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Document 52018SC0015

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Information on actions of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation; progress of implementation of the actions foreseen in the AUWPs, including on the development of European service standards; state-of-play of the standardisation requests addressed to the ESOs and number of standards produced and registered in work programme of the ESOs; actions promoting innovation; contribution of the Annex III organisations (SBS, ANEC, ECOS and ETUC) representing respectively SMEs, consumers, workers and environmental interests in standardisation) to the production processes of standards (inclusiveness); EU financial contribution to the ESOs under the Regulation; state of play of ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market; action plan to decrease the stock of non-cited harmonised standard Accompanying the document REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on the implementation of EU standardisation policy and the contribution of European standards to EU policies

SWD/2018/015 final

Brussels, 16.1.2018

SWD(2018) 15 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Information on
actions of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation;
progress of implementation of the actions foreseen in the AUWPs, including on the development of European service standards;
state-of-play of the standardisation requests addressed to the ESOs and number of standards produced and registered in work programme of the ESOs;
actions promoting innovation;
contribution of the Annex III organisations (SBS, ANEC, ECOS and ETUC) representing respectively SMEs, consumers, workers and environmental interests in standardisation) to the production processes of standards (inclusiveness);
EU financial contribution to the ESOs under the Regulation;
state of play of ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market; action plan
to decrease the stock of non-cited harmonised standard

Accompanying the document

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

on the implementation of EU standardisation policy and the contribution of European standards to EU policies

{COM(2018) 26 final}


Contents

1.    Actions of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation    

2.    Progress of implementation of the actions foreseen in the AUWPs, including on the development of European service standards (from planning up to transmission of a specific standardisation request to the ESOs)    

3.    State-of-play of the standardisation requests addressed to the ESOs and number of standards produced and registered in work programme of the ESOs (from the transmission of a specific standardisation request to the ESOs until the delivery of the requested standards)    

4.    Actions promoting innovation    

5.    Contribution of the Annex III organisations (SBS, ANEC, ECOS and ETUC) representing respectively SMEs, consumers, workers and environmental interests in standardisation) to the production processes of standards (inclusiveness)    

6.    EU financial contribution to the ESOs under the Regulation    

7.    State of play of ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market    

8.    Action plan to decrease the stock of non-cited harmonised standards    



1.Actions of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation

Action 1 – Study on the economic and societal impacts of standardisation in the EU and EFTA Member States.

Scope and objectives

Even though it is generally acknowledged that standards play an important part, there is a clear need of better understanding their economic and broader societal impact. Also, the impacts of standards within businesses and their supply chains are less well understood. The same applies for the public sector, not always being well aware and informed about the impact of using standards in public policies. Therefore, as already requested by the COMPET Council in 2015 1 , the first action calls for launching a study to analyse the economic and societal impact of European standardisation on a EU and EFTA MS level. The study has also been announced in the annual Union work programme for European standardisation for 2017 (AUWP 2017)  2 .

Participants

The Commission with support from EFTA and in co-operation with National Standards Bodies and other participants to the JIS.

 State of play

The Commission launched a survey between the JIS participants on 30 September 2016 asking for possible definitions of the topics that could be covered under the study, on possible data resources and assumptions about relations between standards and other economic and societal variables. The results were presented at the JIS Steering Group of 13 December 2016. Furthermore, a roundtable was organised on 16 May 2017 with academia and scientists to exchange views on various research methodologies and existing reports. The Commission proceeded by launching a call under a low value contract to perform a feasibility study (max. 6 months) which is foreseen to start in October 2017. The outcomes of this assessment will inform the broader decision by the European Commission to launch a study, or other suitable instrument, on the economic and societal impact of standards and standardisation on an EU and EFTA MS level.

Action 2 – Linking research and innovation with standardisation

Scope and objectives

It is important to highlight the link between research, innovation and commercialisation using standardisation as early as possible in order to exploit to a maximum the outcomes of current and future research and innovation projects from, for example, Horizon2020 or from other existing innovation related initiatives and networks (the European Technology Platforms (ETP), Joint Technology Initiatives (JTI), Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), and European Innovation Partnerships (EIP). In fact, about 30% of Horizon2020 projects have a direct or indirect link to pre-normative activities. An early in-depth analysis should be carried out of where, when and how standardisation can help to boost innovation in European innovation programs. It would also be helpful to increase the use of standards by business to foster market access for their innovation. Those standardisation deliverables supporting research and innovation projects that have been realised so far will be assessed and the development of pilot projects may also be taken into consideration.

Participants

The action is led by Joint Research Center in close collaboration with CEN and CENELEC, as well as with the Commission services (CNECT and GROW). The sponsors of the action include also the Commission (CNECT), ETSI, the COST Association, eight NSBs, EURAMET and one industry association.

State of play

The Action Group prepared a roadmap with the objective to establish a sustainable system that encourages the natural cooperation between researchers and innovators with the European Standardisation System, and allows for the smooth uptake of research and innovation outputs into standardisation. The roadmap contains four sets of actions:

§to further develop and exploit foresight mechanisms: Exploit foresight mechanisms to identify challenges, and subsequently integrate research and standardization to address those challenges

§to deepen Research – Standardisation integration: Facilitate the transfer of research and innovation to the market through standardization)

§to introduce standardisation in the European Innovation Eco-system: Build a strong network of innovation actors to raise awareness of standardization)

§Coordination, Dissemination and Reporting.



Action 3 – Programmes for education in standardisation/Training and awareness on standardisation

Scope and objectives

The importance of standardisation for competiveness and economic growth is undisputed. Smart, innovation-friendly EU and national legislation makes increasingly use of standards. However, on EU level neither formal education nor vocational training address standardisation consistently in view of offering the development of related competences.

This action will develop a concise set of recommendations and strategic advice regarding the education about standardisation (EaS) in Europe. The action will look at programmes of formal education and vocational training addressing standardisation on a strategic level, including education on the European standardisation system. The action will look at ways how to explore and promote standardisation as an element of formal education, academic and vocational training, in co-operation with Member States with experience in this area, as well as engaging academia and other stakeholders. A training programme for policy officers of the European and EFTA institutions (and experts on standardisation) will also be considered.

Participants

Action 3 – Lead: BITKOM (co-lead "industry") and EURAS, the European Academy for Standardisation (co-lead "academia") – Sponsors and Contributors: 3 EU MS, 3 ESOs, 1 university, 1 industrial association, European Commission

Associated: 1 technical university, 1 societal stakeholder organisation

State of play

The action consists of two major project parts, (a) standardisation as element of formal education (hereinafter referred to as Education on Standards - "EaS") and (b) the design of a standardisation-related training programme for EC and EFTA institutions officials were confirmed.

As high level objectives were defined:

·promote the strategic relevance of standardisation/standards to leaders of universities (non-technical faculties) and business schools and trigger the development of related educational programmes

·trigger a better articulation to and representation of the need of business for EaS

·develop recommendations and a strategic roadmap outlining the further progress in EaS in Europe.

The operational targets are

·Programmes on EaS (identification & collection)

·Studies on need for EaS (identification & analysis)

·Institutions active in EaS (identification & reach out)

·Awareness raising

·EaS teaching material (identification & collection, specific development)

·EaS training programme for EC and EFTA officials

These operational targets are further defined in work packages with specific deliverables and tasks.

A number of activities are already ongoing:

·EC commissioned two assessments in order to provide the evidence basis for this project: the "market need for standardisation competence" (delivery of Final Report: 30.9.2017) and "the role of European universities as standardisation-related education supplier" (awarded: September 2017);

·EC has awarded to ETSI a grant for developing academic teaching materials for ICT-standardisation (May 2017: validation workshop for teaching material on ICT standardisation for universities, delivery scheduled for end 2018);

·A roundtable between EC and European academia (May 2017) reached out to academia active in researching into and teaching standardisation to exchange views on programmes on EaS and their integration in academic teaching;

·All sponsors contribute to the different WPs and take leadership ;

·Action 3 formally called upon industry, their associations, to join the work considering that at the end industry is the main beneficiary – a respective joint mail was addressed to the SC of the JIS



Action 4 – Improvement of standardisation awareness in national public authorities.

Scope and objectives

At national level, a certain lack of knowledge about the role of standards in support to regulations and public policy has been observed. It is therefore recommended to further involve public authorities in the standards setting and referencing processes. Therefore, an enhanced engagement of Member States will be a fundamental achievement; other practical measures will be envisaged, such as a common kit/toolbox/template with communication material for individual use in the Member States.

Participants

Lead: National Standardisation Body of Portugal

Sponsors: 2 EU MS, 4 NSB of EU MS, 1 ESO, 2 industrial associations, European Commission

State of play

The action-group has made good progress on defining a roadmap of actions. Individual contacts took place between the sponsors and their national contact points in order to assess the interest to organise national information sessions or to produce information material.

At present a practical manual for regulators on use and referencing of standards in legislation is under consultation (closing date: 10 October 2017).

The final outcome will be a tool box containing the manual, a training programme and material (Power Point). A roll-out campaign is scheduled for 2018.



Action 5 - Pilot Project - Aiding the implementation of the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) through standards

Scope and objectives:

The action focuses on mapping some of the main specificities and challenges pertaining to harmonised standards and the standardisation process for construction products. It will cultivate a common understanding on the role of harmonised standards in the CPR context; it will clarify the role of the various actors and explore the use of a simplified procedure for amending existing mandates. Furthermore, the action will enhance the process of introducing new classes and threshold levels into harmonised standards and apply collaborative efforts to ensure their timely revision and citation.

Participants:

Commission (DG GROW), Member States, CEN, NSBs, SBS, industry

State of play:

A working group (WG) was established comprising representatives of the above mentioned sponsors. The WG has met on a monthly basis. So far, the WG has finalised the action sheet. Five sub-actions were identified to achieve the action's overall objective for which the work has begun:

§Action 1: Promotion of a common understanding and the role of standards in the CPR context including clear definitions of the roles of the different actors.

§Action 2: Explore and clarify the use of a simplified procedure for amending existing mandates

§Action 3: Further improve the process of introducing new classes and threshold levels into Harmonised European Standards (hEN)

§Action 4: Streamline process for timely revisions and citation of hENs through collaborative efforts

§Action 5: Ensure continued availability of CPR consultants and their effective use in resolving outstanding issues.

Target date for the action is December 2019; one of the objectives is to resolve the outstanding publication of references in the OJEU and to mitigate past bottlenecks into new, more efficient procedures.

