Brussels, 06/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 3 July, in a White Paper, the European Commission presented the landscape for ICT (Information and Communication Technology) standardisation reform. This reform aims to reflect the changes made in the area of ICT standardisation and improve opportunities for referencing and utilising recognised European Union standards within the context of public procurement legislation and the ICT sector. In this connection, Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen responsible for Enterprise and Industry, said: “We want to set the right conditions to boost the competitiveness of the European ICT industry and give fresh impetus to get out of the current economic crisis”. Alongside the traditional standard stetting organisations, specialised and mostly global fora and consortia have become more active and several have emerged as world-leading ICT standards development bodies, such as those responsible for the standards covering the internet and the world wide web. This development is not reflected in the EU standardisation policy. The White Paper proposes: 1) defining the attributes which make ICT standards eligible for association with EU legislation and policies. Ten such attributes are proposed based on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) criteria for international standardisation organisations (such as openness, treatment of intellectual property rights, consensus etc); 2) creating a permanent stakeholders' platform to advise the Commission on the objectives and priorities of ICT standardisation policy and its implementation; 3) allowing the Commission, after consulting the stakeholders' platform, to reference in policies and legislation, specific ICT fora and consortia standards meeting the attributes, in areas where there are no European Standardisation Organisation standards; 4) updating public procurement rules for ICT systems by enabling referencing not only products, but also services and applications. The suggested reforms will provide a better level of interoperability of publically procured ICT services and applications.
The White Paper is also starting a broad consultation of stakeholders and invites comments from them up to 15 September at the latest. Drawing on the comments, appropriate follow-up measures will be proposed soon afterwards by the European Commission. (I.L./transl.rh)