Standardisation and technical work

The HKI Industrieverband Haus-, Heiz- und Küchentechnik e.V. is a technology-oriented association. This is a central focus of the association's work. Among other things, this is also shown by the fact that the HKI is the sponsor of the external DIN Standards Committee for Heating, Cooking and Warming Appliances(FNH). The preparation and revision of standards is part of the everyday work of the FHN and thus also the HKI. Although a standard has no legal character, from the industry's point of view it is nevertheless of great importance for three reasons: 1) Laws and regulations can refer to standards and thus become binding. What is interesting is that such laws often have a superordinate character, i.e. they have an effect on numerous different types of products. An example is the Machinery Directive, which affects everything from hair dryers to nuclear power plants. Therefore, such laws can usually hardly or not at all be influenced. The standards, however, which are supposed to define the individual characteristics of the regulation, can very well be co-designed. 2) Standards help with market access. A manufacturer of printer paper is not obliged to offer it in DIN A4. However, if he wants his product to be in demand, he should do so. This can be relevant, for example, in tenders where product characteristics are defined with the help of standards. 3) Standards can create legal certainty. If, for example, an accident or fire occurs during an installation, but the installation and the equipment comply with the relevant standards, it can be documented that the installation was carried out to the best of one's knowledge and belief. This is because the standards represent the current state of the art, which is recorded by the relevant experts and legitimised by the public. For these reasons, the technical work in the association is given a very high priority.