Debate held on future of standardisation

At the end of June a debate was held in the European Parliament regarding the future of standardisation. An ANEC proposal was underlined both by the rapporteur and the Commission: to create a second production line for standards in fields where there is high public interest. The participants in the process would be from defined stakeholder categories, (if the ISO 26000 model is followed, there would be six categories: industry, government, consumers, labour, NGOs and ‘others’ – all with the same rights in the process). In addition, the vital national check and balance would remain, provided by the usual vote of national standards bodies on the adoption of the European standard and its publication as a national standard.

In relation to the next steps, the Commission will launch its standardisation package in November 2010. The IMCO (Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection) report on the Commission Communication will be debated on the 12th of July, with adoption by IMCO in September 2010 and by Plenary in October 2010.

The CEMBUREAU position on this issue can be found in the editorial of the March Eurobrief.