"Everyone profits from standards." This is not just a slogan, it is a fact.  Because, the mere existence of standards provides many practical advantages,  especially for: 

Enterprises

• decreasing transaction costs
• reduction of expenses for business initiation and administration
• consolidation of competitive position
• market expansion (using European & International Standards)

State

• knowledge in the form of public goods
• high multiplier effect: every Euro invested in standardisation yields a forty-fold increase in profit
• instrument of applied economic policy, e.g.
  - realisation and deepening of the Single European Market
  - requirement for EU-membership
  - "International Standards" are a central topic at the World Trade Organisation WTO
• concretion of the "basic requirements" of EU Directives
• declaration of standards as being mandatory by law or decrees
• reference to standards
• reference to standards in legal notifications

Science, Testing Laboratories

• putting research results into economic practice
• basic principles for inspection
• availability of common testing methods
• test results are comparable and comprehensive

Consumers

• specification of safety requirements for products
• definition of the requirements for services (minimum volume, qualification of the supplier)