In addition, a Workshop has been organised in December 2016 between EC, European Standardisation Organisations, stakeholders, respective Technical Committees, National Standardisation Bodies, industry associations and industry to address the issue of non-published Harmonised Standards in the OJEU. An action plan has been established.



Action 6 – Improve the exchange of information and dialogue with industry through a Standards Market Relevance Roundtable (“SMARRT”)

Scope and objectives

From the side of many actors of the system, the need for a better exchange of information, more transparency and dialogue to enhance the effectiveness of the legislator’s use of the European Standardisation System has been strongly called for. To achieve this result, and in line with Article 12 of Regulation (EU)1025/2012, an adequate consideration of market relevance, in addition to public policies and regulation is needed. In order to look at improvements for market relevant testing of European standardisation policy planning, a roundtable is established between the European Commission and industry, called: “Standards MArket Relevance Round Table”, “SMARRT”. This Roundtable will meet on a regular basis in full transparency, for example, during the development of draft standardisation requests, prior to Committee on Standards meetings, to offer market relevant opinions.

Participants

The action is led by the Commission; the sponsors of the action include also industry, two Member States, three ESOs, one NSB and two Annex III organisations.

State of play

On 06 October 2016, a preparatory meeting to set up the “Standards MArket Relevance Round Table”, (“SMARRT”) was held. In this meeting, a consensus was reached with respect to the basic principles for the operation of the SMARRT. The first meeting of the SMARRT was organised on 17 February 2017, prior to the 1st Comitology Committee on Standards Meeting of 2017 of 9 March 2017. The second meeting of the SMARRT was organised on 13 June 2017, prior to the 2nd Comitology Committee on Standards Meeting of 27 June 2017.



Action 7 - Optimisation of operational aspects of Regulation (EU) 1025/2012

Scope and objectives

It is important to use the planning instruments and tools at EU level to their full extent to effectively support policy objectives. Stakeholder collaboration and coordination are fundamental for optimised support to EU policy priorities and for the effectiveness of these instruments. An analysis of the available planning instruments for standardisation at EU level and a gathering of best practices as evidence to support EU policy objectives would help to clarify the different roles, responsibilities, processes, objectives and deliverables, and would contribute to better plan further actions (e.g. complementary coordination actions).

Participants

Commission (DG GROW, DG CNECT), Member States, ESOs, NSOs, Industry associations

State of play

The Action Group has met on a monthly basis through teleconferences. So far, it has found a common agreement and finalised the action sheet. In addition, background documents were elaborated providing information on the Commission's annual Union work programme (AUWP) in standardisation, the ICT Rolling Plan for ICT Standardisation, the European Multi Stakeholder Platform (MSP) on ICT standardisation and the Committee on Standards (Cos). Target date for the action is December 2019.



Action 8 – Provide high-quality standards delivered and referenced in a timely manner

Scope and objectives

The strong call for standards/specifications issued when the market/regulations/public policies need them and when the users of the standards are ready to implement their requirements or use them in the legislation is an undeniable need expressed by the actors of the system - be it policy makers, industry or society – a challenge which has to be tackled through collaborative processes: improvement of performance in terms of quality and timeliness over the entire life cycle of European standards linked with policy and regulations, ensuring that the roles and competences of each actor remain preserved, in respect of the European and Member State regulations.

Participants

Three European Standardisation Organisations, seven stakeholders' organisations, four national standards bodies, one Member State and the European Commission.

State of play

Workplan and deadlines Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details, a number of teleconferences and face-to-face meetings took place to define them. The most recent meeting of the Action Group of 12 September 2017 in Brussels discussed the 3 work items as previously agreed:

§Work Item 1 - Standardisation requests development process

§WI 2 - Standards development process

§WI 3 - Assessment of (draft) harmonised standards and publication in the OJEU

At the same time, the Action Group agreed to add one additional work item extending the scope of work item 3 with the aim to put the discussions on the development, assessment, verification and publication of harmonised standards in a broader context. This additional work item could address questions like:

Are there better ways to reach the purpose of the JIS ACTION 8 exercise?

• What benefits can be taken from ‘digitization’?

• Are the current tools (like ‘Annex Z’) the best way to meet the EC requirements?

• How can ‘seamlessness’ be ensured in data available from various sources (OJEU, websites, databases,…)?



Action 9 – Inclusiveness, transparency & effective participation of all stakeholders in the European Standardisation System

Scope and objectives

An increased awareness of the role of Annex III organisations would strengthen the system, as well as increase their contribution during the development of standards, and to overcome additional obstacles at international level. In order to promote a real and effective inclusiveness of the European Standardisation System, an easy access of all interested stakeholders to national, European and international standardisation work and their effective participation should be supported through appropriate means and actions. Awareness raising actions targeted at national standards bodies and technical bodies should take place. It is also of importance that standards are market relevant and reflect the interests and needs of all stakeholders, including societal and environmental.

Participants

Leader: DG GROW

Sponsors: CEN/CENELEC, ETSI, ANEC, ECOS, ETUC, SBS, ETUI, Orgalime, BSI, NEN, AFNOR

State of play

After the first meeting in December 2016, a second one took place in May 2017. The fruitful and positive exchange during this second meeting allowed for the smooth finalisation of the action fiche. A strong link with actions 10 and 15 was included in the final text, so that results of the 3 actions are maximised and optimised. Currently the action plan is Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details, with sponsors actively contributing by sending proposals for concrete actions to be implemented. DIN has joined has sponsor of the action.



Action 10 – Facilitating participation of all stakeholders at national level

Scope and objectives

Enhanced participation of some existing and emerging categories of stakeholders at national level, including those representing societal and public interests (e.g. national authorities including market surveillance) would bring added value to the final quality of the standardisation deliverables. As contributions from all stakeholders are considered to be pivotal in order to produce state-of-the-art standards, tools are to be developed through which participation of underrepresented categories could be extended at national level to more countries, building on existing best practices.

Participants

Leader: France (Ministry of Finances)

Sponsors: ANEC, ECOS, ETUC, SBS, BSI, NEN, AFNOR, DG GROW. UK, French Ministry for Ecology and Sustainable Development, French Ministry for Social Affairs and Health

State of play

At this stage, only France is represented at Member State level; therefore in 2017 the French representative has asked for the involvement of other Member States and has also asked for the Commission's support in order to mobilise them. After this call for interest, Greece has expressed the will to support the French colleagues in their work.

The first stage of the action implementation consisted of an in-depth analysis of the current situation. For this purpose, a questionnaire has been prepared (and discussed at a meeting in Paris, January 2017) which has been distributed in the first half of the year, also through the network of the Committee on Standards. To be exact, two questionnaires have been sent out: one targeted to National Standard Bodies and MS authorities, and one targeted to stakeholders.

Now that the answers to the questionnaires have been collected, there is the need to move forward and:

-    share the results;

-    analyse them;

-    identify areas for improvement;

-    decide how to run the next step.

This will be done during a confcall meeting on September, 20th.



Action 11 – Increased use of standards in Public Procurement to better implement the public procurement Directives

Scope and objectives

Currently, there is a rather low use of standards in Public Procurement, which means that suppliers face numerous, different requests and various definitions in the “suppliers documents”, resulting in higher costs and inefficiency in procurement. Approximately, ±2% of goods and services in public procurement cross the borders today in the EU. Therefore, practical and concrete actions should be envisaged, such as a guide, for how to use standards in combination with the new procurement directive. In order to improve the current situation, it would also be important to find out how Member States deal with the use of standards in public procurement in terms of structure, tools, guides, education etc. A study or analysis could be considered in that context.

Participants

Two of the three European Standardisation Organisations, five industrial stakeholders, eight national standards bodies, five Member States and the European Commission.

State of play

Work-plan foresees 4 separate outcome where drafting process for output 2 (guide) is most advanced.

·Output 1: Analysis of public sector procurement activities (might be merged with output 2);

·Output 2: Guide on how to reference standards in tender dossiers and contracts;

·Output 3: Process management standard or guide;

·Output 4: Dissemination of best practice.



Action 12 – Encouraging the greater development and use of European Service Standards to help integrate Europe's service markets

Scope and objectives

Both the 2006 Services Directive and Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 on European standardisation recognise the potential benefits of service standards to increase market transparency, raise quality and safety, and facilitate market access for businesses and consumers. Indeed, there is untapped potential for service standards in Europe, respecting national and European regulations. While their number is growing, most existing and newly emerging services standards are national (fewer than 20% of existing service standards are European). This action will look to promote where appropriate the increased development and use of market driven European service standards to benefit European businesses and consumers, through better identification and prioritisation of areas, where standards could help the integration of Europe's services markets, increased awareness and understanding of services standardisation, and greater involvement of services providers and users in services standardisation. CEN, with the contributions of all stakeholders, will develop and implement a strategy to address European standardisation in the field of services (by 2018). The implementation will include prioritisation of service areas (taking into consideration the EC Guidance document as taken up in the Staff Working Document of the 1 June 2016 Standardisation Package) and the development of an awareness raising package with the support and contribution of relevant stakeholders in 2017 and 2018.

Participants

Very diversified support for this action: one of the European Standardisation Organisations has the lead, supported by the Commission, two Member States, one stakeholder organisation, 4 national standards bodies and several business organisations.

State of play

Workplan already well defined, with milestones and deadlines up to 2018. The CEN strategy on services standardisation was published early 2017, is coherent with the June 2016 dedicated guidance issued by the European Commission, take into account the inputs received during the stakeholders’ engagement workshop of October 2016 and considers national competences in a number of service areas.



Action 13 – Promote the European regulatory model supported by voluntary standards and its close link to international standardisation in third countries.

Scope and objectives

Considering it is widely recognised as a success story and a best practice, the European regulatory and standardisation model should be promoted outside the EU and EFTA Member States. This means that all stakeholders should globally promote the concept of common regulatory objectives supported by voluntary standards developed in a transparent and inclusive way (cf. the “New Approach” and NLF-type legislation) outside Europe, in the context of international trade negotiations and other relevant channels..

Participants

One of the European Standardisation Organisations has the lead on this action, supported by the other two, the Commission, two stakeholder organisations, some national standards bodies and several business organisations.

State of play

Workplan, milestones and deliverables are being defined and several teleconferences took place up until the summer.

The action is now split in several well defined and concrete deliverables:

1.Identification of 3 geographic priority areas relevant to all stakeholders (including the EC, via its FTA negotiations and/or regulatory dialogues with a strong standardisation dimension),

2.Develop a promotion strategy, agreeing core messages and communication channels/support, target groups, indicators to measure success, timeline and key milestones a well as develop support materials as needed (e.g. brochures, PPTs…)

3.Raise awareness among relevant EC services

4.Ensure appropriate involvement of European standardization and industry stakeholders in relevant regulatory dialogues and trade negotiations

5.Launch a pilot initiative to support the development of an African Continental Free Trade Area based on the European Quality Infrastructure model and on "New Approach" and NLF principles (to be confirmed if all stakeholders agree to the relevance of this region)

6.Launch within H2020 a support action to reinforce the presence of EU in international ICT standardisation.

