Annexes to COM(2016)358 - European standards for the 21st century - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2016)358 - European standards for the 21st century. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2016)358  |
| date | June 1, 2016 |
I. Awareness, education and understanding about the ESS;
II.Coordination, cooperation, transparency and inclusiveness; and
III.Competitiveness and international dimension.
These actions aim at improving the ESS functioning in line with its core values, such as consensus and the voluntary nature of standards.
Main expected achievements of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation (JIS)
In 2013, the average time for the development of European standards required 36 months on average (down from 60 months in 2009). Speed of standard development needs to be squared with inclusiveness and quality of the standard. There are interesting experiments in different parts of the standardisation community for improving the timely delivery of high quality standards. These involve new ways of producing standards with a view to halving the time needed by 2020. Best practice exchange and enhanced collaboration across organisations under the JIS will induce the required standard setting processes.
Timely development of standards in a fast evolving technology context also requires early consideration of standard relevance already at the R&D stage. The partners of the JIS propose to speed up standards setting through new ways of collaborative development of standards.
Efficient anticipation and planning of standardisation through R&D are important. In fact, foresight studies can help to anticipate the need for standards development, by linking emerging technologies, their research needs for future products and processes to the definition of policy. A recent foresight study of the Joint Research Centre 19 investigated the future industrial landscape and areas of improvement for the ESS to fulfil the future needs while respecting the core value of the system. The JIS explores how the gap between research/innovation priorities and European standardisation could be analysed in a more systematic and forward looking way to finally bridge it more effectively so as to generate an early standardisation reflex in R&D work and its absorption by the ESS to better support the marketing of innovative products and services. This will help align priorities with standards developments and testing activities supported in particular by the Horizon 2020 programme.
Another important element is the education and awareness building on the competitiveness potential of standardisation. At European level, there is little to no presence of standardisation neither in formal education nor in vocational training, and in particular, the EU standardisation model. Therefore, there is a need to explore and promote standardisation as an element of formal education, academic and vocational training, in co-operation with experienced Member States, as well as engaging academia and get the next generation of standardisers ready in due time. The JIS foresees the development of training programmes on standardisation for national and European public administrations as an important element in the frame of this innovative educational project, supporting smart and innovation-friendly legislation and public policies.
Prioritisation of standardisation activities is crucial to contribute to the competitiveness of the European industry. Efficient prioritisation requires dialogue and joint analysis between the EU and standardisation stakeholders in determining market relevance and policy needs. This includes opinions by social and societal stakeholders in standard-setting and an early involvement of industry through enhanced information exchange with the Commission in line with Articles 10, 11 and 12 of the Standardisation Regulation. Better prioritisation will also allow a more efficient use of the available expertise in Europe (roughly 60 000 experts contributing to the ESS today). Better prioritisation is also a key element highlighted in the above-mentioned ICT standards Communication setting out a comprehensive strategic and political approach to standardisation for priority ICT technologies that are critical to the completion of the Digital Single Market, and in the Services Standards document, accompanying this Communication. These initiatives share the same vision as the JIS and thus their follow up will be done in line with it in these cross-sectoral areas. Additionally, three pilot projects will seek to enhance the support of standardisation in priority areas such as the construction sector, for public procurement and for participation of SMEs, social and societal stakeholders in international standardisation.
At the same time, the Commission will be able to better monitor the stock of non-published harmonised standards which have been proposed by the European Standardisation Organisations for publication in the OJEU so that it becomes an EU harmonised standard.
As markets are becoming increasingly global, so is standardisation. At international level, Europe’s trade and investment potential is strengthened by pursuing the promotion of the European regulatory model in third countries. The JIS aims at encouraging stakeholders to internationally promote the use of tools such as developing common regulatory models in international organisations and negotiations as a basis for standardisation, to build a common understanding with relevant trade partners of which are the relevant international standards in the different sectors, as well as to support European SMEs, social and societal stakeholders in international standardisation processes, e.g. by promoting best practices for SMEs at International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) level. For that purpose and other policy topics, regular contacts and structured dialogues with these organisations will be held by the Commission.
