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Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, introduced the event. She lamented the long delay between the issuance of a standardisation mandate and the publication of the standard in the Official Journal of the EU. Such delay is not acceptable. She underlined the importance of circular economy. Everything which cannot be recycled constitute a loss of valuable resources.
Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, stated that standards will be one of the fundamental elements underpinning the Green Deal. They can help make products more sustainable. It is important not to forget the role of digital in the green transition. For instance, the product passport will stimulate re-use. He added that a global leadership requires leadership in standardisation, explaining that some international players promote their standards to protect their industries. Thierry Breton announced that he is preparing a standardisation strategy to ensure that Europe has a leading position. It is necessary to shorten the time to develop a standard.
Dany Sturtewagen, President of CEN-CENELEC, reminded that one European standard implies an adoption of this standard in 34 countries, hence this strongly reduces costs for companies operating cross-borders. Cooperation with ISO and IEC is critical.
Panel 1: Current Challenges for the European Standardisation
Joaquim Nunes de Almeida, Deputy Director General at DG GROW, stressed that standards are not an end in themselves, they are a tool to serve a purpose. He noted that the European Commission does not just stamp standards developed by the private sector, it can set its own conditions. The private sector needs to understand this.
Markus Beyrer, Director General of Business Europe, pointed out that the system has become much slower and there is less room for market relevance in standards. There is a reduction of incentives for companies to invest in harmonisation and standardisation. This is a problem seen across all sectors. In some areas, the system has stop functioning and companies are looking at other ways to comply. Markus Beyrer added that “we need to get our house in order”.
Rada Rodriguez, President of Orgalim, explained that trust needs to be restored between the European Commission, the European standardisation organisations and the private industrial sector.
Andreas Schwab (EPP, Germany), Member of the European Parliament, underlined that it is necessary to ensure that the European standardisation model remains an interesting one.
Elisabeth Stampfl-Blaha, Managing Director of Austrian standards, stated that the New Legislative Framework is a success story. “We cannot afford to put this system at risk”. There is a vast potential for accelerating the process and ensure more inclusion, for example involving younger participants.
Panel 2: Green Deal – How Standards and Standardization Can Help to Make it Succeed
Clara de la Torre, Deputy Director-General for Climate Action at DG CLIMA, explained that the Commission needs to identify priorities. Standardisation is needed in different areas: to measure achievements in terms of carbon footprint, to define terms (e.g. what is clean hydrogen?) etc. Following the publication of the Strategic Foresight Report (see previous briefing here), the Commission knows in which fields it needs to be working.
Henrike Hahn (Greens, Germany), Member of the European Parliament, highlighted that “we must change our economic model”. Europe must ensure that consumers can trust the products and products must be green. Electronic, construction, chemicals etc. all these sectors must be considered.
Monique Goyens, Director General at the Consumer Organisation BEUC, underlined that consumer organisations should be involved as soon as possible in the standardisation process. The work of ANEC, consumer organisation for standardisation, is to be praised. Monique Goyens developed the example of the energy label, which is currently being revised. She said that the current “A+++” label is not readable for consumers, if consumer organisations had been involved earlier in the standardisation process, this would have saved a lot of time and cost for standardisation.
Christoph Wendker, Director Technical Product Management and Environmental Office at Miele & Cie, explained that energy labels would not work without standardisation. Over 300 pages are needed to define precisely an energy label.
Marcus Wirtz, Managing Partner at JÖST, stressed that standardisation is also a way of challenging companies, it encourages them to innovate.
If you have any questions on these issues, do not hesitate to contact Camille Dornier, Policy Manager: camille.dornier@eurosmart.com
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