7.Projects within Foreign Policy Instrument to promote EU ICT standardisation and ICT standards in other regions.



Action 14 – Standardisation to support digitisation of European industry

Scope and objectives

Digitisation of European industry and services represent an important opportunity for the growth of the European businesses and for the society, as well as an important milestone in the context of achieving a Digital Single Market.

Industry in Europe has had longstanding leadership in factory automation and intelligent manufacturing technologies. Currently, digitisation of industry and services and the application of cognitive technologies set connections across sectors as well as throughout the value chain, from the innovator to the manufacturer and from provider to the consumers. This is a push for innovation and technology integration throughout the value chain.

The EC package on “Digitising of European Industry” as well as several initiatives at Member State level and within industry federations recognise that standardisation has an important role to play, helping European industry in securing their leadership in manufacturing and service provision adapting best available digital technologies, amongst other benefits: "An effective standardisation environment for digital technologies is crucial for Digitising European Industry, and is key for the Digital Single Market. ICT standards allow devices and services to connect seamlessly across borders and technologies. In the future, billions of connected devices - including appliances, industrial equipment, and sensors – depend on such seamless communication, regardless of manufacturer, technical details, or country of origin."

The smart collaboration between CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, together with industry actors, EC/EFTA Member States and other international and global organisations and initiatives, can pave the way for promoting an effective set of standards, taking into account existing ones available at European and global level, resulting in an efficient support to digitisation of industry.

The overall scope of Action 14 is the leverage and further improvement of the effective standardisation environment to provide standards and other standardisation deliverables enabling and promoting the digitisation of European industry. In addition, it encourages coordination between European and national standardisation programmes and related deployment activities. Also, it foresees in the promotion of the global cooperation and acceleration of the transposition of standards and standardisation deliverables at international level.

This action is looking at how to best support the EU policy objectives, as, for example, outlined in the EC package on “Digitising of European Industry”.

State of play

The actions undertaken in the context of Action 14 relate to the pillars of the ICT Standards Priorities of the DSM, in particular Big Data and Data Protection, Cyber Security and Internet of Things

The aim of Action 14 is therefore to create an overarching initiative that engages with a multitude of stakeholders and European/national policy and standardisation initiatives that are addressing the various aspects of the digitalisation of European industry. The actual focus in the first months of Action 14 has been on some vertical areas, namely advanced manufacturing of products, processes, and systems including robotics, and on smart meters and smart grids as well as smart cities and efficient energy use. These areas are intrinsically linked to priority standardisation domains (IoT and Big Data) that are addressed in the Communication on ICT standardisation priorities for the DSM adopted in April 2016, as well as their wider impact on the digital transformation on industry.

Further work on Action 14 shall be conceived in a way to ensure its alignment with the implementation of the ICT standardisation priorities, and will an explanation on How, by Whom and by When the actions will be implemented. In addition, the group will have a strategic reflection on these aspects and on possible forthcoming priorities related to these topics.

Participants

Action Leaders: CEN, CENELEC and ETSI

Sponsors:

1.    EC: DG CNCT, DG GROW

2.    NSOs: AFNOR, BSI, DIN, NEN

3.    Member States: France, Germany

4.    Industry: BITKOM, DigitalEurope, FIEEC, Orgalime, UNIFE, ZVEI



Action 15 – Pilot Project – Improve the representation of the interests of SMEs in Europe in international standardisation processes

Scope and objectives

Standards drafted by international standards’ bodies, such as ISO and IEC, are more and more important on the global markets. They are increasingly transposed as Harmonised Standards in Europe to prove presumption of conformity with EU legislation. SMEs from Europe should have their voices better heard in international standardisation, based on the improvements that have been made at European level. International standards that meet the needs of SMEs in Europe contribute to enhancing their competitiveness. While the presence of SMEs and their associations is already improving at European level, more should be done to ensure appropriate representation and effective participation in international standardisation processes, building on existing best practice; this could also be extended to the other societal stakeholders under the Annex III of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012. There is, hence, room for more coordinated strategies and joint efforts by European stakeholders and National Standardisation Bodies to influence the processes at ISO and IEC - both at the technical and policy - level. Also, best practices for SMEs at the international level could be promoted for the benefit of SMEs in Europe, where appropriate with the help of national standardisation bodies. These best practices can also benefit to the other societal stakeholders, Annex III Organisations.

Participants

Two of the three European Standardisation Organisations, three stakeholders' organisations (one of which is in the lead), two national standards bodies and the European Commission.

State of play

It has been agreed that Action 9, 10 and 15 will be addressed to all Annex III organisations representing societal stakeholders in standardisation (i.e. SMEs, consumers, environment and trade unions)in order to improve the inclusiveness of the standardisation process at all levels, national, European and international.

The core of this Action is to raise inclusiveness at international, ISO-IEC level.

Discussions are still ongoing, but a draft action plan has been proposed, from identifying Good Practices at national, European and international level to reinforcing coordination between SMEs, societal stakeholders and NSOs (as NSOs are those participating directly to IO and IEC work). The final aim is to establish cooperation between Annex III organisations and ISO and IEC, possibly in the form of a structured dialogue.

2.Progress of implementation of the actions foreseen in the AUWPs, including on the development of European service standards (from planning up to transmission of a specific standardisation request to the ESOs)

Reference in the 2017 AUWP SWD(2016)185 accompanying the COM(2016)357

Objective

State of play

Commission's priorities

1

The European e-Competence Framework (http://www.ecompetences.eu/) for IT professionals is a European standard. Now CEN should work on the development of a comprehensive European framework for the ICT profession.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

2

In order to implement new Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 and revised Directive 96/53/EC on Digital Tachographs and on Weights and Dimensions an additional standard on DSRC is needed to allow the transmission of data via DSRC from a fix weigh in motion (WIM) station to a moving vehicle equipped with a smart tachograph

The work has not started yet. This action will be however removed from the work programme for next year due to its low level of interest and the threads to tachograph security

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

3

The Commission is evaluating the need for standardisation with the industry and other stakeholders in the framework of the Forum on Digital Transport and Logistics that was launched in Summer 2015.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

4

Enabling harmonisation of licensing process and industrial standards for EU nuclear infrastructures development throughout their lifetime (construction, operation, and decommissioning, waste management).

 Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy 4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal market with a Strengthened Industrial Base and 1. A New Boost for Jobs, Growth and Investment

5

Increase of renewable energies in the power mix contributes to energy security and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Injection of renewable electrolytic hydrogen into the NG grid allows to exploit the huge storage capacity of the NG grid and to link the gas and power grids, enhancing energy security, and to decarbonise

the transport, heat and industrial sectors. To enable this, new and/or updated European standards on interoperability between grids, on safe admixture of hydrogen to the NG grid, on gas quality and on compatibility with end-use appliances are needed. Standardisation aspects of electrolysers for grid balancing standardisation aspects of hydrogen admixture to natural gas grid: safety, gas quality, … standardisation aspects related to gas-fuelled appliances

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

3. A Resilient Energy Union with with a forward-looking climate change policy

6

The development of assessment methods for regulated dangerous substances and the emission of radiation must be finalised and the new assessment methods should be gradually introduced in product standards.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

7

Construction products Regulation (EU) 305/2011 and Drinking Water Directive 98/83/EC do not set out limits for the transfer of substances that are components of materials to drinking water they are in contact with (only exist for food in contact with materials). Hygienic and safety requirements and test methods for construction products in contact with water intended for human consumption have been developed in a rudimentary way by TC164, but further specific standardisation work on hygiene and safety for products and materials in contact with drinking water is urgently needed.  A replacement of mandate to CEN M/136rev2 concerning the execution of standardisation work for harmonised standards on construction products in contact with water intended for human consumption is ongoing.

The Commission has withdrawn M/136 and is currently working on a number (3-4) mandates for products in contact with drinking water for which hENs under mandate M/131 exist; stakeholder consultation in Q1 2017; final mandates foreseen Q3/Q4 2017

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

8

The development of certain new product standards, e.g. for innovative products and the amendment of existing standards necessary for the implementation of Regulation (EU) 305/2011 should be completed. Certain regulated aspects, e.g. accessibility of construction works, sustainable use of natural resources must be included in harmonised European product standards.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

9

Under Article 19 of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 the risk of unlisted substances shall be assessed in accordance with internationally recognised scientific principles on risk assessment. It is not clear to business operators and to competent authorities which principles are meant as these are nowhere defined. This leads to differences in requirements and burden. This is problematic to the internal market and trade. Therefore these should be laid down in a standard.

 Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

10

Development of plastic biodegradability standards (including marine biodegradability; and compostability/biodegradability field tests)

 Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

11

Close open points of the rail Technical Specifications for Interoperability namely in the field of interior passive safety.

 Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

12

Simplification of the methodology for the calculation of the free passage of the pantograph (mechanical kinematic pantograph gauge) to facilitate the assessment of the acceptance of pantograph heads in overhead contact lines (revision of EN 50367).

 Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

13

Triggered by several accidents and incidents, the following products/procedures are to be addressed in standards: weather information products provided to pilots including applications in the cockpit based on different sources, Runway Overrun Awareness Alerting systems, On board Weight and Balance systems

 Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

14

 

 

 

 

 

Development of European performance and descriptive Standards and other standardisation deliverables as interim outputs for sustainable chemicals based on various secondary raw materials including biomass, plastic recycling, bio-nutrient recycling, re-use of gaseous effluents, etc..

 

 CEN accepted the Commission's ancillary and preliminary action related to sustainable chemicals early 2016

 

  

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

 

 

 

 

 

This work would include:

1) Quality and type of secondary raw materials (biodegrability, compostability, hazardous chemicals content, bio-based (carbon) content, calorific value, molecular structure enabling integrated biorefinery use, prioritisation in relation with the Raw Material Initiative, segregation at source, collection, sorting, purity of materials including organic matter, etc.)

2) Processing of secondary raw materials (including Best Available Techniques, indicators on GHG emissions, processing sustainability criteria, resource efficient use of energy and materials, etc.)

3) Quality and technical performance of the sustainable chemicals produced from secondary raw materials.

4) Pre-and co-normative research

15

To consider requests for standards in the defence field following the establishment of the new mechanism to identify the need for defence standards proposed in the Communication.

 Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

Reference in the 2016 AUWP SWD(2015)301 accompanying the COM(2015)686

Objective

State of play

Commission's priorities

1.        

The current European standard EN 301 549 was adopted under mandate M376 from the Commission. Parts of the standard refer to Web accessibility. After the adoption of the Directive on accessibility of public sector bodies' web sites (currently Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details by the European Parliament and the Council) a follow up is necessary to establish harmonized standards for the presumption of conformity for the accessibility requirements set out in the Directive. That follow up should be coherent with the ongoing revision process.

On 27/04/2017 was issued the COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (C(2017)2585) –M/554 on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations in support of Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

2.        

The present labelling and marking schemes rely on physical labels. With the uptake of eCommerce and online retailing, traditional labelling is becoming less effective to convey information to consumers. It is expected that eLabelling will also facilitate demonstrating and verifying eCompliance with regulatory requirements, while keeping labelling costs at affordable levels, in particular to SMEs

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

3.        

Directive on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare established the eHealth Network (eHN) of representatives of national authorities responsible for eHealth. Its objective is to work towards delivering sustainable economic and social benefits of European eHealth systems and services, and in particular to promote their interoperability. The new joint action on eHealth, liaising with Standardisation Organisations and other relevant stakeholders, will support the eHealth Network in taking policy decisions on standardisation initiative in the eHealth sector to boost interoperability, in line with the Work Plan 2015-1018 of the eHealth Network. In particular, it will explore the option of starting a standardisation process of specific elements of the guidelines adopted by the eHealth Network as well as of other cross-border eHealth services, such as interoperability aspects of telemedicine. In this rdronegards, the Commission will support member states co-operation on interoperability by further developing and validating specifications and components and also through standardisation mandates if necessary. In addition a special effort should be dedicated to interoperability and harmonised coding of clinical databases, screening databases, genetic databases, cancer registries and, more in general, of all health-related databases (in the medium term to make it possible to interface health data with e.g. environmental, food safety, safety at work data

The Joint Action supporting the eHealth Network (JAseHN) 2015-2018 delivered technical guidance to support the establishment of the European eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure for purpose of cross-border exchange of prescription and Patient Summaries; as well as a policy paper, reports and recommendations to promote the use of common standards or technical specifications in eHealth within the EU. The new eHealth Network Multi Annual Work Programme 2018-2021 adopted in November 2017 and the 3rd Joint Action on eHealth to be launched in June 2018 will equally promote the use of common standards for the wider exchange of health data in the EU and develop a strategy on European Semantic Interoperability.

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

4.        

Creation of the International Patient Summary: The objective of this action is to participate in the standardisation of the International Patient Summary and ensure an European presence in the development of this standard. This work is performed under the auspices of the Transatlantic Economic Council and is formalised in the EU-US eHealth/Health IT Memorandum of Understanding, its roadmap and annex. Standardisation activity should take into consideration the patient summary guidelines endorsed by the eHealth Network.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

5.        

Creation of an European standard on quality criteria for the development of health and wellness apps. In order to enhance the quality of health and wellness apps, the Commission has proposed in the 2016 Rolling Plan for ICT standardisation a standard on quality criteria for the development of health and wellness apps (e.g. functionality, usability, reliability). The standard could be based on the publicly available specification PAS:277 recently published by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and would provide guidance to app developers by setting out principles to follow throughout the app development life cycle, including testing, maintenance and risk management.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

6.        

Standardization of location authentication based on the Commercial Service and the Open Service of Galileo. Development of performance standards and associated test procedures to standardise the location authentication. The activities will upgrade the interfaces between elements in the chain, in particular from the GNSS signals to the final location services. The work may address standardization groups such as OMA, 3GPP, CEN/CENELEC, ETSI, IMO.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

7.        

The Common Information Sharing Environment for the surveillance of the EU maritime domain (maritime CISE) action seeks to enhance automatic information sharing between the national authorities involved in maritime surveillance, including defence. The development of standards enabling national systems to become interoperable is instrumental to promote and ease cross-sector and cross-border information sharing.

The launch of the action, foreseen for the 2nd quarter of 2016, has been postponed of approximately 10 months due to the unexpected delay suffered by the MS-led preparatory project called 'EUCISE 2020' funded under FP7. The aim of EUCISE 2020 is to set-up and test a prototype solution for decentralised information exchange among national legacy systems used for maritime surveillance, and to deliver refined recommendations on standardisation needs for ICT interoperability standards. Prior to drafting a mandate, the Commission is investigating how the e-navigation concept and the evolution of Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) affect marine radio communication and navigation standardisation in the mid/long term, taking also into account future requirements in terms of capacity/rate for data transmission as well as security aspects which are essential for improving maritime safety.

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

8.        

Standardization activities for the Galileo Timing Service and the Galileo Search and Rescue Return Link Service. These standardization activities will address the standardisation of user receiver components including receiver chip, calibration of location timing receivers and processing of GNSS signals to obtain precise timing products. The actions will develop performance standards to standardise timing services provision and will investigate the use of the RLS for remote beacon activation of ELT in aircraft

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

9.        

Objective is to facilitate the flow, access and use of information in transport, in order to enhance efficiency and reduce costs of transport operations

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details, considering the Commission Decision C(2015)2259 setting up an Expert Group on Digital Transport and Logistics; Communication

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

10.    

The Commission is considering issuing a standardisation request with respect to access to in-vehicle data. This will be developed within the framework of the Cooperative ITS initiative (platform, working group, master plan)

A study (final report in June 2017) is currently on-going to identify possible options/scenarios regarding access to in-vehicle data. Depending on the results on this study, standardisation may be launched related to the physical/electrical/logical interface including minimum level of security (see ICT Rolling Plan 2016 p. 86 action 14). As it touches the vehicle, most probably DG GROW would be in the lead. Launch of process in the Commission: 3rd Quarter of 2017. Deadline for delivery by the standardisers: Preliminary results by end of 2018 - final standards by end 2020

2. A Connected Digital Single Market

11.    

Further standardisation requests in support of Commission Regulations implementing the Ecodesign Directive (e.g. televisions, smart appliances, machine tools and welding equipment) will be issued as individual mandates.

A new mandate on welding equipment should be adopted in Q1 2017. A standardisation mandate on the Ecodesign and Energy labelling of ventilation units has been adopted on 27/11/2015 (M/537).

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

12.    

Where the Commission considers it likely that new measures (i.e. Commission Regulations or Commission Delegated Regulations) on Ecodesign and/or Energy Labelling will be proposed for products under the Ecodesign Working Plan 2012-14, new standardisation requests in these fields could be issued.

Activities are proceeding in this workstream, with individual mandate on computer servers being issued to ESOs in 2017.

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

13.    

Standardisation requests in support of new Commission Regulations implementing the Ecodesign/Energy Labelling Directive on the taps and showers products will be issued as individual mandates.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

14.    

The Commission is currently initiating a research and innovation policy agenda to further develop and upscale the use of nature-based solutions and to promote the market for them in Europe and worldwide– including Green Infrastructure elements and adaptation measures. This refers as well to the sustainable construction of buildings (such as with green roofs and walls). The development of protocols for functional or performance based specifications and measurement and testing methodologies, leading eventually to standardisation, would help the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of nature-based solutions in economic, social and environmental terms, support public procurement of such solutions and overall stimulate the market for them. In addition to the above mentioned activities under Horizon 2020, a dedicated feasibility study is needed to involve relevant stakeholders to scan the area on this particular subject, based on and complementing actions towards standardisation prepared by other services.

The Communication COM(2013)249 on the strategy on Green Infrastructure identifies standards as possibly contributing to 'growing the market' for Green Infrastructure solutions. The Commission will assess how technical standards, particularly in relation to physical building blocks and procedures, could increase the deployment of Green Infrastructure. Internal work to prepare a mandate is being started, aiming at a completed draft mandate by the end of Q2 2018.

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

15.    

An external consultant has been carrying out for DG CLIMA a survey in Member States to find out where the obstacles and gaps are as regards standards to enabling a broader uptake of alternative, climate-friendly technologies. Results were discussed with stakeholders (Consultation Forum) and are available in 4th quarter 2015. These results will be the basis for drafting a mandate to European standardization organisations.

M/555 -COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION C(2017)7284 on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation and to the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation as regards use of flammable refrigerants in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump equipment

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

16.    

The Minamata Convention regulates i.e. emissions of mercury from industrial processes at a global level. Under the Industrial Emissions Directive there is an obligation to monitor mercury emissions from relevant sources, in particular coal fired power plants and waste incineration plants. Some Member States are applying more frequent emission monitoring at the most relevant sources. There is a need for a reliable and practical standardised method allowing both short term and long term mercury emission monitoring. Such a method could be based on the existing US EPA standard. Activity taking place in the context of the Global Earth Observation (GEO) initiative, Task: "HE-02-C1: Global Mercury Observation System" https://www.earthobservations.org/ts.php?id=171 and the FP7 funded project "Global mercury Observation System – GMOS" http://www.gmos.eu/ that should be taken into account when the new standards will take place.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

17.    

A new BREF on production of wood-based panels is under preparation and the BAT conclusions are scheduled to be adopted by the Commission in 2015. The need to develop a European standard for the monitoring of formaldehyde was highlighted in this document. The standard could also be applied in other industrial sectors where this pollutant is emitted.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

18.    

Standardisation will be needed to implement the Clean Power for Transport package, including the European Alternative Fuels Strategy and the Directive 2014/94/EU of 22 October 2014 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure. In addition to already ongoing work of CEN. CENELEC and ETSI under the existing mandates in support of the implementation of this directive, standardisation work on labelling is also needed for meeting the requirement of the directive to provide the users with simple and easy to understand information on the compatibility of their vehicles with the fuels or electricity re-charging points.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

3. A Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy

19.    

Completion of the Internal Market for construction products

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

20.    

Develop a standard for home compostable plastic packaging (definitions of biodegradability and compostability).

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

21.    

The Commission will request the development of standards under the GPSD Directive for certain consumer products selected in consultation with national and stakeholder experts of the Consumer Safety Network.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

22.    

Define elements, messages and message flows in order to facilitate the interoperability of case management systems in charge of supporting out-of- court (alternative) dispute resolution cases

The action is postponed due to further reflection needed in light of the finalisation and launch of the ODR platform on 09/01/2016

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

23.    

Close open points of the rail Technical Specifications for Interoperability namely in the field of aerodynamic effect on ballast for high speeds, eddy current brake, track geometry quality levels, load limits and variable gauge wheel sets

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

24.    

