Standardisation, the establishment and implementation of unified obligatory requirements in a certain sphere of human activity (in industry, science, technology, agricultural production, culture, health care, etc.). Standardisation covers those particular goods, norms, requirements, terms, designations, etc., which lend themselves for multiple utilisation. Standardisation in the economic field plays an important role. A particular outcome of the standardisation effort accepted and authenticated by the pertinent competent authority is the standard. Public ownership of the means of production enables standardisation to be used as the organisational and technical basis for planned control of the economy, makes it an organisational and juridical asset, and ensures that it is planned, dynamic and comprehensive. The system of standards adopted in the USSR is a complex of interconnected standards divided into four categories: state (COST), branch (OST), republican (RST), enterprise (STP) standards. This structure helps identify zones of responsibility to be borne by different organisations, and make them more accountable in matters of elaborating and introducing standards. Regular revisions of standards make it possible for them to incorporate the latest achievements of science and technology, and set qualitative indicators according to the capability and requirements of producers. Of special importance among measures to increase the scientific and technological level of standards is the revision of 337 standards for machinery and equipment. Among other qualitative characteristics, the revised standards include requirements that reduce the weight of the manufactures, and cut operational fuel and energy consumption, as well as standardise their parts, assemblies and instrumentation. There is also emphasis on intensifying further complex standardisation, which serves the purpose of elaborating and introducing balanced requirements for the technical level and quality of the finished product, raw and other materials, accessories, machinery, production techniques, etc.