On 2 February 2022, the Commission presented its new standardisation strategy. The Commission announced plans for a new standardisation strategy and legislative adjustment to the standardisation regulation in its communication ‘Updating the 2020 New Industrial Strategy: Building a stronger Single Market for Europe's recovery'.
The strategy outlines the Commission’s approach to standards within the Single Market and globally. Standards will play a critical role in enabling our industries to face current challenges.
The strategy proposes a series of actions aimed at ensuring European leadership in global standards, making standardisation a driver of European competitiveness and resilience, ensuring standards support our investments in the green and digital transitions and embedding democratic values in technology applications.
The strategy proposes 5 key sets of actions
- Priority setting and speed - the Commission will establish a High-Level Forum on European Standardisation to assist the Commission in anticipating upcoming standardisation priorities. The forum will advise the Commission on standardisation policy, support the identification of annual priorities, single out future standardisation needs, and recommend how to better interlink academia and research with standardisation. An EU Excellence Hub on Standards will support the Commission-appointed Chief Standardisation Officer in combining and valorising internal expertise on standardisation to facilitate stronger internal cooperation in the Commission.
- Good governance - European players must decide on European standards which support EU policy and legislation. The Commission is proposing to amend the regulation on standardisation to improve the governance in the European standardisation system. The amendment seeks to promote inclusiveness and integrated governance in the system and calls on the European standardisation organisations (ESOs) to modernise their governance.
- European leadership in global standards - through the High-Level Forum, the Commission will set up a new mechanism with EU countries and national standardisation bodies to share information, coordinate and strengthen the European approach to international standardisation.
- Support innovation - the Commission has launched a 'standardisation booster' in order to facilitate a stronger ecosystem between R&I and standards. The intention is to connect Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe beneficiaries with standardisation experts. The Commission will also develop a code of practice for researchers on standardisation to strengthen the link between standardisation and research/innovation through the European Research Area.
- Education and skills - the Commission will organise EU University Days on standards to promote more academic awareness on standards and share good practices. This is in order to anticipate the need for standardisation experts in the near future.