisation organisations can ratify a European Standard by bringing together relevant stakeholders. Additionally, the word 'standard' is used to refer to rules and laws that generate essential technical requirements for businesses operating in the Single Market. The substitution of multiple (and potentially conflicting) national standards with a common one clearly generates positive effects. By adopting the common standard, EU firms can access a larger market more easily. It has been estimated that standards have contributed to GDP growth rate (e.g. 0.8% of French GDP growth between 1950 and 2007, 0.9% of German GDP growth between 1960 and 1996).

EU standards also have an international dimension. If the standard is widely applied within the EU, especially in sectors open to international trade and actors, it has the potential of being taken up by third parties and becoming a global standard. In this case, EU firms gain from a significant competitive advantage due to their initial compliance and familiarity with the standard.

Box 2. Data protection on track to become a global standard

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) strengthens and protects users' rights over their own data, and enhances enforceability by allowing the penalisation of non-compliant actors. GDPR is an example of how EU rules become, in practice, a standard. GDPR has a strong international dimension, as it applies to all cases involving an EU citizen. Despite its significant compliance costs and the ongoing debate on how the Regulation could be made more cost-efficient, it has the potential of becoming the template for the global harmonisation of data protection. This would give relevant EU workforce and already compliant businesses a clear competitive advantage. Brazil, California and Australia are already exploring how to align their own data protection laws with GDPR.