The European Commission requests feedback from stakeholders on the European Standardisation System

On 22 November 2018, the European Commission adopted a communication (COM(2018)764 final ) on harmonised standards. The communication provides an overview of the functioning of the European standardisation system with regards to support the implementation of Standardisation Regulation (EU) No. 1025/2012.

As stated through the Communication, The European Commission will elaborate a guidance on practical aspects of implementation of the Standardisation Regulation, and gathers feedback from stakeholders:

On the functioning of the European Standardisation system:

1.  Harmonised standards are developed by one of the three European Standardisation Organisations (CEN / CENELECT/ETSI) on the basis of an official request from the Commission ('standardisation request'), in order to support the implementation of Union legislation.

2. Once the European Standardisation Organisations have developed a harmonised standard, the Commission assesses whether it complies with the requirements of corresponding Union legislation

3.  If the standard complies, the Commission publishes it in the the Official Journal of the European Union. The standard will produce legal effects under the relevant Union legislation  

4.  Products manufactured in compliance with harmonised standards benefit from a presumption of conformity with the corresponding legislative requirements. the manufacturer may benefit from a simplified conformity assessment process.

Upcoming guidance document

The European commission will issue a guidance document on practical aspects of implementing the Standardisation Regulation, paying particular attention to the division of roles and responsibilities in the development process of harmonised standards as well as to efficiency and speed.

Its main objective is to clarify the roles and responsibility of actors involved in the standardisation process and more precisely:

-      The standardisation request and drafting and the adoption of standards

-       Assessment of the standard: responsibility of the Commission, the ESOs and the role of “Harmonised Standards Consultants”

Consultation process

The Commission is publishing  a note  shortly describing the objective, the scope and the planned structure of the guidance document.

Comments can be sent to the Standardisation Unit at the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs ( GROW-B3@ec.europa.eu ) by  27 September 2019.