Greeting from Project SESEI!!!
Dear Readers,

We are pleased to present our seventh edition of “SESEI newsletter -India”. India, at present is grappling with the devastating effects of the second wave of the covid 19 virus and the steep rise in the covid cases has forced the Indian states to impose lockdowns until the numbers starts subsiding. With hope for “state of affairs” to become better and the country to return to normalcy, we bring to you this edition of the SESEI Newsletter - India, providing you with latest updates, news, and information from the European standardization bodies on new technologies, release and development of standards, initiatives including policy recommendation from European Commission for the period of January 2021 to March 2021

Europe is moving towards creating a resilient Europe fit for the “Digital Decade” where people and businesses benefit from artificial intelligence-generated improvements in industry and day-to-day life. For example, artificial intelligence (AI) can help to treat diseases and minimize the environmental impact of farming. However, any AI-generated improvements need to be based on rules that safeguard the functioning of markets and the public sector, and people’s safety and fundamental rights. If Europe is to be internationally competitive, it must carry these values to the global stage, and facilitate innovation. This “Digital Decade” is a vision presented by the European Commission for Europe’s digital transformation by 2030. The Communication in this regard, proposes to agree on a set of digital principles to rapidly launch important multi-country projects, and to prepare a legislative proposal setting out a robust governance framework, and to monitor the progress – the Digital Compass.

For this reason and around the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI), CEN and CENELEC have established the new CEN-CENELEC Joint Technical Committee 21 ‘Artificial Intelligence’, based on the recommendations presented in the CEN-CENELEC response to the EC White Paper on AI and the German Standardization Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence. To address the Security in AI, ETSI’s Secure Artificial Intelligence Industry Specification Group (SAI ISG) also released its first Group Report, ETSI GR SAI 004, providing an overview of the problem statement regarding the securing of AI and it is the first standardization initiative dedicated in securing AI.

Apart from Artificial Intelligence, Block Chain is the new disruptive technology. The ETSII Industry Specification Group on Permissioned Distributed Ledger (ISG PDL) recently released number of Reports to support industry and government institutions needs around blockchain. These Reports cover data record compliance to regulation, application scenarios and smart contracts.

Digital Economy has also emerged as a frequent way of doing financial transaction /business. Trust in this way of doing business is essential for the success and continued development of digital economy. ETSI announced its TS 119 182-1, a specification for digital signatures supported by PKI and public key certificates which authenticates the origin of transactions ensuring that the originator can be held accountable and access to sensitive resources can be controlled. With this new standard ETSI meets the general requirements of the international community to provide trust and confidence in electronic transactions.

ETSI also launched an Industry specification group ISG IPv6 Enhanced innovation (ISG IPE) aiming to drive full connectivity of IPv6 on everything and facilitate the business success of this technology. In this ISG, IPE members include carriers, vendors, and academia, working together to improve the industry ecosystem and accelerate innovation. The other major area of focus in Europe is sustainable development and climate change. European Commission clearly states its strategy that they intend to “increase cooperation with standards organisations to make sure that existing standards are climate-proof and new ones include climate adaptative solutions”. CEN - CENELEC support the European effort to mitigate climate change, an overview of CEN - CENELEC’s activities to support the efforts in mitigating climate change can be found on its position paper “Standards in support of the European Green Deal Commitments”. Around this topic a new standard “EN ISO 14091:2021 - Adaptation to climate change - Guidelines on vulnerability, impacts and risk assessment based on ISO 14091:2021” was released. This standard will offer organisations a consistent, structured, and pragmatic approach to understand their vulnerabilities and help preventing or mitigating negative consequences caused by climate change, while taking advantage of opportunities.

CEN - CENELEC also released their Strategy 2030, aiming at “Building a safer, more sustainable and competitive Europe through European and International Standardization”. The Strategy 2030 establishes a series of five goals that will guide CEN - CENELEC’s actions.

Many other important developments, new concepts and standards released by the Project partners are highlighted through this newsletter. White Papers/ Strategy documents as released by the European standardization bodies and upcoming events/seminars also form an integral part of our newsletter.

We are hopeful that you will find this 7th edition of our newsletter, interesting and informative read for all of you. Stay Safe and Blessed.

Warm regards,
Dinesh Chand Sharma (Seconded European Standardization Expert in India)
Director – Standards & Public Policy
Mobile: +91 9810079461, Desk: +91 11 3352 1525
E-mail: dinesh.chand.sharma@sesei.eu