Directive 2009/48/EC is the legal basis to ensure the free movement of toys that provide a high level of safety for children under 14 years of age. The Directive requires toys to be safe with regard to physical and mechanical properties, flammability, chemical properties, electrical properties, hygiene and radioactivity. Ensuring a high level of safety throughout the EU and by all stakeholders as well as the free movement of toys in the Internal Market requires standardised specifications. These specifications need to keep up with new scientific-technical and market developments, such as the development of innovative toys, and reports about accidents with toys. The available specifications therefore require updates as appropriate, the establishment of new specifications is of a lower priority.

New actions by the standardisers are being programmed for example on activity toys (in-house toy trampolines) and on tests for chemicals in toys in accordance with recent amendments of Directive 2009/48/EC.

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

25.    

improved security and compliance of software defined radio

M/536 - C(2015)5376 of 04/08/2015 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation and to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute as regards radio equipment in support of Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

26.    

Align the European harmonised standards to the provisions of the new Regulation, especially on new and/or modified essential health and safety requirements

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

27.    

Align the European harmonised standards to the provisions of the new Regulation

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

28.    

Regulation (EU) No 1935/2004 provides the legal basis for several specific measures on food contact materials. These include Regulation 10/2011 (OJ L 12, 15.1.2011, p. 1) on plastic materials, Directive 84/500/EEC on ceramic articles and Regulation (EC) No 450/2009 on Active and Intelligent Materials. These acts set out limits for the transfer of substances that are components of materials to the food they are in contact with. The transfer of more than 1000 relevant substances may need to be determined in analytical testing. Yet only a very limited number of standardized methods are available. Certain emerging issues (oligomer migration, multi-analytical methods) call for the establishment of different standards to prevent that they develop into a non-tariff barriers. Moreover testing for specific substances may be selected according to internal market/trade relevance. To this end COM services (JRC) are already collaborating with ISO TC166 (ceramic ware, glass-ceramic ware and glass dinnerware in contact with food -- Release of lead and cadmium).

Internal work to prepare a mandate is being started, aiming at a completed draft mandate by the end of Q2 2018. The work has been narrowed down to standardised methods and analytical data for the determination of certain specific substances. The focus will give priority to multi-analytical methods, followed by methods for single substances. Methods for oligomer migration are being considered as well, but these may need further development before being ready for standardisation.

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

29.    

Directive 2008/50/EC states that modelling technique can be used to assess the air quality. In order to ensure comparability of models throughout Europe, validated standard is needed as regards the use of model.

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

30.    

Directive 2008/50/EC requires Member States to establish Air Quality Plans when the level of pollution is above the limit value(s). One part of the above Plans consists of identification of the factors contributing to the pollution. The Commission expects to send a mandate to ESO to develop a harmonised methodology for source identification and quantification (source apportionment).

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

31.    

Develop standards for products and aspects covered by the GAR, with updating and extension of existing standards and/or new standards when necessary to cover the new requirements of the GAR, as well as for new/innovative product standards

Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

32.    

Update the standardisation work performed under the Directive 95/16/EC to the requirements of Directive 2014/33/EU

Commission implementing Decision C(2016)5884 (M/549) of 21/09/2016

4. A Deeper and Fairer Internal Market with a Strengthened Industrial Base

3.State-of-play of the standardisation requests addressed to the ESOs and number of standards produced and registered in work programme of the ESOs (from the transmission of a specific standardisation request to the ESOs until the delivery of the requested standards)

Mandate number

Implementing act Title

Implementing act Nr

Issued

State of play

M/555

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation and to the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation as regards use of flammable refrigerants in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump equipment

C(2017)7284

14/11/2017

Expected decision of CEN and CENELEC on the mandate

M/554

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations in support of Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies

C(2017)2585

27/04/2017

Expected decision of the ESOs on the mandate

M/553

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards advanced garments and ensembles of garments that provide protection against heat and flame, with integrated smart textiles and non-textile elements for enhanced health, safety and survival capabilities, in support of Regulations (EU) No 1007/2011 and (EU) 2016/425 of the European Parliament and of the Council

C(2016)8901

06/01/2017

There is no planning available.

M/552

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation, to the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation and to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute as regards harmonised standards in support of Directive 2014/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility

C(2016)7641

30/11/2016

Cenelec has published eight EN standards associated with this mandate – the first on 23/09/2016. Fifty-nine draft standardisation deliverables are under development while three more projects are in the planning. ETSI has published two standardisation deliverables and two more are under development.

M/551

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards energy labelling of solid fuel boilers and packages of a solid fuel boiler, supplementary heaters, temperature controls and solar devices in support of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1187 and as regards ecodesign requirements for solid fuel boilers in support of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1189

C(2016)7764

30/11/2016

There is no planning available.

M/550

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards energy labelling of local space heaters in support of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1186 and as regards ecodesign requirements for local space heaters and solid fuel local space heaters in support of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1188 and Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1185

C(2016)7772

30/11/2016

Despite that CEN rejected the request in December 2016 (letter received on 8/12/2016), there are three draft standardisation deliverables under development by CEN and two by CENELEC

M/549

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards energy labelling of local space heaters in support of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1186 and as regards ecodesign requirements for local space heaters and solid fuel local space heaters in support of Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1188 and Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1185

C(2016)5884

21/09/2016

The work is on-going; there are seventeen draft standardisation deliverables under development while three of them is expected to be published by end of 2017.

M/548

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee of Standardisation as regards postal services and the improvement of quality of service in support of Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997

C(2016)4876

01/08/2016

There are three projects for standardisation deliverables in the actual planning.

M/547

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation as regards algae and algae-based products or intermediates in support of the implementation of Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions of 13 February 2012 on "Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for Europe

C(2016)1582

23/03/2016

There is no planning available.

M/546

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in urban areas in support of Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transport

C(2016)808

12/02/2016

ETSI has finalised four standardisation deliverables while eleven others are under development. CENELEC is expected by the end of 2017 to publish one standard. There is one more project in its actual planning.

M/545

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards computers and computer servers, in support of the implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) No 617/2013 of 26 June 2013, implementing Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to ecodesign requirements for computers and computer servers

C(2015)9354

06/01/2016

 It is expected by the end of 2017 the publication of one standard. There are no more projects in the actual planning.

M/544

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards ecodesign requirements for networked standby in support of Regulation (EC) No 1275/2008 and Regulation (EC) No 642/2009

C(2015)9468

05/01/2016

 ETSI, on 24/04/2017, delivered for publication to the OJEU one standard. Cenelec is developing one standardisation deliverable, expected for end of 2017-beginning 2018. There are no more projects in the actual planning.

M/543

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards ecodesign requirements on material efficiency aspects for energy-related products in support of the implementation of Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

C(2015)9096

17/12/2015

ETSI has published one standardisation deliverable on 11/01/2017 while one more is under development. In CENELEC the work is on-going; there are six draft standardisation deliverables under development

M/539

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation as regards non-household washing machines, dryers and dishwashers, in support of the implementation of Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

C(2015)8756

11/12/2015

The work is on-going; there are three draft standardisation deliverables under development. Cenelec rejected the request in January 2016 (letter received on 8/1/2016).

M/540

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations in support of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 665/2013 of 3 May 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to energy labelling of vacuum cleaners and Commission Regulation (EU) No 666/2013 of 8 July 2013 implementing Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to ecodesign requirements for vacuum cleaners

C(2015)8753

11/12/2015

One EN standard, associated with thios mandate, have been published on 10/02/2017. The work is on-going; there are two draft standardisation deliverables under development.

M/542

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation and the European Committee for Electro-technical Standardisation as regards recreational craft and personal watercraft in support of Directive 2013/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on recreational craft and personal watercraft and repealing Directive 94/25/EC

C(2015)8736

15/12/2015

Twenty EN standards, associated with thios mandate, have been published –the first on 09/03/2016. The work is on-going; there are fourty-nine draft standardisation deliverables under development.

M/541

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation, to the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation and to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards certain measuring instruments

C(2015)8558

15/12/2015

Ten EN standards, associated with thios mandate, have been published –the first on 11/03/2015. One more standard, published in 2006 has been associated with this mandate. The work is on-going; there are sixteen draft standardisation deliverables under development.

M/537

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation as regards ventilation units in support of Regulation (EU) No 1253/2014 and Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1254/2014

C(2015)8325

27/11/2015

Four EN standards, associated with thios mandate, have been published on 14/12/2016. The work is on-going; there are three draft standardisation deliverables under development.

M/538

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation as regards alcohol-powered flueless fireplaces

C(2015)8011

24/11/2015

One standardisation deliverable under development.

M/536

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation and to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute as regards radio equipment in support of Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

C(2015)5376

04/08/2015

As it concerns Cenelec: Six EN standards, associated with thios mandate, have been published – the first on 23/09/2016. The work is on-going; there are fifty-seven draft standardisation deliverables under development and two more project is in the planning. As it concerns ETSI: Two hundred-two standardisation deliverables have been published while one hundred thirty-two are being developed and two more projects are in planning.

M/535

to the European standardisation organisations pursuant to Article 10(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council in support of implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) No 813/2013 of 2 August 2013 implementing Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to ecodesign requirements for space heaters and combination heaters and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 811/2013 of 18 February 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the energy labelling of space heaters, combination heaters, packages of space heaters, temperature control and solar device and packages of combination heater, temperature control and solar device

C(2015)2626

27/04/2015

Fifteen EN standards, associated with thios mandate, have been published – the first on 17/12/2014. The work is on-going; there are twelve draft standardisation deliverables under development.

M/534

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations pursuant to Article 10(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council in support of implementation of Commission Regulation (EU) No 814/2013 of 2 August 2013 implementing Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to ecodesign requirements for water heaters and hot water storage tanks and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 812/2013 of 18 February 2013 supplementing Directive 2010/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the energy labelling of water heaters, hot water storage tanks and packages of water heater and solar device

C(2015)2625

27/04/2015

Fourteen EN standards, associated with thios mandate, have been published – the first on 13/05/2015. The work is on-going; there are eleven draft standardisation deliverables under development and one more project is in the planning.

M/533

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request addressed to the European standardisation organisations, in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, to draft European standards for alternative fuels infrastructure

C(2015)1330

12/03/2015

Five EN standards have been published – the first on 02/11/2016. The work is on-going; there are twenty-four draft standardisation deliverables under development while three more projects are in planning.

M/532

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Standardisation as regards methods for quantitative analysis of textile products composed of certain binary and ternary textile fibre mixtures pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council

C(2015)1385

05/03/2015

One standardisation deliverable was published on 01/06/2016. There are no more projects in the actual planning.

