CEN and CENELEC welcome the new European Standardization Strategy

The Strategy, newly released by the European Commission, aims to respond to the need for Europe to strengthen the strategic role standards play in the Single and the Global Market. It sets the pathway to better support Europe’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy, facilitate the dissemination of European innovations and ensure that European and international standards are in line with the EU's interests and values. CEN and CENELEC share the value the Strategy gives to standards as a key tool to contribute to a resilient green and digital transformation of the EU’s industrial ecosystem.

In line with this, the two organizations reaffirm the importance of strengthening the EU’s leadership in standard-setting to support the global competitiveness of European companies, especially in strategic industries such as Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, hydrogen, batteries and industrial data. To this end, CEN and CENELEC Members will leverage their reach to ISO and IEC to develop aligned European initiatives, reinforce concerted influence and exert global leadership.

CEN and CENELEC applaud that the new Strategy upholds the unicity of the European Standardization System (ESS), market-based and inclusive, based on the national delegation principle. A coherent, efficient and strong public-private partnership is instrumental for European leadership. This commitment will increase the strategic alignment amongst policy makers and regulators, researchers and innovators, and industry and societal stakeholders, required to anticipate and hold together on priority issues for Europe.

Stefano Calzolari, President of CEN, commented: “A strengthened partnership between the European Commission and the ESOs should aim at accelerating the uptake of smart and sustainable standards in the ecosystems identified in the EU’s industrial policy and enabling market uptake of innovations, thus helping Europe to innovate and lead the way in the twin green and digital transition. In my capacity as Innovation Champion, I welcome the proposal for a ‘Standardization Booster’ to better connect research, innovation and standardization”.

Wolfgang Niedziella, President of CENELEC, commented: “A robust system based on New Legislative Framework principles is essential for the European standardization community to engage forcefully and yield concrete and decisive results matching European policy priorities. We look forward to collaborating with the European Commission in the proposed High Level Group on the basis of the new European Standardization Strategy”.

Elena Santiago Cid, CEN and CENELEC’s Director General, added: “The culmination of a wider collective reflection and close collaboration with the European Commission on how to make the European Standardization System fit for the future, the new European Standardization Strategy recognizes the strategic value of standards and provides a clear framework for a renewed and forward-looking partnership with the European institutions. The CEN and CENELEC community is ready to engage, to ensure Europe’s sustained recovery and long-term resilience and help Europe deliver on its promises”.

The European Standardization Strategy consists of a package of four related documents, that can be downloaded at the following links:

• A policy communication;

• A proposal for a targeted amendment of Regulation 1025/2012;

• A report on the implementation of the same Regulation;

• The Annual Union Work Program for European Standardization;

• CEN and CENELEC Action Plan in response to the European Commission Standardization Strategy.

Our Members are talking about it:

AFNOR (France), ASI (Austria), ASRO (Romania), DKE (Germany), DIN (Germany), DS (Denmark), NEN (Netherlands), SFS (Finland), SIS (Sweden), SN (Norway), SNV (Switzerland), UNE (Spain); UNI (Italy).