European and other worldwide citizens are changing rapidly their behaviour and consumption patterns. European and international standards support assessing the safety and usability of novel products, but they can also be useful in detecting if products that are offered online may imply a risk for citizens and consumers. The same applies to the consumption of new services, for which standardization is increasingly present.

Products and services are becoming more and more digitalised and associated with services, so consumer protection issues requires the involvement of multi-discipline teams of experts from all over the world, to cover topics such as AI, cybersecurity, privacy, personal data protection or functional safety.

CITIZENStandards provides a new way for achieving a wide participation and consensus-making in support of standards development.

Citizens and consumers are also exposed to new ways to access products and services from any place in the world, through international online retailers. When purchasing such products, citizens become unaware importers and often put themselves at risk. Standard should enable more clear criteria and information on products and services to facilitate citizens and consumer protection.