With the publication of BS EN 15804 in the UK, I was surprised by how much it was going to cost to buy our UK office a copy, and having offices in Denmark and Germany too, I had a quick look to see whether other national standards bodies had published the standard in English, and how much it would cost there.  The results shocked me.

UK – BSI  £190 (member price £95) (approx 228 euro, members 114 euro)

Belgium (not yet published but price listed):  English, PDF: 64 euro

Denmark (not yet published but price listed): English. 347 DKK (approx 48 Euro)

Finland  English, downloadable: 71.83 Euros (including VAT)

Germany – was available in English from DIN for 117.40 euro, but this has been withdrawn and translation in German will be published shortly.

Netherlands  English, pdf: 70 Euro

Sweden  English, pdf: 1.055 SEK  (approx 120 euro)

BSI does a great job, but it is hard to see how the cost of a European standard, which they don’t have to translate, which has been developed by CEN working group experts, and which is provided as a download, can be justifiably so much more in the UK than in other countries.