European Committee for Standardization

European Committee for Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation
Europäisches Komitee für Normung

  members
  affiliates
  partner standardisation bodies
Abbreviation CEN
Type Standardisation body
Region
 Europe
Website www.cen.eu

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN, French: Comité Européen de Normalisation) is a public standards organization whose mission is to foster the economy of the European Union (EU) in global trading, the welfare of European citizens and the environment by providing an efficient infrastructure to interested parties for the development, maintenance and distribution of coherent sets of standards and specifications.

The CEN was founded in 1961. Its thirty three national members work together to develop European Standards (ENs) in various sectors to build a European internal market for goods and services and to position Europe in the global economy. CEN is officially recognised as a European standards body by the European Union; the other official European standards bodies are the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).[1][2]

More than 60,000 technical experts as well as business federations, consumer and other societal interest organisations are involved in the CEN network that reaches over 460 million people. CEN is the officially recognized standardisation representative for sectors other than electrotechnical (CENELEC) and telecommunications (ETSI). On 12 February 1999 the European Parliament noted in a resolution that CEN, CENELEC and ETSI co-operate smoothly and that a merger of the three standardisaton bodies would not have clear advantages.[3]

The standardisation bodies of the thirty national members represent the twenty seven member states of the European Union, three countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and countries which are likely to join the EU or EFTA in the future. CEN is contributing to the objectives of the European Union and European Economic Area with technical standards (EN standards) which promote free trade, the safety of workers and consumers, interoperability of networks, environmental protection, exploitation of research and development programmes, and public procurement. An example of mandatory standards are those for materials and products used in construction and listed under the Construction Products Directive. The CE mark is a declaration by the manufacturer that a product complies with the respective EU directive and hence the harmonized standard(s) referenced by the directive(s).

CEN (together with CENELEC) owns the Keymark, a voluntary quality mark for products and services. A product bearing the Keymark demonstrates conformity to European Standards.

Membership

The current CEN Members are all member states of the European Union; three of the EFTA members: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland; and other states: Macedonia, Turkey.[4]

The current affiliates are Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Serbia, Tunisia and Ukraine.[5]

The current partner standardisation bodies are Australia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan.[6]

Vienna Agreement

The Vienna Agreement was signed by CEN and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1991 but came in force in the mid-2000s. Its primary aim is to avoid duplication of (potentially conflicting) standards between CEN and ISO. In the last decade CEN has adopted a number of ISO standards which replaced the corresponding CEN standards.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Council Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations. Official Journal of the European Communities. April 26, 1983. This directive only recognises CEN and CENELEC as European standards institutions. Accessed 2009-04-27.
  2. ↑ See Annex 1 of Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure. Official Journal of the European Communities. July 21, 1998. Accessed 2009-04-27.
  3. ↑ European Parliament: Resolution on the report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament ‘Efficiency and Accountability in European Standardisation under the New Approach’(COM(98)0291 − C4-0442/98). Official Journal of the European Communities 12 February 1999. Other language versions can be accessed from European Commission: Directorate General Enterprise and Industry: Standardisation. Accessed 2009-04-27.
  4. ↑ "CEN members". Cen.eu. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  5. ↑ "CEN affiliates". Cen.eu. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  6. ↑ "CEN partner standardization bodies". Cen.eu. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  7. ↑ G. Malcorps, I. Quintana-Soria (2007). The Vienna Agreement – CEN as an International Partner (PDF). CEN StandarDays (Day 2 –Session 5). CEN.

External links

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