European Commission seeks to make the European standardisation system more agile and inclusive.

On 6 October, the European Commission presented its proposal to revise the European standardisation system. The reform is intended to replace the Standardisation Regulation, which has been in force since 2013. In future, harmonised European standards are to be accessible free of charge and developed more quickly. At the same time, standardisation is to become more flexible, and oversight at EU level is to be strengthened. According to European Commission estimates, this could reduce the average development time for harmonised standards from six to four years.

More flexibility in standardisation

The European standardisation organisations CEN (European Committee for Standardization), CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) are to continue playing a central role. Under certain conditions, however, the European Commission could also entrust other standardisation organisations designated by it with this task. This would be possible, for example, if the European standardisation organisations do not accept a standardisation request or fail to deliver the requested standards on time or to the required quality.

The proposal also seeks to introduce the possibility of establishing common specifications. These are technical requirements that, under certain conditions, can serve as an alternative to certain harmonised standards. They are for instance already provided for as an option in the AI Act but have not yet been used. Their inclusion in the Standardisation Regulation could allow the European Commission to establish technical requirements itself under certain conditions. This would be possible if standardisation requests are not accepted or suitable harmonised standards are not available in time.

Participation, transparency and free access to standards

A new EU Standards Platform is to bring together information on standards, access options, standardisation requests and the performance of the system. Together with the work programmes published annually, it is intended to increase transparency.

In addition, the European Commission wants to ensure that harmonised standards, as well as other standards and standardisation documents referenced in the Official Journal of the EU, are available online in full and free of charge. The texts are to be provided in a readable, searchable, printable and electronically accessible format.

Participation in standardisation at national level is also to be improved. National standardisation bodies are to facilitate access, particularly for consumers, public authorities, small and medium-sized enterprises, researchers, and environmental and social stakeholders. The measures envisaged include participation without mandatory membership, free or reduced participation fees, and free access to draft standards and work results.

Discussions in the European Parliament and the Council

On 15 October, the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) held a hearing on European product legislation. Experts from the European Commission, the Member States and standardisation organisations, as well as representatives of consumer and business associations, discussed the reform of the Standardisation Regulation and the planned European Product Act with MEPs.

The discussions focused, among other things, on the proposals for greater flexibility and the faster development of European standards. It has not yet been announced who will take on the role of rapporteur in IMCO. In the Council, the Working Party on Technical Harmonisation examined the Commission proposal for the first time on 19 October.