Overall, these actions have to be seen as a whole and reinforcing each other. The entire value chain of standardisation thus will be more transparent, inclusive and efficient to respond to future challenges along the ten Commission priorities.
Figure 1: The European Standardisation Value Chain, concept & layout: EC.
The Joint initiative on Standardisation sets out a vision and aims at modernising the way standards are produced in Europe. It will in particular focus on key elements: promoting faster standards development, closing the gap between research priorities and European standardisation, clearer prioritisation, and stronger international presence.
The setting up of a Steering Group, chaired by the European Commission, is foreseen to monitor the follow-up of the different individual actions and identify new ones, where appropriate. The actions are expected to be tabled for the first time on the occasion of the World Standards Day 2016 (14 October 2016). The Steering Group is an informal consultative body and its suggestions will be without prejudice to regulatory framework established by Regulation 1025/2012 and to the Commission's prerogatives. The European Commission shall consider whether to endorse other actions which might be proposed.
3. Standards in support of policies that cut across the economy: services and ICT
The increasing digitisation and servicification of the economy made ICT and services standards crucial enablers working across the whole economic spectrum. Their potential still needs to be fully realised, therefore standardisation in these two areas has been addressed by the Commission specifically and as a priority. Therefore, the Commission already adopted in April 2016 the ICT Standards Communication and is presenting a specific guidance for services standards with "Tapping the potential of European service standards to help Europe's consumers and businesses", accompanying this Communication.
….ICT standards
Common ICT standards ensure the interoperability of digital technologies and are the foundation of an effective Digital Single Market. They guarantee that technologies work smoothly and reliably together across sectors and industries, provide economies of scale, foster research and innovation and keep markets open. The development of ICT standards in priority technologies that are critical to the completion of the Digital Single Market requires a focused and sustained European response. These considerations are at the basis of the April ICT standards Communication, with the aim to ensure that ICT-related standards are set in a way that is more responsive to policy needs, agile, open, more strongly linked to research and innovation, better joined-up, and thus that they ultimately have more impact for the wider European economy as it transforms into a digital one.
Public-private partnerships and other large scale, industry-driven research initiatives enable European companies to link their research to standardisation. There is a need for further collaboration between the relevant stakeholders, including European industry, European and international standardisation bodies and forums aiming at comprehensive standardisation roadmaps. Encouraging open standards is of particular importance for the Commission. Open and cross-cutting ecosystems for standard development should be preferred to proprietary solutions, purely national approaches and standards that limit interoperability.
The Commission will monitor on-going work on ICT priority areas in relevant international standardisation and other fora and continue to proactively engage with key international partners to ensure global alignment of priorities in the ICT domain.
…. and standards for services
A service standard is a standard that specifies requirements to be fulfilled by a service to establish its fitness for purpose, e.g. by providing definitions, indicators of service quality and their levels or specifying time of delivery 20 .
Voluntary European standards for services can yield many of the same benefits as for products. Services account for 70% of the EU economy, yet service standards only account for 2% of all European standards. In addition, a recent stakeholder consultation exercise showed that national service standards can constitute barriers to cross-border service provision. Yet this is at a time when services are increasing as a percentage of GDP across all Member States, service providers are ever more involved in global value chains and manufacturers are more and more providing services with products, often referred to as 'servitification'. This can be held up where standards for products are not matched with standards for accompanying services.
This lower level of development of European service standards is a cause of missed opportunities for European service providers looking to offer cross-border and for European manufacturers looking to offer services with their products across borders. Because of this and its impact on the European economy as a whole, there have been several calls for concerted European action.
As announced in the Single Market Strategy, and in response to calls from industry, consumer associations, Member States and standard setters, the Commission is presenting its approach for service standards in the attached staff working document. The document looks at the challenges for service standards and sets out both a general framework and practical policy solutions to promote the greater development of European standards for services, address national barriers, and improve information provision. It will provide a basis for the Commission, Member States, standard setters and stakeholders to work together to ensure that service standards make their full contribution across the economic spectrum. It complements the Joint Initiative as well as measures on integrating Europe's service markets.
