Standardization is an important tool to complement national and European policies, because of its voluntary nature and its consensus-building approach between different economic players. CEN and CENELEC have been working for many years in collaboration with the Commission and other stakeholders to develop and adopt standards in support of numerous European initiatives and policies, including – but not limited to - sustainability. By providing new voluntary rules allowing, for example, the optimisation of the energy efficiency of products and systems, standards take an active part in the transition towards a greener economy.

The Green Deal is committed to using standardization in order to facilitate the transformation of our society. It is indeed what CEN and the CENELEC intend to contribute to in the years to come. The exchange of knowledge and good practices generated though the close links of CEN and CENELEC with their international counterparts, ISO and IEC, is a major asset for the development of standards in support of the Green Deal. This collaboration avoids the duplication of work and helps streamline and focus efforts in the areas where they are most appropriate. Furthermore, it allows to transition from a fragmented normative approach to a harmonised one.

Standardization in the field of Circular Economy helps batteries maintain their quality and produce less waste. CENELEC Technical Committees are committed to providing these deliverables, and in particular the CENELEC Technical Committee 21X on Secondary Cells and Batteries (CLC/TC 21X).

Standardization is an important tool to complement national and European policies, because of its voluntary nature and its consensus-building approach between different economic players. CEN and CENELEC have been working for many years in collaboration with the Commission and other stakeholders to develop and adopt standards in support of numerous European initiatives and policies, including – but not limited to - sustainability. By providing new voluntary rules allowing, for example, the optimisation of the energy efficiency of products and systems, standards take an active part in the transition towards a greener economy.

The Green Deal is committed to using standardization in order to facilitate the transformation of our society. It is indeed what CEN and the CENELEC intend to contribute to in the years to come. The exchange of knowledge and good practices generated though the close links of CEN and CENELEC with their international counterparts, ISO and IEC, is a major asset for the development of standards in support of the Green Deal. This collaboration avoids the duplication of work and helps streamline and focus efforts in the areas where they are most appropriate. Furthermore, it allows to transition from a fragmented normative approach to a harmonised one.

In the spring of 2020, the Strategic Advisory Body on Environment (SABE) will launch a new Joint Group on Circular Economy (JG-CE). The purpose of this Joint Group is to provide advice and coordinate CEN and CENELEC’s standardization activities related to the Circular Economy.

The transition towards a Circular Economy is widely considered as a necessary step to address the challenges related to the creation of a more sustainable economy. This will however require a transformation of our current ways of producing and consuming, collaborating and running businesses by closing the circle at the highest possible level (e.g. through repair or re-manufacturing), rather than exporting recyclable materials or applying thermal recovery. Standardization can help to provide a clear way to achieve these aims.

Standards already address a wide range of issues contributing to the transition, thanks to the work of a variety of technical committees (TCs). Both for the drafting of new standards and for the adjustment of existing standards, a coordinated approach will enable technical committees to develop standards concurrently while avoiding unnecessary duplications.

10^th June, 2020 is an important day for the CEN and CENELEC Community: on this date in 1960, representatives from ISO and IEC members in the European Economic Community (EEC) and EFTA countries agreed to the creation of two European Standardization Organisations, CEN and CENEL – which then became CENELEC. In a period that saw the founding steps of European integration, this agreement of principle set the basis for the creation of a common European Standardization System.

In the decades since then, the European Standardization System has evolved, providing an invaluable contribution to the economic and social well-being of Europe and to the well-functioning of the Single Market. CEN and CENELEC’s cooperation has been a staple of this evolution, providing an effective platform for European standardization: the CEN and CENELEC Management Centre (CCMC), their common Secretariat in Brussels, stands today as a witness to their joint effort. CEN and CENELEC therefore celebrated 60 years of collaboration on European standardization. It is an opportunity for us to look back at the successes achieved, and to reflect on the road that is still ahead.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a serious toll on the European economy: according to the European Commission, the EU economy is expected to contract by 7.5% in 2020. Swift and decisive action at the European level is therefore essential to address this historic downturn and relaunch the economy as soon as possible. The European Recovery Plan presented on 27 May by the European Commission, with its new Recovery Instrument ‘Next Generation EU’ and its objective to ‘invest in a green, digital and resilient Europe’ provides a much needed holistic approach.

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), together with their national members, welcome the Recovery Plan and its ambition to strengthen the Single Market and highlight the crucial contribution that European standards play in supporting the EU’s economy.

The European Standardization System constitutes one of the foundations of the Single Market, by working in support of European market harmonisation and making it more sustainable, easier and safer for citizens, companies and public institutions to buy and sell goods and services, travel across borders and rely on the same high level of services across Europe. These benefits are highlighted by the CEN and CENELEC Declaration “Standards Build Trust”, and were in full display in recent months, when CEN, CENELEC and their members made  available for free a series of European Standards (ENs) for medical devices and personal protective equipment used to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

CEN and CENELEC have published  Annual Reports for 2019. The Annual Reports consist of three parts: the joint CEN and CENELEC activities and one each individual report for CEN and CENELEC. Taken together, they present the main achievements accomplished in 2019 in European standardization.

Indeed, 2019 was an impactful year: the renewed EU institutional setting, the whirling trade discussions and Brexit have presented all organisations and businesses with new challenges and opportunities. Digitalisation and innovation have imposed themselves as a new constant in our daily lives. Furthermore, the global coronavirus pandemic has shown how urgent it is for all organisations to become resilient and adaptable to sudden changes. This situation provided even more evidence of the essential role that standards play in protecting citizens and providing safe and innovative market solutions.

In a world increasingly relying on digital technologies and data to function, opportunities go hand in hand with potential risks. For this reason, cybersecurity is at the centre of international efforts, both public and private, to minimise dangers for critical infrastructure and personal data, thus ensuring that the highest number possible of individuals and companies, in all sectors, can benefit from new technologies.

In this context, the standardization community is playing an important role: standards for cybersecurity and data protection are currently being developed both internationally and at the European level to address the risks posed by cyber-attacks and help ensure high levels of protection. As part of this effort, CEN and CENELEC’s JTC 13 ‘Cybersecurity and Data Protection’ just released a series of European Standards (ENs).

The new standards provide a series of guidelines and criteria to assess the security level of IT systems, cryptographic modules and privacy.

• EN ISO/IEC 15408-1:2020 ‘Information technology - Security techniques - Evaluation criteria for IT security - Part 1: Introduction and general model’
• EN ISO/IEC 15408-2:2020 ‘Information technology - Security techniques - Evaluation criteria for IT security - Part 2: Security functional components’
• EN ISO/IEC 15408-3:2020 ‘Information technology - Security techniques - Evaluation criteria for IT security - Part 3: Security assurance components’
• EN ISO/IEC 18045:2020 ‘Information technology - Security techniques - Methodology for IT security evaluation’
• EN ISO/IEC 19790:2020 ‘Information technology - Security techniques - Security requirements for cryptographic modules’
• EN ISO/IEC 27019:2020 ‘Information technology - Security techniques - Information security controls for the energy utility industry’
• EN ISO 29134:2020 ‘Information technology - Security techniques - Guidelines for privacy impact assessment’