The European Commission intends to propose by the end of 2020 a new European Consumer Agenda setting out the main consumer policy priorities in the EU for the years to come. The overall aim is to take stock of a number of trends affecting consumer markets and the related challenges. Incidents linked to Covid-19 have further highlighted some of these trends, for example the increasing use of online sales channels and the need to ensure safety for consumers in this context.

One of the main aims of the European Union, through its consumer safety legislation, is to ensure that only safe products are available on the European single market. European standards (EN) have always had a huge role to play in fulfilling this ambition. This important role is highlighted in a recent Position Paper, drafted and published by CEN and CENELEC in response to a stakeholder’s consultation launched by the European Commission on the General Product Safety Directive.

In the field of intelligent transport systems (ITS), Cooperative ITS (C-ITS) has the potential to further increase the benefits of ITS services and applications. C-ITS is a subcategory of the overall ITS which includes instruments that communicate and share information between ITS Stations to give advice or take actions with the objective of improving safety, sustainability, efficiency and comfort beyond the scope of stand-alone ITS.

In October 2020, CEN and ISO published online a freely available brochure on the topic. This extensive document provides up-to-date information on global standardization in the domain of Intelligent Transport Systems, with a specific focus on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems. It is meant to serve as a guide for C-ITS system designers and to support the deployment of such applications. Especially, this living document complements the series of Technical Reports TR 21186 ‘Cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) - Guidelines on the usage of standards’ developed by CEN and ISO. The Brochure is available on the ITS webpage of the CEN website and on the website of CEN/TC278 Intelligent Transport Systems.