The European Commission presented a new standardization strategy on February 2, 2022, summarizing its future approach to standards in the single market and globally. This standardization strategy aims to strengthen the EU's global competitiveness, enable the shift towards a resilient, green and digital economy, and embed democratic values in technology applications.
Standards have become an issue of global scope. Other regions are increasing their global influence by being more strategic and decisive. To respond to such challenges, the European standardization system must also evolve.
The accelerating pace of innovation, environmental and digital ambitions, and the impact of technological standards on the EU's democratic values require an increasingly strategic approach to standardization. The EU's ambitions for a carbon-neutral, resilient and circular economy also cannot be achieved without European standards. A globally significant role in standardization activities and leadership in key international fora and institutions is critical for the EU to continue to set standards at the global level. By setting global standards, the EU exports its values and gives EU companies an important edge.
The new standardization strategy therefore proposes these five key sets of actions:
01 Anticipate, prioritize and manage standardization needs in strategic areas
Standards must be available within shorter timeframes and be in line with the European innovation and policy agenda. In the standardization area, the Commission has identified emergencies related to COVID-19 vaccine and drug production, recycling of critical raw materials, the clean hydrogen value chain, low-CO2 cement, chip certification, and data standards. Starting this year, standardization priorities will be clearly defined, starting with the Union's annual work program for European standardization for 2022, and a High Level Forum will be established to provide impetus for future standardization priorities. The Commission will create the function of a Chief Standardization Officer to provide high-level guidance for standardization activities across the Commission, supported by an EU Center of Excellence for Standards composed of representatives from Commission services.
02 Improving governance and integrity of the European standardization system
European standards that support EU policies and legislation must be decided by European stakeholders. The Commission proposes an amendment to the Regulation on Standardization (EU) 1025/2012 that will improve the governance of the European standardization system. While the European system will remain open, transparent, inclusive and impartial, the proposal stipulates that mandates given by the Commission to the European standards organizations must be handled by the national delegates - the national standards bodies - of the EU and EEA member states. This will preclude any undue influence by actors from outside the EU and EEA on the decision-making processes in the development of standards for key areas such as cybersecurity or hydrogen. The Commission will continue to pay particular attention to the inclusiveness of the system or the role of SMEs and civil society. It invites the ESOs to modernize their governance structures and will launch a peer review process with the Member States and the NSOs aiming at more inclusivity, including for the benefit of civil society and users, and SME-friendly conditions in the field of standardization. At the same time, the Commission will launch the evaluation of the Regulation on standardization.
03 Stronger European leadership in global standards
The Commission will establish a new mechanism in the High Level Forum, together with EU Member States and national standardization bodies, to share information and coordinate and strengthen the European approach to international standardization. It also aims to strengthen coordination between EU Member States and like-minded partners. The EU will fund standardization projects in African countries and in neighboring countries.
04 Promoting innovation
The Commission proposes to better exploit the potential of EU-funded research to add value to innovation projects through standardization activities and to anticipate standardization needs at an early stage. A Standardization Booster will be established to help Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe researchers test the relevance of their results for standardization. A European Code of Conduct for standardization researchers will be developed by mid-2022, please, in order to link standardization and research/innovation more closely through the European Research Area (ERA).
05 Facilitate the generation change of experts
Standardization relies on the best experts, and Europe is facing a generational shift. The Commission will increase academic awareness of standards, for example by organizing future EU university days and training activities for researchers.
Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, responsible for "A Europe for the Digital Age," said: "Efforts to ensure that data used for artificial intelligence purposes is protected and mobile devices cannot be hacked are based on standards and must be in line with EU democratic values. Similarly, we need standards to implement important investment projects, such as in hydrogen and battery technology, and to capitalize on investments in innovation by giving EU companies an important edge."
Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton added: "Technical standards are of strategic importance. Europe's technological sovereignty, ability to reduce dependencies and protection of EU values will depend on our ability to set standards worldwide. With the strategy presented today, we clearly set out our standardization priorities and create the conditions for European standards to become global benchmarks. We are taking action to preserve the integrity of the European standardization process and put European SMEs and European interests at the center."
"A lot of light and little shadow" - this is the result of the first analysis of the new standardization strategy by Sibylle Gabler, Head of Government Relations at DIN e.V.. Her short conclusion is that while standardization is being raised to a new political level and there really are new ideas and measures for once, problematic tendencies are also apparent (see below for link to full article).
What is your opinion on the new EU standardization strategy? Feel free to contact us if you would like to share your thoughts on the plan.