In line with the Joint Initiative on Standardisation, ICT and service standards should be key priorities of the European Standardisation System so that Europe can fully grasp the benefits of the digitisation and servicification of the economy. On the service standards in particular, the Staff working document included in this package aims at giving a first analysis of the need of service standards.
4. Way forward
Currently, European Standardisation policy is developed through different policy instruments, namely the Annual Union Work Programme for European Standardisation (AUWP) 21 and the ICT Rolling Plan 22 . Moreover, a dialogue on standards takes place in various places, namely the Committee on Standards 23 and the European Multi-stakeholder Platform on ICT Standardisation 24 . A modern system needs to be based on a single and coherent European standardisation policy aligning the different EU policy priorities and instruments.
To deliver this, the Commission considers it important to align all these instruments in a comprehensive annual governance cycle on EU standardisation policy. Central to the cycle will be the adoption of the AUWP in July every year, which, as of 2017, is proposed to be preceded by an inter-institutional dialogue in spring to ensure the full involvement of the European Parliament and of the Council, and the European Economic and Social Committee as well as the Committee of the Regions. The dialogue will be based on a single report from the Commission to the Council and European Parliament on the implementation of the AUWP, the ICT Standardisation Priorities for the Digital Single Market, the JIS and the development of European service standards.
Moreover, to further enhance the evidence base of this report and as requested by the Council 25 , the Commission will launch an EU-wide study on the economic impact of standardisation to complement national studies.
Together with the April ICT Standards Communication and with the Joint Initiative, today's standardisation package lays down a coherent Commission vision on the role of standardisation in support of policy making. It is made up of the following documents:
1. The Annual Union Work Programme for European Standardisation 2017: identifying strategic priorities and objectives for European standardisation, taking into account the EU’s long-term strategies for jobs and growth such as the action plan on circular economy 26 , and indicating the European standards and European standardisation deliverables that the Commission intends to request from the European standardisation organisations in 2017.
2. The “Article 24 Report” and REFIT Document setting out evidence on the functioning of the ESS and supporting the policy developments under the JIS.
3. Service Standards Staff Working Document: "Tapping the potential of European service standards to help Europe's consumers and businesses".
5. Conclusion
As a follow-up of the Single Market Strategy, in the present standardisation package the Commission presents a coherent vision which aims at creating new momentum for standardisation in support of EU policy making, aligning with the rapidly changing economic landscape and the blurring frontiers between manufacturing, digital and services. The first action in this regard is the agreement reached on the Joint Initiative on Standardisation, to better interconnect with the different actors in the European standardisation system, with a common goal: to deliver on the Commission priorities and contribute to jobs and growth in the EU. Being based on a holistic approach to standardisation, this vision integrates also the recently adopted ICT Standards Communication.
The Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee as well as the Committee of the Regions to endorse this Communication and the accompanying documents with a view to contribute to complete the Single Market and to actively engage in its implementation, in close cooperation with all relevant stakeholders.
Annex I: The proposal of the Joint Initiative for a first draft set of actions, accompanied with pilot projects:
1. Awareness, Education and Understanding about the European Standardisation System
1) Study on the economic and societal impacts as well as access to standards in the EU and EFTA
2) Linking research and innovation with standardisation
3) Programmes for education in standardisation/Training and awareness on standardisation
4) Improvement of standardisation awareness at national public authorities level specifically
5) Pilot Project: Enhance the support of standardisation to the Construction Products Regulation (CPR)
2. Coordination, Cooperation, Transparency and Inclusiveness
6) Standards Market Relevance Roundtable (“SMARRT”)
7) Optimisation of operational aspects of Regulation (EU)1025/2012
8) Provide high-quality standards delivered and referenced in a timely manner
9) Inclusiveness, transparency & effective participation of all stakeholders in the European Standardisation System
10) Facilitating participation of all stakeholders at national level
11) Pilot Project: Increased use of standards in Public Procurement and a better compliance with the public procurement Directives
3. Competitiveness and International dimension
12) Encouraging the greater development and use of European service standards to help integrate Europe’s service markets
13) Promote the European regulatory model supported by voluntary standards and its close link to international standardisation in third countries
14) Modernisation, including digitalisation, of the European industry in a global context
15) Pilot Project: Improve the representation of European SMEs and societal stakeholders' interests in international standardisation processes
None of the actions shall have an additional impact on the EU budget; however, financing can be considered eligible under the current multi-annual financial perspectives.