M/531

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation concerning consumer laser products pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

C(2015)557

05/02/2015

One standardisation deliverable under development. There are no more projects in the actual planning.

M/530

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards European standards and European standardisation deliverables for privacy and personal data protection management pursuant to Article 10(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council in support of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and in support of Union’s security industrial policy

C(2015)102

20/01/2015

The work is on-going. Seven standardisation deliverables have been published, four are being developed and three more projects for standardisation deliverables have been scheduled

M/529

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations pursuant to Article 10(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council in support of the implementation of Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to ecodesign requirements on material efficiency aspects (recyclability, recoverability and reusability indexes, durability, reversible disassembly and end of life extraction time)

C(2014)10238

07/01/2015

The request is not valid due to CEN and Cenelec rejection dated on 17.1.2015 and due to non-response from ETSI. M/543 is the active one

M/528

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations as regards a European standard on electronic invoicing and a set of ancillary standardisation deliverables pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council

C(2014)7912

10/12/2014

The work is on-going. One EN standard (published on 28/06/2017) and four standardisation deliverables have been published. Five standardisation deliverables are being developed.

M/527

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations to draft European standards for certain seats for children in support of Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

C(2014)5058

22/07/2014

Three standards have been published and one more is being developed. Latest report received on 23rd November. The first standard was published by CEN on 21/12/2016

M/526

COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION on deciding to make a standardisation request to the European standardisation organisations pursuant to Article 10 (1) of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council in support of implementation of the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change [COM(2013) 216 final]

C(2014)3451

28/05/2014

The requested CEN-CENELEC Guide 32 "Guide for addressing climate change adaptation in standards" was published on 6.4.2016. Phase 1 of the request was completed end of 2016 and CEN/Cenelec . It is expected the work programme for development of standards. No standard is under development.

4.Actions promoting innovation

Air Quality

In the area of air quality, pre-normative research has led to the development of methodologies to measure organic and inorganic gaseous air pollutants, particulate matter and constituents of particulate matter, such as metals, carbonaceous content and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are included in the Air Quality Directives 2004/107/EC, 2008/50/EC and CD 2015/1480. Moreover, pre-normative research for the validation and development of new protocols and methods for air quality modelling, source apportionment and the use of sensing technologies has led to the provision of data quality objectives and technical specifications currently Consultation between the Commission and the stakeholders on the technical and operational details and to be considered in future applications and procedures.

Photovoltaics

In the area of Photovoltaic Solar Electricity the JRC has used its pre-normative research to develop international standards to support new energy materials in the field of innovative multi-junction solar devices. Photovoltaic energy generation has become a significant source of low carbon energy around the world and is continuing to expand. The drive to reduce costs and improve efficiencies has led to the development of new photoactive materials structures, which include multi-junction devices. The JRC has used its pre-normative research into the characterisation of these multi-junction devices to lead the project team within IEC in the writing of two standards which will enable these devices to be characterised. Both standards have reached the final voting stage (Final Draft International Standard, FDIS) and been adopted and published in May. These new standards (IEC 60904-1-1 and IEC 60904-8-1) support innovation by increasing the confidence of investors and developers in these new technologies.

Pre-normative JRC research on material efficiency and preparation/response of EC mandates 3

Pre-normative research has been led by JRC to demonstrate the relevance and feasibility of potential requirements on material efficiency of products in the context of the Ecodesign Directive (2009/125/EC). This work was based on the application of an original JRC method to specific product groups. However, requirements on material efficiency (e.g. on recyclability, durability, reparability) had so far a limited adoption in implementing Regulations, mainly due to the lack of appropriate standards. Hence, JRC supported other Commission services for the preparation of the standardisation mandate M/543 to European Standardization Organizations (ESOs) on “ecodesign requirements on material efficiency aspects for energy-related products”. This mandate was included in the action plan of the Circular Economy package (issued in December 2015), and it was accepted by ESOs in January 2016. Standardization deliverables are now under development by CEN/CENELEC, taking into account in particular the results of pre-normative research by JRC. Preparatory work of the standardisation mandate has been analysed by JRC in a recent scientific paper 4 .

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS)

The pre-normative research has contributed to the definition of the security elements of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), embracing a wide variety of communications-related applications intended to increase travel safety, minimise environmental impact, improve traffic management and maximise the benefits of transportation to both commercial users and the general public. The work will contribute to the drafting of a future EC mandate and legislation for the deployment of C-ITS in Europe. In the area of cybersecurity and digital privacy pre-normative research is contributing to the implementation of standards and specific legislation for the definition of an EU wide security certification scheme and seamless trustworthy authentication across objects, devices and natural and legal persons based on comparable trust models.

Animal testing

Pre-normative research in the area of non-animal methods for skin sensation has led to the development of validated methods for the global implementation of standards at industry level for screening purposes and for complying with regional regulations on the safety assessment of chemicals. The work led to changes of the requirements for skin sensitisation within the REACH regulation, prompted revision of the ECHA guidance to industry and resulted into the publication of two OECD guidance documents on the harmonised reporting of approaches for chemical safety assessment based on the integration of non-animal data. Likewise, pre-normative research in the area of animal feed and feeding stuffs for the development of a method to determine two banned growth promotors in feed, carbadox and olaquindox, has resulted in the development of an EN standard to be applied by Member States' official control laboratories to check for compliance of feed samples with legal provisions.

Transport

In the area of vehicle emissions, pre-normative research has led to the development of a methodology to measure the number of particles emitted by diesel engines, which was included in the Euro5/6 legislation (Reg. 715/2007 and 692/2008), making de-facto mandatory the use of wall flow particulate filters that have reduced particulate matter emissions from diesel engines in more than 30 million vehicles. Moreover, pre-normative research for the validation and development of a new real driving emissions (RDE) test procedure based on the use of particle emission measurement systems (PEMS) has led to the provision of data and definition of the technical specifications of the equipment to be used for regulatory purposes in the definition by the European Commission of the third RDE package expected to be approved by the end of 2016.

Measurements and metrology

Standardisation linked to measurements and metrology is essential to drive innovation. This is particularly true for new technologies and applications. The Commission is funding research to directly support standardisation, i.e. pre-/co-normative research, under Art. 185 TFEU initiative on metrology EMPIR. In addition, a working group between EMPIR and CEN/CENELEC called the STAIR-EMPIR working group was formed to facilitate the link between the research projects and the standardisation bodies.

Security

In the area of security, the European Agenda on Security is supported by European standardisation activities as well as ongoing pre-normative research under Horizon 2020.

Innovative technology tools are needed to protect us from terrorist threats and include requirements for detection equipment as well as data quality and the interoperability of data systems recording crime statistics.

Several mandates are addressing standardisation aspects for security (M/487, M/512, M/530). For instance, Mandate 487 concerns the analysis of the current security standards landscape in Europe taking account of the legislative background and the drawing of a security standardisation map.

Ongoing security research in several domains is also contributing to harmonised certification schemes of security products and systems.

LIST OF RESEARCH PROJECTS DIRECTLY LINKED WITH STANDARDISATION

Projects

Start date

End date

Technical/scientific Support to the EED and EPBD

08/12/2014

07/12/2017

Validation of standards for construction materials

11/03/2016

10/03/2018

Support to policies and standards for sustainable construction

01/01/2016

31/12/2016

Environmental Footprint and Material Efficiency

11/12/2013

30/11/2017

Eco-design and other product policies for Circular Economy

01/01/2016

31/12/2018

Actions to be carried out with the JRC under the annual work programme 2014 of CIPS

23/04/2015

22/08/2016

ERNCIP (FP7 & Horizon 2020) support to mandate M/487

01/01/2016

31/05/2019

Water reuse for Irrigation and aquifer REcharge

04/05/2016

03/02/2018

Air Quality Assessment

15/12/2013

14/06/2016

Air Quality Assessment and Planning

CRISP (FP7)

HECTOS (FP7)

ResiSTAND (Horizon 2020)

01/01/2016

01/04/2014

01/09/2014

01/05/2016

31/12/2018

31/03/2017

31/01/2018

30/04/2018

Raw Materials

01/12/2015

30/04/2019

5.Contribution of the Annex III organisations (SBS, ANEC, ECOS and ETUC) representing respectively SMEs, consumers, workers and environmental interests in standardisation) to the production processes of standards (inclusiveness)

The Regulation 1025/2012 5 acknowledges the important role SMEs and societal stakeholders play in standardisation. European standards are seen as to be of vital interest for the competitiveness of SMEs and standards can also have broad impact on society. Therefore, the Regulation ensures that the role and the input of SMEs and societal stakeholders in the development of standards are strengthened.

Since the entry into force of Regulation 1025/2012, great effort has been made to allow SMEs and societal stakeholders to effectively take part in the standardisation activities. The Commission have engaged in partnership agreements and financial agreements with four organisations respectively representing consumer, environmental and social interests as well as the interest of SMEs in standardisation at European level. The interests these organisations represent are recognised in the Regulation 1025/2012 and in the Annex III of the Regulation and the four organisations are the following:

·European Association for the Coordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation (ANEC)

·Small Business Standards (SBS)

·European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS)

·Confédération Européenne des Syndcats (ETUC)

The organisations sometimes together go under the name Annex III-organisations.

Table 1. Summary of activity of the Annex III organisations 2016

Annex III

Number of technical bodies

Number of experts

Areas covered

ANEC

128 (115 in 2015)

51 (49 in 2015)

Child safety, Accessibility, Domestic Appliances, Digital Society including Innovation, Services, Sustainability, Traffic&mobility

ECOS

188 (65 in 2015)

37 (24 supported by DG GROW grant , 30 in 2015 , 20 supported by DG GROW grant)

Climate change & sustainable energy, Ecodesign & energy labelling, Resource efficiency & waste, and Environmental health.

ETUC

10 (4 in 2015)

7 (4 in 2015)

Internet of things, Bio-based products, Intelligent transport system, Maintenance, Facility management, Horizontal service standards, Quality of care of elderly people, Patient involvement in person-cantered care

SBS

145 (51 in 2015)

50 paid, 7 unpaid (37, paid and 11 unpaid in 2015)

Cosmetics, lifts, ICT, transport systems and navigation, wood, furniture, construction, machinery, textiles and footwear, road vehicles, doors and windows, insulation material, cultural property, electrical installations, occupational health and safety, welding, tourism and pyrotechnic.

