12.9.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 232/3 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Directive on standardization in the field of information technology and 
telecommunications 
COM(85) 230 final 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 30 May 1985) 
(85/C 232/03) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 100 and 
213 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Par­
liament, 
Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas the standards applicable in the field of infor­
mation technology and the activities necessary for their 
preparation are of a special nature and involve the 
following: 
— the complexity of the technical specifications and the 
precision required to ensure the exchange of data 
and the compatible operation of systems; 
— the need to ensure rapid publication of standards so 
that undue delays do not result in the early 
obsolescence of texts that have been overtaken by the 
speed of technological change; 
— the need to ensure the application of international 
standards on a basis which will guarantee their 
credibility from the standpoint of practical 
implementation; 
— the economic importance of the role played by stan­
dardization in contributing to the creation of a 
Community market in this field; 
Whereas Council Directive 83/189/EEC O enables the 
Commission, the Member States and the standards 
institutions to be informed of the intentions of standards 
institutions to draw up or to amend a standard, and 
whereas under the terms of that Directive the 
0) OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8. Commission may establish terms of reference for work 
on standardization of common interest to be undertaken 
jointly and at an early stage; 
Whereas that Directive must be expanded so that in the 
field of information technology and telecommunications 
the Commission and the Member States are informed, 
from the very beginning, of the drafting of technical 
rules and whereas the standstill procedure which is 
applicable to them must be modified to enable the 
competent technical organizations to draw up common 
technical specifications or European standards; 
Whereas the telecommunications sector is of economic 
importance both from the point of view of industrial 
activity in this sector and by reason of its contribution to 
the efficient exchange of information throughout the 
Community and in the light of the conclusions of the 
Council of 17 December 1984 on a Community 
telecommunications policy; 
Whereas the increasing amount of technical overlap 
between the different fields of standardization, par­
ticularly in the case of information technology and 
telecommunications, is such as to justify close 
cooperation between standardization bodies, which 
should collaborate in order to deal with these matters of 
common interest; 
Whereas the agreements recently concluded by the 
Commission 
— within the framework of the Memorandum of 
Understanding signed with the European Conference 
of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations 
(CEPT), 
— and in the context of the general guidelines agreed 
with the joint European standardization organization 
CEN/CENELEC, 
now make it possible to assign responsibility for the 
drafting of common standards and technical 
specifications particular to those two fields to those 
No C 232/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 12.9. 85 
specialized technical organizations, without prejudice to 
any further procedures that may need to be set up; 
Whereas application of the Council Directive on the 
initial stage of implementation of the mutual recognition 
of type approval for telecommunications terminal 
equipment (x) will necessitate the planning of work on 
the drawing-up of common technical specifications in the 
telecommunications sector; 
Whereas the field of public sector procurement 
constitutes a particularly suitable area for the application 
of standards and technical rules and whereas Council 
Directive 77/62/EEC (2) needs to be supplemented so as 
to reinforce the reference made to standardization; 
Whereas a Standing Committee, composed of rep­
resentatives appointed by the Member States, should be 
set up to help the Commission to draw up guidelines and 
to define priorities in respect of the proposed activities, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 
Article 1 
For the purposes of this Directive: 
1. technical specification means a specification contained 
in a document which lays down the characteristics 
required of a product, such as levels of quality, per­
formance, safety or dimensions, including the 
requirements applicable to the product as regards 
terminology, symbols, testing and test methods, 
packaging, marking or labelling; 
2. common technical specification means a technical 
specification which has been drafted with a view to 
uniform application in all the Member States of the 
Community; 
3. standard means a technical specification approved by 
a recognized standards body for repeated or 
continuous application, compliance with which is not 
compulsory; 
4. test standard means a standard concerned exclusively 
with test methods, sometimes supplemented by other 
provisions relating to the test in question and 
covering such matters as sampling, the use of stat­
istical methods and the test sequence; 
5. international standardmeans a standard adopted by a 
recognized international standards body; 
6. European standard means a standard which has been 
approved pursuant to the statutes of the standards 
bodies with which the Community has concluded 
agreements; 
(') Directive proposed on the same date. 
(2) OJNoL 13, 15. 1. 1977, p. 1. 7. development standard means a standard with a sat­
isfactory degree of stability, proposed by the 
standards bodies with which the Community has 
concluded agreements and which has been tried out 
in practice before being formally adopted as a 
European standard; 
8. Junctional standard means a standard that has been 
drawn up for the purpose of fulfilling a more 
complex function such as is required in order to 
ensure systems interoperability, that is generally 
obtained by linking together several reference 
standards which have already been adopted, and that 
has been approved pursuant to the statutes of the 
standards bodies with which the Community has 
concluded agreements; 
9. harmonization document means a document approved 
as such pursuant to the statutes of the standards 
bodies with which the Community has concluded 
agreements; 
10. technical regulation means the technical speci­
fications, including the relevant administrative 
provisions, the observance of which is compulsory, 
de jure or de facto, in the case of marketing or use 
in a Member State or a major part thereof, except 
those laid down by local authorities; 
11. certification of conformity means the activity whereby 
the conformity of a product or service to given 
standards or other technical specifications is certified 
by means of a certificate or mark of conformity; 
12. information technology means the systems, 
equipment, components and software required to 
ensure the transmission, processing and storage of 
information in all centres of human activity (home, 
office, factory, etc.) whose application generally 
requires the use of electronics or similar technology. 
Article 2 
In the field of the standardization of information 
technology and telecommunications, and particularly 
that part of it which is concerned with the preparation 
and application of standards and common technical 
specifications pursuant to the procedures laid down in 
Articles 4, 5 and 6, the following measures shall be 
implemented at Community level: 
1. regular, at least annual, determination on the basis of 
international standards, draft international standards 
or equivalent documents of priority standardization 
requirements with a view to the preparation of work 
programmes and the commissioning of such European 
standards and common technical specifications as may 
be deemed necessary to ensure the exchange of infor­
mation and systems interoperability; 
12.9.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 232/5 
2. on the basis of international standardization activities: 
(a) the clarification and supplementing of existing 
international standards and recommendations so 
as to ensure that the quality of their definition 
guarantees the precision required by users for the 
exchange of information and systems inter­
operability, having recourse, if necessary, to the 
drafting of functional standards; 
(b) direct action to ensure the preparation of 
technical specifications which may form the basis 
of European standards in the absence of inter­
national standards, or when such action is 
justified by excessive delays; 
(c) measures to facilitate the application of the 
standards and common technical specifications, in 
particular by means of: 
— the verification of the conformity of products 
and services to the standards and common 
technical specifications, preferably on the basis 
of test standards; 
— the certification of conformity to standards 
and common specifications in accordance with 
properly harmonized procedures; 
— the organization of demonstrations of ways in 
which standards are being developed so as to 
ensure credibility; dardization programmes entrusted to the European 
standards institutions or by the work entrusted to the 
specialized technical bodies in the telecommunications 
sector with a view to drawing up common technical 
specifications. 
3. If no European standard or common technical 
specification exists and if the European standards 
institutions or the specialized technical bodies in the 
telecommunications sector are not working on one, the 
Member States shall communicate to the Commission 
their decision to commence work on the drafting of 
technical rules, if necessary in the form of programmes, 
in the sectors which make up the field covered by this 
Directive with a view to ensuring the necessary exchange 
of information and systems interoperability and which 
correspond to the priorities laid down by the 
Commission after consultation of the Committee 
provided for in Article 6. 
The Commission shall inform the other Member States 
without delay and invite them to state whether they wish 
to see a European standard or a document resulting in 
common technical specifications prepared. 
Within three months of being notified of the intentions 
of a Member State, and after consulting the Committee 
provided for in Article 6, the Commission may assign the 
task to the European standards institutions or ask the 
specialized technical bodies in the telecommunications 
sector to undertake the work of drafting common 
technical specifications. 
(d) promotion of the application of standards and 
common technical specifications relating to infor­
mation technology and telecommunications 
public sector procurement. in 4. If, at the end of the period laid down for the tasks 
assigned to the standards institutions or for the drafting 
of common technical specifications, the technical 
specifications requested have not been prepared 
The specific objectives and the activities proposed are 
detailed in the Annex. That Annex may be revised by the 
Commission following consultation of the Committee 
referred to in Article 6; it shall be updated at least once 
every three years. 
Article 3 
1. When technical regulations are being drawn up in 
the fields covered by this Directive, the Member States 
shall refer to European standards and common technical 
specifications when they relate, even partly, to the 
technical specifications necessary for the establishment of 
those technical regulations. 
2. The Member States shall refrain from drafting 
technical regulations in the fields covered by this 
Directive when the technical specifications correspond to 
aspects covered either by the tasks or approved stan-if, at the end of the three-month period referred to in 
the third subparagraph of paragraph 3, no decision has 
been taken on whether to assign the task of preparing 
European standards or common technical specifications 
to the European standards institutions or to the 
specialized technical bodies in the telecommunications 
sector 
the Member State will be free to prepare the technical 
rules referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 in accordance 
with the obligations laid down in Directive 83/189/EEC. 
Article 4 
The Commission, taking into account the information 
procedure laid down in Directive 83/189/EEC and in 
consultation with the Committees referred to in Article 
6, shall determine the priority needs of the Community 
in the fields covered by this Directive on the question of 
No C 232/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 12.9.85 
standards and common technical specifications and the 
verification of conformity with the standards or common 
technical specifications. It shall draw up programmes in 
line with these needs with a view to assigning the 
technical work to the competent technical organizations 
in accordance with the following procedures: 
(a) In the information technology sector covered by the 
European standards institutions, the Commission, 
after consulting the Committee provided for in 
Article 6, shall entrust the technical work to these 
organizations requesting them, if necessary, to draw 
up corresponding European standards. 
(b) In the telecommunications sector, the Commission, 
after consulting the Committees provided for in 
Article 6, shall request the specialized technical 
bodies in the telecommunications sector to draw up 
common technical specifications within an agreed 
period in accordance with the procedure laid down 
in Article 5 of Directive . . . (x) 
(c) In the field common to information technology and 
to telecommunications, the Commission, after 
consulting the Committees provided for in Article 6, 
shall request the European standards institutions and 
the specialized technical bodies in the telecommuni­
cations sector to submit to it within a period of three 
months a joint proposal for the organization of the 
work which will take into account: 
— the level of convergence to be ensured, 
— the participation of experts from associated 
sectors, 
— a definition of the framework in which the work 
will be carried out. 
After receiving this proposal, the Commission shall 
entrust the work to be carried out to these organ­
izations in accordance with the procedures described 
in points (a) and (b) as a function of the need to 
draw up either European standards or common 
technical specifications. 
Article 5 
The Commission shall ensure that the standards, the 
harmonization documents and the common technical 
specifications defined in this way are applied in the case 
of all Community projects and programmes, including 
public procurement orders financed from the 
Community budget. 
Member States shall take all necessary steps to ensure 
that reference to European standards, harmonization 
(') Directive proposed on the same date. documents and common technical specifications is made 
in public procurement orders relating to information 
technology and telecommunications and that those 
standards or common technical specifications are used as 
the basis for the exchange of information of public 
interest. 
Application of this Article shall take account of the need 
for the continuity of operation of existing systems and 
their extension during the transitional period required 
for their adaptation to technical progress. 
These provisions amend the application of Article 7 of 
Directive 77/62/EEC to public supply contracts in 
respect of information technology equipment. 
Article 6 
A Standing Committee with the task of assisting the 
Commission in attaining the objectives and conducting 
the activities laid down by this Directive, composed of 
representatives appointed by the Member States, who 
may be assisted by experts or advisers, is hereby 
established under the chairmanship of a representative of 
the Commission. 
The Commission shall consult the Committee on the 
definition of general guidelines, the analysis of 
requirements, the determination of Community 
priorities, the drawing up of programmes, the veri­
fication of conformity with standards and with common 
technical specifications and other subjects connected 
with standardization in the field of information 
technology, telecommunications and fields in which they 
overlap. 
The Commission shall coordinate the activities of this 
Committee with t^o^e of Committees existing in related 
«°cto.a — where necessary on the basis of joint meetings 
— particularly in areas of technical overlap. 
Article 7 
1. The Committee shall meet at least twice a year. 
2. The Committee shall draw up its own rules of 
procedure. 
3. The activities of the Committee and the infor­
mation submitted to it shall be confidential. Nevertheless, 
subject to the necessary precautions, the Committee and 
the national authorities may seek the expert advice of 
natural or legal persons in the private sector. 
12.9. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 232/7 
Article 8 Article 9 
Every two years the Commission shall submit a progress 
report to the European Parliament and the Council on 
standardization activities in the information technology 
sector. This report shall refer to the implementing 
arrangements adopted within the Community, the results 
obtained, the application of those results in public 
procurement contracts, and, in particular, their practical 
significance for certification. 
ANNEX?) 
STANDARDIZATION MEASURES IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND 
TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
1. Aims 
(a) To contribute to the integration of the internal Community market in the information technology 
and telecommunications sector; 
(b) to improve competitive conditions by enabling manufacturers to ensure the compatibility of their 
equipment on the basis of precisely defined international standards or common technical 
specifications to which unrestricted access is guaranteed; 
(c) to facilitate the exchange of information throughout the Community, by reducing the obstacles 
created by incompatibilities arising from the absence of standards or their lack of precision; 
(d) to ensure that user requirements are taken into account by giving users greater freedom to assemble 
their systems in a manner guaranteeing an adequate degree of operating compatibility and, 
consequently improved performance at a lower cost; 
(e) to promote the application of standards and common technical specifications in the public 
procurement sectors. 
2. Description of measures and activities to be undertaken 
2.1. Preparation of work programmes and definition of priorities 
The drawing up of work programmes and assignment of priorities takes account of Community 
requirements and the economic impact of these activities from the standpoint of both users and 
producers. The tasks to be performed at this level include, in particular: 
2.1.1. operations designed to gather detailed information on the basis of national and international 
programmes, presentation of that information in a form which facilitates comparative 
analysis and preparation of the summaries required for the work of the Committee; 
2.1.2. the dissemination of that information, the examination of requirements and the consultation 
of interested parties; 
2.1.3. synchronization of the work programmes with international standardization activities; Member States shall take the measures necessary to 
comply with this Directive by . .. (*) at the latest and 
shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof. 
Article 10 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 
(') Three months after the adoption of the Directive. 
(') This annex reproduces some of the technical content of sections 1.1 and 1.2 (Standardization policy 
and public procurement) of the Annex to Council Decision 84/559/EEC in respect of general measures 
in the field of data processing (OJ No L 308, 27. 11. 84). 
No C 232/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 12.9.85 
2.1.4. the management of work programmes, preparation of specific tasks and contracts, 
drawing-up of timetables and monitoring of their implementation and the transposition of 
European standards into national standards; 
2.1.5. the preparation of reports describing the execution of the activities and the practical results 
of their implementation. 
2.2. The execution of standardization activities in the field of information technology 
Execution of the work programmes necessitates the implementation of a series of activities, 
responsibility for which is generally entrusted to CEN/CENELEC and to the CEPT and which 
correspond to the different stages of activity that must be completed in order to ensure the 
credibility of standards. These activities include: 
2.2.1. the refinement of international standards in an effort to remove the ambiguities and options 
that distort the function of standards designed to guarantee the exchange of information and 
the compatible operation of systems; 
2.2.2. the drafting of development standards in cases justified by the excessive delays of inter­
national standardization procedures, or of standards required in the Community context in 
the absence of international standards; 
2.2.3. the definition of the conditions to be fulfilled in order to claim complete conformity to a 
standard; 
2.2.4. the development of sufficiently detailed operating standards or specifications to ensure the 
compatible working of systems which operate on the basis of standards; 
2.2.5. the management of public enquiry procedures; the formal adoption of standards and 
monitoring of their transposition into national standards; 
2.2.6. the preparation of test standards and the organization of procedures and structures to enable 
test laboratories to check conformity to those standards on a properly harmonized basis. 
2.3. Activities affecting the telecommunications sector 
The standardization measures which concern the telecommunications sector include two types of 
activity: 
— the drafting of common technical specifications applicable to telecommunications networks 
which, in certain cases, are indispensable as a basis for the information technology standards 
which depend on these networks for the long-distance exchange of information. This work 
comes under the harmonization activities carried out in the telecommunications sector; 
— the work to be carried out in the field common to information technology and to telecommuni­
cations requires increased cooperation between the competent t chnical bodies. It should raise 
the degree of convergence so that the standards and common technical specifications can be 
applied in as many ways as possible and in a harmonized manner. 
2.4. Complementary measures 
This part of the programme covers measures taken in direct support of the abovementioned 
activities and includes: 
2.4.1. specific metrological activities relating to: 
— test and validation instruments, 
— formal description techniques, 
— recourse to references, particularly in the case of applications requiring the use of func­
tional standards based on a number of standards in combination; 
2.4.2. the provision of guidance manuals for the final user; 
2.4.3. the organization of demonstrations in respect of the operating compatibility achieved as a 
result of the application of a standard. The main aim of this action will be to make the test 
and metrological instruments defined in 2.4.1 available for use in different projects and to 
s- ensure that development standards are experimented with; 
12.9.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 232/9 
2.4.4. the creation of a suitable structure for arrangements that go beyond the framework of 
industrial standardization, depend on agreements concluded in particular fields of pro­
fessional activity and contribute to the efficient exchange of information (travel agency 
transactions, automation of money transactions, computerization of customs documents, 
etc.); 
2.4.5. measures to be taken in respect of production automation, office automation and micro­
computing which will affect interface standardization in particular; 
2.4.6. studies and projects relating specifically to standardization in the field of information 
technology. 
3. Measures relating to the application of standards in the public procurement sector 
3.1. Determination of the most efficient methods of ensuring the rapid application in the public 
procurement sector of the standards and technical specifications drawn up in the context of the 
abovementioned activities; 
3.2. Examination of the effects in the public procurement sector of the complete application of the 
relevant Community rules, involving in particular: 
— a comparison of the progress made by the European industry in the light of the measures taken 
by the Member States in connection with public procurement in the data-processing field, 
— collection of the necessary statistics, 
— promotion of equal conditions of access to Community public procurement contracts for under­
takings within the framework of Council Directive 77/62/EEC of 21 December 1976 coordi­
nating procedures for the award of public supply contracts; 
3.3. Coordination of national measures in respect of general systems evaluation and, in conjunction 
with national research centres in the data-processing field, the adoption of principles with a view to 
the definition of evaluation criteria; 
3.4. Examination of the possibility of establishing a number of principles to be applied in evaluating 
proposals; 
3.5. Examination of the possibility of establishing common principles for the definition of specifications; 
3.6. Coordination of the exchange of technical experience between national bodies responsible for 
public procurement and the promotion of such exchange through coordination of the activities of 
the national research centres in the data-processing field; 
3.7. Identification of topics likely to lead to the development of projects of common interest to public 
procurement agencies. 
Proposal for a Council Directive concerning the first phase of the establishment of the mutual 
recognition of type approval for telecommunications terminal equipment 
COM(85) 230 final 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 30 May 1985) 
(85/C 232/04) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas the mutual recognition of type approval for 
telecommunications terminal equipment features in the 
Having regard to the opinion of the European communication from the Commission to the Council on 
Parliament, Telecommunications of 18 May 1984, in the