(1)
Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT): State of Play and Outlook, COM(2014) 368 final, 18.6.2014
(2)
The Article 24 report forms part of this package
(3)
Independent review of the European standardisation system, ISBN: 978-92-79-46201-6; DOI: 10.2873/720891; ET-01-15-151-EN-N
(4)
The Regulation harmonises the previously fragmented standardisation legislation, extends its scope to services and standardisation deliverables other than standards and, finally, better incorporates societal stakeholders and SMEs into the system. The REFIT evaluation considers the framework itself fit for purpose and shifts its focus on how its implementation can best support the ten priorities of the Commission. Given the recent entry into force of the Regulation, a full ex post evaluation of the Regulation could not be achieved due to the fact that a full cycle of the standardisation work requested by the Commission since 2013 has not yet been completed. Nevertheless, the Independent Review, which was a key part of the REFIT evaluation, raised a lot of interest among stakeholders. Their main concerns relate to the fact that the current ESS should increase the participation and representation of stakeholders.
(5)
COM(2015) 550 final
(6)
Inclusive processes are important to avoid that standards imply excessive costs of compliance and certification or risk impeding competition.
(7)
COM (2016) 176 final
(8)
COM(2015) 215 final; http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/better_regulation/key_docs_en.htm
(9)
AFNOR (2016): Economic impact of standardisation, January 2016, Paris, France; AFNOR (2009): The Economic Impact of Standardisation – Technological Change, Standards and Long-Term Growth in France.
(10)
DIN (2000): Economic Benefits of Standardisation, 3 volumes. Berlin: Beuth. (Update 2011)
(11)
DTI (2005): The Empirical Economics of Standards, DTI ECONOMICS PAPER NO.12. London
(12)
British Standards Institution (BSI), 'The Economic Contribution of Standards to the UK Economy', 2015
(13)
Recital 2 of Regulation 1025/2012: " European standardisation is organised by and for the stakeholders concerned based on national representation (the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (Cenelec) and direct participation (the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI))"
(14)
Transparency, Openness, Impartiality and Consensus, Effectiveness and Relevance, Coherence, Development dimension (“The WTO Agreements Series” – Technical Barriers to Trade Decisions and recommendations adopted by the TBT Committee since 1 January 1995 Part 1: Decisions and recommendations, https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/publications_e/tbttotrade_e.pdf )
(15)
Annex III Organisations, Regulation (EU)1025/2012
(16)
Article 10 of Regulation (EU)1025/2012
(17)
According to Article 10 of the Regulation
(18)
This statement applies to a large extent to European standards developed in application of the General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC), which give presumption of safety after publication in the OJEU.
(19)
“How will standards facilitate new production systems in the context of European innovation and competitiveness in 2025?”, ISBN: 978-92-79-45414-1
(20)
Examples are the standard on handling customer complaints in postal services, standards on requirements for tourist information services or on facility management processes.
(21)
The AUWP, according to Article 8 of Regulation (EU)1025/2012, identifies strategic priorities for European standardisation, taking into account Union long-term strategies for growth. It shall indicate the European standards and European standardisation deliverables that the Commission intends to request from the European standardisation organisations.
(22)
Document elaborated yearly by the Commission, in cooperation with the European Multi-Stakeholder Platform on ICT Standardisation that provides a multi-annual overview of the needs for preliminary or complementary ICT standardisation activities to undertake in support of the EU policy activities.
(23)
Article 22 of Regulation (EU)1025/2012
(24)
The MSP was set up by Commission Decision of 28 November 2011 - setting up the European multi-stakeholder platform on ICT standardisation (2011/C 349/04). It is an advisory group to the Commission on matters related to ICT standardisation policy. It includes Member States, European, international and global standardisation bodies, industry and societal representatives.
(25)
Council conclusions March 2015
(26)
COM(2015) 614 final, 2 December 2015