Annexes to COM(2019)486 - Annual Union work programme for European standardisation for 2020

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dossier COM(2019)486 - Annual Union work programme for European standardisation for 2020.
document COM(2019)486 EN
date October 28, 2019
agreement (FTA) negotiated and will remain so in the future. The EU-Singapore FTA enters into force early 2020, and the negotiations on FTAs with Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Mercosur will continue, underlying the EU’s openness to the global arena in its pursuit to boost European competitiveness, jobs, and growth.


4Public-private partnership


4.1Governance

A timely delivery of high-quality standards remains the Commission’s priority. In that regard, harmonised standards should receive specific attention in order to meet the recent jurisprudence of the Court of Justice. As part of European law, harmonised standards must fulfill the defined criteria of quality in terms of both form and technical substance.

In particular, the quality of the harmonised standards, which provide for the legal effect of presumption of conformity, require specific attention from both sides. Against this background, on 22 November 2018, the Commission adopted the Communication on ‘Harmonised standards: Enhancing transparency and legal certainty for a fully functioning Single Market’ 24 . The Communication provides an overview of the functioning of the European standardisation system and defines specific actions that the Commission will undertake to support the implementation of the European Standardisation Regulation 25 .

In this respect, the Commission, after consultation, will also issue a guidance document on the practical aspects of implementing the European Standardisation Regulation, paying particular attention to the division of roles and responsibilities in the process of developing harmonised standards and paying close attention to the efficiency, inclusiveness and speed of standardisation processes. In that guidance document, the Commission will take into account the recent jurisprudence and particular conditions required to comply with the European Standardisation Regulation and improve the standardisation process in practice. Following these steps, the Commission will continue to reassess its procedures in discussion with all the stakeholders involved.

The Commission recommends that the European standardisation organisations take due account of the guidance document, particularly with regard to the timely provision of all documents needed to assess draft harmonised standards allowing for a smooth progress of the assessment process.

The Commission will continue to support the governance process through all relevant means available to it, namely through the Committee on Standards (CoS), the Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) on ICT standardisation and the structural dialogues with the European standardisation organisations. In this context, the Commission encourages the European standardisation organisations to actively participate in these platforms in order to help continue shaping European industrial and digital policies.

4.2Inclusiveness

Inclusiveness and transparency are the key features of the European standardisation system. The Commission will therefore continue to support the involvement of stakeholders representing SMEs, consumers, environmental interests and trade unions in the standardisation process (referred to as the Annex 26 III organisations 27 ).

Financial support to the organisations representing SMEs, social and societal interests at European level has paved the way for gradually involving their members in the standardisation activities. Nonetheless, there are still certain challenges to their effective participation in the standardisation process.

The Commission will closely monitor how the European standardisation organisations implement the requirements of effective participation of the Annex III organisations, pursuant to Article 5 of the European Standardisation Regulation.

The European standardisation organisations CEN and CENELEC and the international standardisation organisations are based on the national delegation principle. As a rule, the participation of experts in the elaboration of standards is expected to be open to everybody. The Commission calls upon the Annex III organisations to include, in their annual reports, any incident where stakeholders requested but did not manage to participate in the standardisation activities; this reporting should also include the international level (ISO, IEC).

4.3Financing European standardisation

The current Framework Partnership Agreements, which provide the legal frameworks for Union funding to European standardisation organisations, will end in December 2020. The future financing of European standardisation is a part of the "Single Market Programme" 28 . The impact of this programme will be assessed through mid-term and final evaluations and by continuous monitoring of a set of high-level key performance indicators. The indicator adopted for European standardisation is the ‘Share of implementation of European standards as national standards by Member States in total amount of active European standards’.


Study on the economic and societal impact of standardisation

European standards are indispensable instruments for the proper functioning of the single market. Among other things, they support economic growth by removing the barriers for placing innovative, competitive products and services in existing markets and by expanding the trade to new ones. However, their potential and actual effects and functions remain under-examined and call for a more detailed understanding.

Against this background, following the invitation from the Council and in line with the Joint Initiative on Standardisation, the Commission is launching a study in 2019 on the functions and effects of European standards and standardisation in the EU. The results of the study will be available by 2021.


(1)

Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012.

(2)

For a more comprehensive list of actions, see the annex to this Communication.

(3)

Not excluding European standards ensuring compliance with the general safety requirements under Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety.

(4)

see Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012.

(5)

see actions and measures related to fishing gear in European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy - COM(2018) 28 final and action 13 in the annex to this Communication.

(6)

see details in actions 1 to 3 in the annex to this Communication.

(7)

see action 7 in the annex to this Communication.

(8)

see action 8 in the annex to this Communication.

(9)

see action 6 in the annex to this Communication.

(10)

see action 5 in the annex to this Communication.

(11)

see action 4 in the annex to this Communication.

(12)

see action 9 in the annex to this Communication.

(13)

See action 11 in the annex to this Communication.

(14)

see action 12 in the annex to this Communication.

(15)

COM(2018) 237.

(16)

COM(2017) 477 final.

(17)

European Union Agency for Network and Information Security.

(18)

C(2019)800 of 6 February 2019.

(19)

COM(2018) 283 final.

(20)

see action 10 in the annex to this Communication.

(21)

Regulation (EU) 2018/1092.

(22)

STATEMENT/18/4687.

(23)

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/39020/euchina-joint-statement-9april2019.pdf.

(24)

COM(2018) 764.

(25)

Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012.

(26)

Annex III of the European Standardisation Regulation (EU)1025/2012.

(27)

  Small Business Standards (SBS) , the European consumer voice in standardisation (ANEC) , the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Environmental Citizens’ Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS).

(28)

COM(2018) 441 final.