On 12 June 2026, the Bulgarian trade union confederation Podkrepa, in collaboration with the ETUC, organized Bulgaria’s first-ever trade union awareness event on standardization. The event highlighted how technical standards ensure safe and healthy working environments and explored how workers and their representatives can actively engage in shaping them.
The Bulgarian Standards Institute (BDS) contributed by explaining how standardization works at the national level, while outlining clear opportunities for stakeholder participation.
To support greater trade union involvement, the ETUC and Podkrepa translated two practical ETUC handbooks into Bulgarian: Standards at the workplace and Negotiating the content of standards.
These guides are designed to help trade union representatives navigate the complexities of standardization and participate more effectively. Interactive activities during the event, including a role-playing exercise and presentations from experienced practitioners, further helped to build the knowledge, confidence, and capacity of participants to engage directly in standardization work.