Total

471(234 in 2015)

145 paid, 7 unpaid (114 paid and 11 unpaid in 2015)

Table 2. Summary of awarded operating grants to the Annex III organisations 2015 and 2016

Annex III

Operating grant 2015

Percentage of total eligible cost 2015

Operating grant 2016

Percentage of total eligible cost 2016

ANEC

1 256 563

95 %

1 329 656

95 %

ECOS

400 000

75 %

500 000

56 %

ETUC

199 630

88 %

204 372

90 %

SBS

1 198 366

85%

1 410 819

85 %

Total

3 054 559

87,5 %

3 444 847

83 %

The 4 organisations

ANEC

In 1995, ANEC was established as a non-profit international association. The objective of the association is to promote, defend and represent the interests of consumers with regard to the work of the European Standardisation Organisations and any other similar type of organisation involved with standards that affect consumers.

Only one representative natural person per Member State of the EU and the EFTA may be a full member of ANEC and this person represents the national consumer organisation in his/her country. Currently, 33 countries are represented in ANEC.

The operational grant ANEC received for 2016 activities was 1 329 656 euro and this covered 95 % of the association's eligible costs. For 2015, the awarded grant was 1 256 563 euro, representing 95 % of the costs.

SBS

Small Business Standards is a European non-profit association which was established in October 2013. Membership is open to SME associations and crafts associations of the EU Member States and EFTA countries. Currently, it has 21 members covering 32 countries. Its mission is to:

·facilitate the access of SMEs to the standardisation process;

·train craft and SME organisations and their members about the benefits of standardisation

·improve SME participation in standardisation bodies

·develop and provide information and awareness of SME instruments

·support the work of national and regional SME organisations

·carry out awareness raising initiatives and

·negotiate any measures to facilitate the adoption of SMEs to the introduction and use of standards

The SBS receives yearly funding from the European Commission and the EFTA to cover costs for activities envisaged in an annual Work Programme. For 2016 activities, the total amount of the operating grant was 1 410 819 euro, which covers 85 % of the association's eligible costs. For 2015, the funding was 1 198 366 euro, covering 85 % of the eligible costs.

ECOS

ECOS was established in Brussels 2001 as a non-profit association. Today, ECOS represents 42 members, including 9 pan-European organisations and 33 national organisations from 22 European countries.

The association promotes and defends environmental interests in the development of standards in the area of climate change, waste, energy and resource efficiency, and environmental health, as well as product ecological policies related to eco-design and energy labelling.

ECOS receives yearly funding from the European Commission and the EFTA to cover costs for activities envisaged in an annual Work Programme. For 2016 activities, the total amount of the operating grant was 500 000 euro, which covers 56 % of the association's eligible costs. For 2015, the operating grant was set to 400 000 euro, representing 75 % of the costs.

.

ETUC

The European Trade Union Confederation was established in Brussels in 1973, but its involvement in standardisation started in 2015. It consists of 10 European trade union federations as well as 89 national affiliate organisations from 39 countries. ETUC recognises the role of standardisation as a key tool in industry policy, in driving innovation and product policy and in ensuring the quality of the internal market and of working conditions, including a high level of public and occupational health and safety across Europe. It is focusing on two standardisation areas, namely industrial advancement and services.

ETUC receives yearly funding from the European Commission and the EFTA to cover costs for activities envisaged in an annual Work Programme. For 2016 activities, the total amount of the operating grant was 204 372 euro, which covers 90 % of the association's eligible costs. For 2015, the awarded operating grant was set at 199 630 euro, representing 88 % of the cost.

6.EU financial contribution to the ESOs under the Regulation

In 2016 the Commission concluded 20 grant agreements with the ESOs for a total amount of 16 395 163 euro:

ESOs

CEN

Cenelec

ETSI

Total

Type of grants

Nr of grants

Amounts in €

Nr of grants

Amounts in €

Nr of grants

Amounts in €

Nr of grants

Amounts in €

Operating

1

2.657.150

1

568.100

1

2.327.722

3

5.552.972

Action

11

8.092.997

1

1.073.156

5

1.676.038

17

10.842.191

12

10.750.147

2

1.641.256

6

4.003.760

20

16.395.163

It should be noted that the requested amount for grants in support of actions in the ICT domain went beyond the earmarked budget.

7.State of play of ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market

Eighteen months after the publication of the Commission priorities, the actions proposed for the priority domains 5G communication networks, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, cyber security and (big) data technologies as well as those outlined in specific sectors like, eHealth, intelligent transport systems and connected & automated vehicles, smart energy and advanced manufacturing are progressing at a different pace. Depending on the domain, the actions proposed can vary from further standard setting to coordination or leveraging of current work within the respective policies. Focus may lay more on aspects like reference architectures, reference platforms and use cases to support digital transformation or other standardisation deliverables to support vertical innovation in the domain.

Cloud – Horizon 2020 EU funded projects are contributing to the development of standards allowing service level agreements and interoperability/portability across the cloud. The Commission has organised two workshops and is working with standardisation and open source communities towards the alignment of open source and standards within the cloud context, which can speed-up development processes and up-take of ICT technical specifications, and reduce public procurement costs.

IoTThe new Alliance of Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI) Association 6 was set up in November 2017 replacing the AIOTI initiative. The Association can now act as a formal representative for stakeholders and extend the cooperation with other IoT global players - as one strong united European voice for IoT. AIOTI fosters consensus building on reference architectures, supports standardisation to fill any identified gaps, and is assessing possible IoT identifiers. The global partnership project to develop IoT technical specifications (OneM2M), has reached an important milestone by adopting a common service platform standard. In addition to this, The Commission, in cooperation within the European Cyber Security Organization (ECSO) 7 and AIOTI, had organised in 2016 a series of workshops to create an environment where consumers are aware of the degree of security and privacy of IoT devices in the context of possible certification and trusted labelling for IoT.

5G - The availability of the initial global 5G standards by the end of 2019 is among the actions of the 5G Action Plan[3]. Furthermore, Member States, in the Ministerial Declaration of Tallinn (ref below) identify the objective of preserving 5G global interoperability as key in order to make 5G a success for Europe. Standards are of paramount importance to ensure the competitiveness and interoperability of global telecommunication networks. Therefore Member States endorse a "comprehensive and inclusive approach to 5G standardisation as a priority for the Digital Single Market". Member States promote "cross-industry partnerships to support the timely definition of standards backed by industrial user experiments, including through the leveraging of international cooperation partnerships, in particular for the digitisation of industry. Encouraging innovation and development of products and services making use of 5G networks across the EU should be a priority".

The Commission supported the set-up of the 5G Public-Private Partnership (PPP)[4], which ensures integration of requirements from all sectors. The 3rd Global Partnership Project responsible for 5G standards (3G PP)[5] is working towards 5G standards. The Commission has increased its participation to 3G PP in order to support politically the contributions by the 5G-PPP, and is taking steps to support the organisation of 3G PP meetings in Europe, enabling the active participation of a broad range European delegates, from key industrial players, but also SMEs, academia and research institutions. The EU is working, through the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunication Administrations (CEPT), to agree on a strong EU position on spectrum in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).. To meet objectives on global interoperability on 5G (spectrum, standards and research) the Commission signed a joint declaration with its counterparts in Brazil, China, Japan and South Korea and cooperates closely with the USA and India.

Ref: Ministerial Declaration "Making 5G a success for Europe" signed during the informal meeting of competitiveness and telecommunications ministers on 18 July in Tallinn, see: https://www.eu2017.ee/sites/default/files/inlinefiles/Ministerial%20declaration%205G_final_0.pdf

Cybersecurity - The Commission is working closely with Member States and the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) in the Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive Cooperation Group to identify best practice and sector-specific guidance for cybersecurity risk management based on European and international standards. Furthermore, in September 2017 the Commission put forward a proposal for a Regulation on "ENISA, the "EU Cybersecurity Agency", and repealing Regulation (EU) 526/2013, and on Information and Communication Technology cybersecurity certification (''Cybersecurity Act'')". A dedicated Working Group on Standards and Certification has been set up in the Cybersecurity contractual Public-Private Partnership (ECSO).

Data - Interoperability and standards is part of building a European data economy, which aims at fostering the best possible use of the potential of digital data to benefit the economy and society 8 . The Commission established the Big Data Value Association (BDVA) PPP and funds research and innovation projects through Horizon 2020 9  to develop a roadmap towards a big data reference architecture and the production of ICT standards for better interoperability of data to support cross-sectorial integration. The proposal for a Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications 10 calls for standardised icons in order to give an easily visible and intelligible overview of the collection of information emitted by terminal equipment, its purpose, the person responsible for it and of any measure the end-user of the terminal equipment can take to minimise the collection.

New standardisation domains are being assessed, e.g. financial (FinTech) and blockchain/distributed ledger technologies.

Regarding Intelligent Transport Systems, pre-normative research has contributed to the definition of the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) and communication protocols, including the security elements of, embracing a wide variety of communications-related applications intended to increase travel safety, minimise environmental impact, improve traffic management and maximise the benefits of transportation to both commercial users and the general public. The work will contribute to the drafting of a future EC mandate and legislation for the deployment of C-ITS in Europe.

As regards the second pillar, The Commission regularly met stakeholders, and in particular the ESOs, to discuss the implementation of the various actions proposed. Member States, European and international standardisation organisations, fora and consortia, organisations representing industry and small and medium-size enterprises and societal representatives are all members of the Multi-stakeholders Platform on ICT Standardisation 11 , who follows up the implementation of the actions of the Communication at each meeting. Moreover, the Commission has kept a regular dialogue with the other European institutions who have issued conclusions, opinions and reports on the Communication 12 . In addition to this, The Commission is working with ESOs and other SDOs, fora and consortia and relevant stakeholders on possible measures to improve the ICT standardisation ecosystem including promotion of interaction between open source and standardisation communities and the definition of a clear, balanced, sustainable and efficient Standard Essential Patents (SEP) framework. The Commission published a Communication on the latter in November 2017 13 .Regarding the international outreach of European Standardization Horizon 2020 cooperation and support actions will contribute to a reinforced presence on the international ICT standardization scene through setting up an observatory and a funding facility to support participation of European experts on international ICT standardisation. The Commission is also using the Foreign Policy Instrument actions to foster international outreach of European ICT standardization.

Finally, The Commission is widely using Horizon 2020 to fund research and innovation projects contributing to standardisation and is working with the ESOs on actions to bridge the gap between research, innovation and standardisation. Furthermore Horizon 2020 Public-Private Partnerships are essential for developing key digital technology building blocks. Large scale pilot projects prepare broad deployment through test beds, experimentation facilities and pilot lines, leading to standardisation 14 . Based on preliminary inputs from Member States and industry, industrial platform initiatives have been identified for ‘connected smart factory’, ‘health and care’, ‘smart agriculture’, 'connected and automated mobility', "smart energy', as well as for cross-cutting industrial data and Internet of Things platforms.

