A4-0248/96

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the broader use of standardization in Community policy (COM(95)0412 - C4-0504/95)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to communication from the Commission on the broader use of standardization in Community policy (COM(95)0412 - C4-0504/95),

- having regard to the Commission's Green Paper on the development of European standardization (COM(90)0456),

- having regard to the Commission communication on standardization in the European economy (COM(91)0521) ((OJ C 96, 15.4.1992, p. 2.)),

- having regard to the working document drawn up by its Directorate-General for Research on environmental protection and European standards (PE 165.735),

- having regard to the Council resolution of 18 June 1992 on the role of European standardization in the European economy ((OJ C 173, 9.7.1992, p. 1.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy and the opinions of the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy, the Committee on External Economic Relations and the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A4-0248/96),

A. whereas European standardization has made a major contribution to European development, particularly in the achievement of the free movement of goods and services; whereas the number of standards has increased almost tenfold in the past ten years,

B. whereas a voluntary approach is one of the essential requirements for uniform European standardization; whereas the widest possible public consensus is vital for the democratic legitimation of standards, even if this means that it takes longer for standards to be adopted,

C. whereas international and European standardization are already closely linked and more than 40% of CEN standards are identical to ISO standards, the proportion in CENELEC's case actually reaching about 75%,

D. whereas the participation of various interested groups in standardization is hampered by the expense, time and language problems involved,

1. Welcomes the Commission communication and the list it contains of policies affected by standardization, which extend well beyond conventional standardization under industrial policy;

2. Considers that any dependence of standardization on authorities or institutions closely associated with authorities should continue to be avoided in the future;

3. Emphasizes that, in the interests of the efficiency of the European standardization organizations, current cooperation among the three standardization institutes is being increased and that any coordination problems must be solved;

4. Emphasizes that the CEN optimization programmes have helped to improve the internal efficiency of the standardization organizations in recent years;

5. Believes that consumer and environment organizations as well as public interest groups concerned must be involved in the development of standards, reviews of their suitability and their subsequent adaptation so that transparency in public may be ensured;

6. Considers that far more resources should be made available to consumer and environment organizations at national and EU level to enable them to participate adequately in the standardization process;

7. Proposes that the scientific background and scientific advisory function for the consumer organizations participating in standardization work should be particularly promoted through the establishment, for example, of a joint European scientific staff unit to advise such organizations;

8. Draws attention to the success of the budget line, established at the instigation of Parliament, to support small and medium-sized undertakings in their involvement in the European standardization process and calls in this connection for adequate financial support to be available also in future;

9. Suggests that SMEs and consumer and environment organizations should receive more funding to cover their travel, accommodation and translation expenses;

10. Calls for the introduction of a separate budget heading for financial support for European standardization;

11. Emphasizes the need for an information campaign accompanied by seminars and training programmes for SMEs, since the latter have been found to lack information;

12. Believes that the use of new technologies will contribute to a significant improvement in transparency and access options;

13. Calls on the business community to seize the opportunities presented by standardization in view of its major importance even in economically difficult times; considers that the business community should review its participation in standardization activities and ensure that its representatives are familiar with the process that leads to the adoption of standards;

14. Calls on the European standardization institutes to review their relations with the Central and Eastern European countries and to seek further integration where the legal and economic environment in the various countries is comparable;

15. Believes that standards relating to environmental protection, e.g. stringent environmental impact assessment requirements, result in better comparability and emphasizes the importance of standards for uniform test procedures and pollution measuring and monitoring methods;

16. Emphasizes the significance of research and innovation for the competitiveness of the European economy and underlines the importance of close relations between research and development activities and standardization;

17. Stresses that standards should not, however, be obstacles to innovation;

18. Draws attention to the important role of prenormative research for European standardization and stresses that such research must be closely related to the requirements of those involved in standardization;

19. Concedes that prenormative research plays an important part in the standardization policy and that a separate, technically highly skilled and employment-intensive branch of industry is needed for certification and approximation;

20. Believes that the principle of distinguishing the Community's activities within the general guidelines and criteria on which voluntary standardization is based should be applied with some flexibility according to the requirements of the market and with the assistance of the European standardization and certification bodies;

21. Points out that for both industry and the standardization, certification and other review bodies there is a risk that the standards emerging as a result of the new conception of the Community standardization policy will be interpreted arbitrarily unless detailed technical specifications are established for these standards;

22. Advocates focusing the European standardization policy on specific areas in a way that is compatible with competitiveness, growth and employment;

23. Believes it necessary to continue working towards a proposal for a statute of a Community agency for the European standardization and certification bodies CEN, CENELEC, ETSI and EOTC and that the Commission should publish a common declaration of intent in order once again to document its association with these standardization bodies and so achieve maximum transparency; calls for the establishment of a European standardization body to be responsible for the standardization of aviation components, airframes and avionic systems at European level;

24. Refers to the urgent need for the harmonization of the activities governed by the ECSC Treaty in Member States with less advanced scientific and technical infrastructure for measurements and testing;

25. Calls on the Commission to clarify the criteria to be applied with regard to compatibility between the standardization systems for military equipment on the one hand and the conditions observed by industry in the civil sector on the other;

26. Calls on the Commission to continue providing institutional and organizational support for the development of such horizontal standards as quality guarantees and management of the environment so that internal disputes may be avoided and a competitive advantage may be gained over other economic blocs;

27. Calls on the Commission to ensure consensus at the level of the European standardization bodies in order to prevent the industrial dominance of certain countries from resulting in their national standards becoming the basis of European or international standards;

28. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the measures connected with the thematically oriented quality networks in the proposal for the special standardization, measurement and testing programme associated with the Fifth Framework Programme so that not only are practical problems in technology and industry solved, but SMEs are also assisted, a frame of reference is created for national demand analyses, a centre for the dissemination of technical know-how and appropriate training is provided and progress is achieved in the implementation of a model of sustainable development;

29. Calls on the Commission to submit, in the next special programme for sectoral research and technological development, proposals for the further expansion and the harmonization of criminological measures to combat illegal trade in radioactive materials;

30. Endorses the research measures that enable customs laboratories to check whether labels and contents correspond, since this is in the interests of consumers and environmental protection;

31. Welcomes the statement in the Commission communication that European standards are increasingly replacing national standards and sees this as strengthening the internal market and the competitive position of European suppliers in world markets;

32. Advocates close cooperation between the European and international standardization organizations so as to ensure that due account is taken of European interests during the establishment of universally applicable standards and that the development of separate European standards is avoided;

33. Refers to the particular importance of European and international standards in the areas of information technology and telecommunications that permit free access to and the interoperability of global information and telecommunications networks;

34. Draws special attention in this context to the standardization activities in the transport sector relating to the creation of trans-European networks;

35. Calls for an efficient European standardization system capable of providing industry with a state-of-the-art system of standards quickly;

36. Shares the reservations expressed by the Commission on competition policy grounds about the possibility of the market position of individual suppliers being unduly protected by standards and therefore advocates a version of technical standards geared less to specific technical procedures than to performance and test features;

37. Sees the introduction of a European label that draws the consumer's attention to compliance with the relevant European standards as a suitable instrument of European quality policy which may help to improve the international competitiveness of European products;

38. Sees the establishment of international standards in the areas of environmental protection and industrial safety as a major contribution to the debate on environmental and social clauses within the World Trade Organization;

39. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.