Delegate Sought to Set Standard for Bike Industry

Sydney, NSW

Standards Australia is looking for a bike industry representative to join its panel of experts responsible for setting the standards for bicycle-related products.

Nominations have been invited to fill the only industry representative position on the committee, after the existing delegate, Bicycle Industries Australia general manager Peter Bourke, was promoted to chair the group.

Peter has represented the industry on the standards committee for the past 10 years but as the new chair will be required to act independently and not directly represent the interests of any particular sector.

The committee is comprised of around a dozen experts from a wide variety of fields, including surgeons, accident researchers, academics in engineering and crash dynamics and the National Association of Testing Authorities, which approves all product testing labs.

Peter’s promotion is the first time in eight years an industry delegate has headed the group, which has previously been chaired by Australian Retail Cycle Traders Association executive officer Graham Bradshaw until 2015.

Industry members interested in becoming part of the Standards Australia committee should express in interest before the end of April by contacting BIA at office@bikeoz.com.au or call 0438 871 271.

The committee meets once a quarter for a day and, with members scattered throughout Australia, has been convening online since the Covid pandemic began.

Australia’s First ISO Delegate

As part of his role as Standards Australia chair, Peter also recently became the first Australian delegate on the International Standards Organisation (ISO) panel for bicycle products.

He said the inclusion of a delegate from this country is particularly important at the moment because Australia is currently going through a deregulation process which would enable it to adopt international best practice examples for certain products, such as bikes and helmets.

“If we are simply allowing international standard products into Australia, we need to be on the committee that develops those standards to allow Australia to have a say on what is used.”

Representation on the ISO panel would help give Australia and its bicycle industry a say on the international negotiations that influence those overseas standards.

“There has never been an Australian representative on the international organisation for bike standards and I made an application through Standards Australia that we should have a participating member on the relevant committees,” Peter said.

“The ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) began a review in 2016 and proposed we allow international standard bike and helmet products to be sold in Australia alongside Australian Standard products.

“I made the case that if we are simply allowing international standard products into Australia, we need to be on the committee that develops those standards to allow Australia to have a say on what is used.”

Standards Australia then made a successful submission to ISO, which does not have a single committee responsible for the standards of bicycles and bike-related products. Instead, it establishes a committee to consider each product category.

Standards Australia recently completed an internal nomination process to select the delegate and confirmed the BIA head’s appointment.

The ISO panel comprises around 32 representatives, including delegates from the US, China, Japan, and a number of European countries.