Friday 21 April 2017

European standardisation package

In the context of the EU’s single market strategy (link to a compilation of blog posts), I turned to European standardisation this week with a few entries on my Finnish and Swedish blogs:
Eurooppaoikeus (FI): Sisämarkkinastrategian eurooppalaiset standardit (19 April 2017)

Eurooppaoikeus (FI): EFTA ja Euroopan talousalue: eurooppalaiset standardit (19 April 2017)
Grahnblawg (SV): EU:s standardiseringspaket (20 April 2017)

Grahnblawg (SV): Europeiska tjänstestandarder (20 April 2017)

Next a basic presentation of European standardisation in English as part of the single market strategy.

Single market strategy

European standardisation is part of the Commission’s internal market (single market) strategy:

Upgrading the Single Market: more opportunities for people and business; Brussels, 28.10.2015 COM(2015) 550 final

Section 3.1. of the communication was called Modernising our standards system (p. 12), which boiled down to two concrete actions (p. 21):

  • Joint initiative on Standardisation (2016)
  • Dedicated guidance on service standardisation (2016)


Standardisation package

Last year the European Commission presented its standardisation package, with an over all vision presented in the communication:

European standards for the 21st century; Brussels, 1.6.2016 COM(2016) 358 final

The other parts of the standardisation package were summarised on the pages 10-11:

Together with the April ICT Standards Communication and with the Joint Initiative, today's standardisation package lays down a coherent Commission vision on the role of standardisation in support of policy making. It is made up of the following documents:

1. The Annual Union Work Programme for European Standardisation 2017: identifying strategic priorities and objectives for European standardisation, taking into account the EU’s long-term strategies for jobs and growth such as the action plan on circular economy, and indicating the European standards and European standardisation deliverables that the Commission intends to request from the European standardisation organisations in 2017.

2. The “Article 24 Report” and REFIT Document setting out evidence on the functioning of the ESS and supporting the policy developments under the JIS.

3. Service Standards Staff Working Document: "Tapping the potential of European service standards to help Europe's consumers and businesses".

The aim of this blog post is just to document the parts in a more exact manner, for the convenience of readers.


ICT standardisation

A little earlier the Commission had published a communication on standardisation regarding information and communication technology (ICT) related to the digital single market:
ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market; Brussels, 19.4.2016 COM(2016) 176 final  


Joint initiative on Standardisation

The Joint initiative on Standardisation (JIS), which was discussed on pages 5-8 of the vision communication COM(2016) 358, was signed on 13 June 2016, and the text can be downloaded here: C(2016) 3211 final - Annex  "Joint Initiative on Standardisation under the Single Market Strategy" to the Commission Decision on the approval and the signing of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation.


Annual Union Work Programme 2017

The Annual Union Work Programme for European Standardisation 2017 was published as a communication:
The annual Union work programme for European standardisation for 2017; Brussels, 1.6.2016 COM(2016) 357 final

The communication was accompanied by a staff working document:

Commission staff working document on the implementation of the actions foreseen in the 2016 Union work programme for European standardisation, including the implementing acts and mandates sent to the European standardisation organisations; Brussels, 1.6.2016 SWD(2016) 185 final


“Article 24 Report” and REFIT Document

The first document is the so called Article 24 report from the Commission:

Report on the implementation of the Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 from 2013 to 2015; Brussels, 1.6.2016 COM(2016) 212 final

The so called REFIT document was officially the accompanying Commission staff working document:

Analysis of the implementation of the Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 from 2013 to 2015 and factsheets; Brussels, 1.6.2016 SWD(2016) 126 final  


Service standards SWD

Service standards were discussed on the pages 9-10 of the vision communication COM(2016) 358, but the guidance came in the accompanying Commission staff working document:
Tapping the potential of European service standards to help Europe's consumers and businesses; Brussels, 1.6.2016 SWD(2016) 186 final


Standardisation regulation

Almost every document refers to the fairly new Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 on European standardisation, applied from 1 January 2013. Let us glance at the scope:

Article 1
Subject matter

This Regulation establishes rules with regard to the cooperation between European standardisation organisations, national standardisation bodies, Member States and the Commission, the establishment of European standards and European standardisation deliverables for products and for services in support of Union legislation and policies, the identification of ICT technical specifications eligible for referencing, the financing of European standardisation and stakeholder participation in European standardisation.


StandarDays

Yesterday and today (20-21 April 2017) the StandarDays event in Brussels, hosted by CEN and CENELEC, has gathered experts from national and European standardisation organisations, EU institutions and enterprises for updated information on European standards.

You can follow the event under the Twitter hashtag #StandarDays


Ralf Grahn

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