The British Standards Institution (BSI) was established in 1901 as the Engineering Standards Committee. A Royal Charter was granted in 1929, with the organization’s aims and objectives including:

– promoting trade – by developing common industrial standards;

– reducing waste – by simplifying production and distribution;

– protecting the consumer – through the use of licensed marks to identify conformity to standards.

The British Standards Institution was adopted as the organization name in 1931. BSI has a Memorandum of Understanding with the UK Government, which establishes the position of BSI as the recognized UK National Standards Body. Working as an integral part of BSI, the British Electrotechnical Committee (BEC) is the national committee of the IEC for the UK.

BSI is a non-profit distributing organization and offers global services in the linked fields of standardization, systems assessment, product certification, training and advisory services.