8.Action plan to decrease the stock of non-cited harmonised standards

ACTION PLAN
Structural solutions to decrease the stock of non-cited harmonised standards

Over the past three decades European standardisation has successfully contributed to the implementation of EU policies and legislation in a wide range of areas.

In particular, European standardisation has been extremely successful and one of the driving factors of the creation of the internal market for goods, in particular due to the New Approach legislative technique 15 .

The Union harmonisation legislation under the New Approach promotes harmonised standards as a tool offering a guaranteed level of protection. Products manufactured in compliance with harmonised standards benefit from a presumption of conformity with the corresponding essential requirements of the applicable Union harmonisation legislation.

In recent years, certain issues appeared with the publication of references to harmonised standards in the OJEU which resulted in an increased number of non-cited references. The current stock of non-cited references to harmonised standards is relatively high and joint efforts of all participants are needed to address the situation effectively.

In order to address the current stock of non-cited harmonised standards and to make the process more transparent and accountable leading to a seamless citation, the following two short-term and two mid-term joint actions are considered of particular importance by both the Commission and the European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs):

Short-term (Q3/2017)

1.Proceeding with currently non-cited harmonised standards

In order to enable the citation of as many as possible currently non-cited harmonised standards, the ESOs and the Commission will together draw up a prioritised list of harmonised standards in the most relevant sectors ( tentatively agreed sectors are: medical devices, construction, EMC, RED, LVD, Railways ):

• with those harmonised standards which comply with the requirements in the corresponding Union legislation and display only minor (mainly formal) shortcomings, in exchange for the ESOs' commitment 16 to deliver revised versions within a defined period.

• with harmonised standards which can be addressed in the framework of short term pilot projects, with the participation of technical experts and management on both sides, leading to their possible conditional approval in view of their speedy referencing. A plan with pilot projects should be agreed between the EC and the ESOs.

The ESOs will clearly identify the re-submissions of previously rejected standards including the modifications made.

The re-valuation will be made within a timeframe to be agreed and in case of acceptance the standard will be cited in the OJEU without delay.

2. Improving the support from the New Approach Consultants

The main role of the New Approach Consultants (NAC) is to check the compliance of the harmonised standards with the standardisation request and the requirements of the corresponding Union legislation, during the development process.

In principle, the activity of the New Approach Consultants is covered by a specific agreement that the Commission has concluded with CEN and CENELEC until the end of 2017.

In this system, the potential of New Approach Consultants is not fully utilised. There is a room for improvement in several areas, in particular when it comes to communication of the New Approach Consultants with the Commission and technical bodies of the ESOs. Experience shows that it is important that Technical Committees of the ESOs have a correct understanding of the content of the standardisation request and its legal objectives from the earliest stage of drafting harmonised standards. An early and effective communication between Technical Committees and the NAC is a central element supporting the process of joint assessment (Article 10(5) of the Standardisation Regulation 1025/2012) of the compliance of the documents drafted by the European standardisation organisations with the standardisation request.

The Commission will thus propose a new framework for the activity of the New Approach Consultants, with the aim to relieve the European standardisation organisations of the administrative burden related to their management, as well as to improve the overall involvement of the New Approach consultants in the process of the drafting of harmonised standards.

CEN, CENELEC and ETSI are prepared to engage with the revamped system of NAC representing the Commission in the process of harmonised standards development. The NAC are intended to facilitate transparency of the process by providing guidance and clarification within the confines of the standardisation request adopted in consultation with the ESOs and the Member States.

Taking into account that the current specific agreement to cover the support from New Approach Consultants will conclude in December 2017, and that the role of the NAC has been identified as an essential element in the joint assessment process, it is important to ensure the continuity of their services.

The European Commission will conclude the contractual arrangements for the continuation of the NACs ideally before end of 2017. In the case that this new framework cannot be finalised timely and the activity of the consultants could be disrupted as a result, the current specific agreement managed by CEN and CENELEC might be extended.

Medium-term (2018)

3. Developing a common understanding of the process for joint assessment and citation of harmonised standards

The Standardisation Regulation, Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012, provides for a cooperative model for a joint assessment of draft harmonised standards by the Commission and the ESOs, prior to the publication of references to harmonised standards in the OJEU . However, neither the way how this cooperative model should function in detail, nor the process of the publication in the OJEU, have yet been formalised. The new improved system of NACs (see point 2) will be the basis to implement the cooperative model for joint assessment of harmonised standards.

In addition, the Commission and the ESOs have agreed on a mechanism for the verification and publication process for harmonized European Standards (hEN) with a clear division of roles and responsibilities and strict deadlines. The main elements of the agreed process are outlined in some detail in the Annex.

4. Modernisation of the Harmonised standards database

The Harmonised standards database (HAS database), hosted by the EC, aims at facilitating the delivery of ESO’s data required to allow the publication of the titles of harmonised standards in the OJEU in all official languages of the EU.

The HAS database is used to generate the lists of harmonised standards to be published in the OJEU in the format of Commission communications. It is also used to generate/update content about harmonised standards on the EC European standards website .

The Commission and the European standardisation organisations consider it necessary to agree upon steps improving the functionality of the HAS database to better serve its purpose, in particular to facilitate the verification of references and related data (e.g. date of withdrawal) of harmonised standards and to provide an accurate overview of the outcome of the verification, as well as the follow-up steps.

With respect to the above, the following action plan is jointly proposed by the Commission and the ESOs:

Task

Who

Timetable

To agree on a list of harmonised standards to be cited or re-valuated

EC, ESO

Q3 2017

To agree on plan for pilot meetings on the harmonised standards to be re-valuated

EC, ESO

Q3/2017

Organise pilot meetings on specific agreed standards 

EC, ESO

Q4/2017 Q1-Q2/2018

To streamline the process for joint assessment and publication of harmonised standards

EC, ESOs

End of 2017/early 2018

To set up a new framework for the activity of the New Approach consultants

EC

2017

To improve the functionality of the HAS database and the interface with the ESOs

EC with the input of the ESO

2017/2018

ANNEX: The verification and publication processes for hENs

1. ESO:

a.Submits at pre-agreed dates following the conclusion of the joint assessment (article 10(5)) a formal note to the EC annexing lists of references to new, amended or resubmitted hENs per sector, with full reference of data available in HAS database.

b.Provides

i) the text of the harmonised standards (including, where relevant, the adopted international standard, including access to texts of its relevant normative references) through electronic format

ii) the date of the formal note for each reference to new, amended or resubmitted hENs as a part of the HAS upload together with any additional information possibly needed for the OJ publication and as agreed with the EC services.

2.EC (GROW B 3):

a.Acknowledges the receipt of the note (and registers in ARES) within 15 working days

b.Sets 4-6 weeks deadline for operational units to verify each new hEN (through ARES)

3.EC (sector unit):

a.Verifies each new hEN on the basis of consultants assessment reports and/or other available evidence criteria (such as the essential requirements, mandate, work programme)

b.Records the results (positive/negative) in HAS database within the given timeframe (up to 6 weeks)

c.Informs (ARES) GROW B3 on the results of the verification. For hENs rejected for citation provides in-depth explanation of the reasons, clearly identifying the relevant parts of the standard after its entire assessment

d.Where additional time is needed to complete the verification, informs the ESO accordingly within the given timeframe

4.EC (GROW B 3):

a.Submits a formal note to ESO (ARES) informing on the results of the assessment. For rejected hENs, provides in-depth reasons and asks for information within 15 working days on remedial actions within a timeframe to be mutually agreed

b.Finalises the "publication decision" to be signed by the corresponding Director General, and the lists (per sector) of new hENs accepted for citation in the OJ.

5.EC (Director General of DG GROW or the corresponding DG)

a.Signs the decision

6.EC (GROW B3):

a.Produces consolidated lists (Communications) from HAS database and sends to SecGen together with the publication decision for submission to the Publication Office

7.ESO

a.Revises the standard on the basis of a negative assessment (point 4.a) provided by the Commission and re-submits within a timeframe to be mutually agreed. The timeframe will normally be agreed within 15 working days after the notification.

b.In case of a resubmission of a rejected standard, indicates clearly changes made to the standard on the basis of reasons provided by the Commission (point 4.a)

8.EC

a.Establishes a publication decision when the revised standard satisfies the outcome of the original assessment.

(1)

 The Competitiveness Council on 2 March 2015, "INVITES the Commission to finalize the Independent Review and analyse the impact of standardisation on the economy taking into account the interest of all the parties".

(2) See COM (2016) 357 final, p 7-8.
(3) Research based on work carried out in institutional work-programme and Administrative Arrangements (AAs): Environmental Footprint and Material Efficiency (AA 33046, 2012-2016); Technical support for Environmental Footprinting, Material Efficiency in the Product Policies and the European Platform on LCA’ (AA 33446, 2013-2017))
(4) P. Tecchio, C. McAlister, F. Mathieux, and F. Ardente, “In search of standards to support circularity in product policies: a systematic approach,” Journal of Cleaner Production 168 (2017) 1533-1546, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.198  
(5) Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European Standardisation, amending Council Directives 89/686/EEC and 93/15/EEC and Directives 94/9/EC, 94/25/EC, 95/16/EC, 97/23/EC, 98/34/EC, 2004/22/EC, 2007/23/EC, 2009/23/EC and 2009/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Decision 87/95/ECC and Decision No 1673/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.
(6) https://aioti.eu/
(7) https://www.ecs-org.eu/
(8)  COM(2017)9
(9)  https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/
(10) COM(2017)10
(11) Expert group set up by the Commission in 2011 that meets four times a year to provide advice to the Commission on any matter related to ICT Standardisation.
(12) Council conclusions on the "Digital Single Market Technologies and Public Services Modernisation" package of 17 May 2016; Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on the Communications on "European Cloud Initiative – Building a competitive data and knowledge economy in Europe" and "ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market" of October 2016; Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee Communication on the ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market of 21 September 2016.
(13)  COM(2017) 712 final.
(14) Examples include the ECSEL Lighthouse projects and a dedicated Focus Area in the R&I Work Programme 2018-2020 on “Digitising and transforming European industry and services”, which combines 49 budgets across PPPs.
(15) Resolution of the Council of Ministers of 7 May 1985 on a new approach to technical harmonisation and standards, OJ C 136, 4.6.1985, p. 1.
(16) Subject to approval by the CEN and/or CENELEC Technical Boards or the relevant ETSI Technical Committee .
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