The European Commission presented a European standardisation strategy on Wednesday 2 February to strengthen the EU’s normative influence on the international stage, with the aim of making the EU more autonomous in the face of increasingly competitive international players.
“We are trying to regain control”, said Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, adding that the EU had been open “to all winds” from outside players for too long.
Thus, the EU has gradually “lost control” over European standardisation bodies (ETSI, CEN, CENELEC), he said, noting that Chinese or American groups now have the majority of votes in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
During his speech, the Commissioner indicated that the strategy had been the subject of debate in the College of the European Commission between those in favour of a strategy that was totally open to external actors and those in favour of a strategy that was “open, but on our terms”. In the end, the college decided in favour of the second option. “Praise be to God!”, the Commissioner told the press.
This standardisation strategy was foreseen as early as 2020, as part of the industrial strategy (see EUROPE 12443/7). The institution’s strategy is structured around five main areas.
Thus, the European Commission wants to prioritise European standardisation actions in areas deemed strategic for the Union, in connection with the dual green and digital transitions and the lessons learned from the pandemic.
The work programme focused on the production of vaccines and medicines to combat the coronavirus, the recycling of critical raw materials, hydrogen, low-carbon cement, the certification of electronic chips, and digital data standards (see EUROPE 12881/2). This prioritisation work will now be done annually.
In addition, a new high-level forum will be set up to communicate future standardisation priorities. A new position will then be created, that of Chief Standardisation Officer. Its role will be to coordinate standardisation activities within the European Commission.
Secondly, the European Commission proposes to amend Regulation 1025/2012 on European standardisation. The aim is to avoid influence on key standards, for example in the field of cyber security, by bodies outside the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA). For example, the institution proposes that the mandates given by the European Commission to the European standardisation bodies should be handled exclusively by the national standardisation bodies of the EU or EEA Member States.
In addition, the institution wants to make the standardisation process more “inclusive” by increasing the involvement of SMEs and civil society. In this context, it intends to launch an evaluation process within the national standardisation organisations.
Another area of action: the European Commission wants to launch a ‘standardisation booster’ among researchers through the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe framework programmes. The aim here is to strengthen the link between standardisation and research.
In this context, the European Commission intends to encourage the training of future European experts in standardisation through EU University Days.
Employers satisfied but vigilant
BusinessEurope, the European association representing large companies, welcomed the strategy. Director-General Markus Beyrer recalled that standards were indeed a precondition for private investment.
However, he warned that the European Commission’s ambitions should not undermine a market-driven standardisation process or create distance between the EU and international standardisation organisations.
The European organisation ECOS, which works in the field of environmental standards, also welcomed the strategy. A “unique opportunity”, it said, for the EU to act on standards for the environment and to give civil society a voice in standardisation activities.
To view the strategy: https://aeur.eu/f/4u
To access the legislative proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/4v
To read the standardisation work programme: https://aeur.eu/f/4w (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)