IP/03/456
Brussels, 28 March 2003
Commission welcomes pan-European co-operation guidelines for standardisation work
The single market's potential to deliver growth and jobs, and the social inclusiveness and accountability of Europe's standardisation model, should all be enhanced by new co-operation guidelines signed today by the European Commission, the European Free Trade Association and the European standards organisations. These guidelines provide, inter alia, for more extensive involvement of NGOs in the joint work of the European Committee for standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI). Europe's standards help manufacturers use state of the art technology to meet public interest requirements. They embody a societal consensus on how best to complete the single market and foster technologicial innovation.
Welcoming the guidelines, Enterprise Commissioner Erkki Likkanen noted that "Europe's standardisation process has now delivered over 14,000 standards, which are increasingly being taken up by innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. They are successfully supporting Commission policy aims, from promoting the take-up of information technology tools through safety in the workplace to consumer and environment protection. They also take account of the international dimension of standardisation which has become a major factor for Europe."
For further information, please see:
