EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1.CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

•Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

The European standardisation organisations (ESOs) are private organisations, which have a special role within the European standardisation system. As set out in Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012, European standardisation is organised by and for the stakeholders concerned, based on national representation (in the European Committee for standardisation, CEN, and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation, CENELEC) and on direct member participation (in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, ETSI). When a request for standardisation is made by the Commission, the European standardisation organisations (as defined in Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012) are the only bodies that can issue standards and standardisation deliverables. They do so in line with specific procedures set out in Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the “Standardisation Regulation”. The Standardisation Regulation also provides that the European Union may support the European standardisation organisations financially.

The European standardisation organisations are defined in Article 2, point 8 and Annex I to the Standardisation Regulation. There are three European standardisation organisations: CEN, CENELEC and ETSI. They have an exclusive role to carry out standardisation work requested by the Commission in support of EU legislation and policies.

This is mainly due to historic reasons. In the 1980s, when the current European standardisation organisations were set up and their role in delivering standards was established, the system was mostly centred on stakeholders of the European Union.

Today, the situation is different and the ESOs’ internal governance, decision-making procedures and their membership structure have gone through multiple changes. The European standardisation organisations now cooperate with a wide range of stakeholders, including from third countries, and allow them to participate not only in the technical work but also in their internal policy- and decision-making. Such cooperation is welcome; however, when the European standardisation organisations should focus on supporting EU legislation and policies, safeguards are needed to ensure sound procedure and a balanced representation of stakeholders’ interests, in line with the strategic priorities and legislative needs. In particular, this applies to internal decisions to develop standards and standardisation deliverables, as requested by the Commission on the basis of Article 10(1) of the Standardisation Regulation. These internal decisions can cover issues such as decisions on the acceptance of standardisation requests, on the acceptance of new work items, and on the adoption, revision or withdrawal of European standardisation deliverables. In these cases, particularly when the European standardisation organisations support the application of EU legislation and develop standards that are crucial to the EU general public and to companies, the internal governance of the European standardisation organisations must duly take into account the views of all European stakeholders (including small and medium enterprises and civil society organisations). This is even more pertinent given that some European standardisation organisations are mainly composed by economic operators who have voting rights and the participation of civil society organisations and public authorities is limited in some cases.

Greater clarification is therefore needed to ensure that the whole internal decision-making process in issuing standards and standardisation deliverables, requested by the Commission on the basis of Article 10(1) of the Standardisation Regulation, is in line with what the EU institutions expect from a standards-developing body officially recognised as a European standards organisation.

Requiring a certain representation and decision-making power of national standardisation bodies as regards standards requested by the Commission would put in place sufficient checks and balances so to ensure consistency with EU legislation and policies.

•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

The Commission announced that it would propose an amendment to Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 in its initiative Updating the 2020 new industry strategy (COM(2021)350) together with a standardisation strategy, which is presented together with this proposal.

•Consistency with other Union policies

The proposed legislative amendment is in line with the political importance of standards, as highlighted in other key Commission initiatives, such as Shaping Europe's digital future (COM(2020)67), the Global Gateway (JOIN(2021)30), or the Council’s statement welcoming ‘the Commission’s intention to develop a strategy for standardisation to strengthen the European standardisation system and its governance’ (Council conclusions of 09.06.2020).

2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

•Legal basis

The legal basis for the initiative is Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

•Subsidiarity (for action where the ESOs do not have exclusive competence)

The question of subsidiarity is not an issue. This initiative is to amend an EU Regulation governing the European standardisation system. It aims specifically to safeguard good governance principles in the delivery of standards requested by the Commission under Article 10(1) of the Standardisation Regulation. This initiative will reinforce the role of national representatives (i.e. national standardisation bodies) in the system.