Council Resolution of 28 October 1999 on the role of standardisation in Europe
Date: 1999-10-28
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: European standard, harmonisation of standards, international standard, standardisation

19.5.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 141/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 28 October 1999

on the role of standardisation in Europe

(2000/C 141/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. RECALLING the objectives of the Treaty establishing the
European Community, particularly the free movement of
goods and services, the strengthening of economic and
social cohesion, the protection of workers and consumers,
the
the preservation, protection and improvement of
quality of
competitiveness of
industry, and the role standardisation can play to attain
these objectives;

environment,

the

the

2. RECALLING its Resolution of 7 May 1985 on a new
approach to technical harmonisation and standards (1),
and its Resolution of 18 June 1992 on the role of standard-
isation in the European economy (2);

3. NOTING the Commission’s Report of 13 May 1998 on
efficiency and accountability of European standardisation
under the new approach (3);

inter alia,

4. RECALLING its Conclusions of 18 May 1998 (4) in which it
agreed,
the
(cid:145)on the need,
Commission’s Report, for further reflection and discussions
on standardisation issues in the Council as well as in other
appropriate fora(cid:146);

in the light of

5. ACKNOWLEDGING that a strong European standardisation
system has been developed, and that in particular through
the new approach this has contributed in a significant way
to the functioning of the single market, the protection of
health and safety, the competitiveness of industry and the
promotion of international trade, and has been supporting
an increasing range of Community policies;

6. CONSIDERING that it is now timely to address aspects of
the implementation of the new approach where experience
shows improvement to be possible;

7. RECOGNISING that

in which standard-
the environment
isation operates is changing rapidly for reasons arising
from global
technological progress, or
particular customer wishes; recognising the existence of

trade relations,

(1) OJ C 136, 4.8.1985.
(2) OJ C 173, 9.7.1992.
(3) COM(98) 291.
(4) Doc. 8884/98 MI 60 ECO 91.

different concepts of standardisation at the global level and
the increasing tendency of interested parties to elaborate
technical specifications outside recognised standardisation
infrastructures; and recognising that it is now timely to
introduce policies to address new challenges and provide
for the success of standardisation in the future;

8. BELIEVING that

in responding to these needs,

is
important to build on the basic structure of standardisation
already existing in Europe, including the current status and
in the
responsibilities of national
(national
European and international
delegation principle);

standards bodies
standards bodies

it

9. ACKNOWLEDGING the opportunities offered to Europe by
the enlargement of the Union and the challenges it poses
to the applicant countries and their standards bodies in
order to become part of and attain the full benefit of the
European standardisation system;

in particular

10. EMPHASISING the role of European standardisation as a
means to meet specific needs of the European market, to
serve the public interest,
in support of
European policies, to provide standards in new domains,
to implement international standards in a coherent way
independence of national
and, while
standards bodies,
to facilitate mutual understanding
between Member States’ standards bodies and the prep-
aration of coherent positions in international standard-
isation;

respecting the

HAS THEREFORE AGREED on the following:

Principles of standardisation

11. CONFIRMS that standardisation is a voluntary, consensus-
driven activity, carried out by and for the interested parties
themselves, based on openness and transparency, within
independent
standards organisations,
leading to the adoption of standards compliance with
which is voluntary;

recognised

and

12. EMPHASISES that standards should be fit for purpose, have
a high degree of acceptability as a result of
the full
involvement of all relevant interested parties in the stan-
dardisation process, be coherent with each other and allow
for
that
innovation and
therefore
they should be based on sound scientific
research, be updated regularly, and be performance-based
where possible;

technological

competition;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

19.5.2000

13. ENCOURAGES the European standards bodies, in addition to
maintaining the framework for the elaboration of formal
standards required, inter alia, to support health, safety and
environmental provisions in legislation,
to continue to
develop new policies to adapt to evolving market needs by:

(cid:151) diversifying the range of products and services offered

to interested parties,

19. REQUESTS public authorities to acknowledge the strategic
importance of standardisation, in particular by maintaining
legal, political and financial
a stable and transparent
international and national
framework at
in
levels,
ensuring compliance with the principles governing stan-
dardisation, and, where appropriate,
in contributing to
the standardisation process;

in which standardisation can futher evolve,

the European,

standards, which

(cid:151) developing a graduated system of products other than
formal
elaboration
procedures and consultation processes adapted to the
purpose of each product, and which provides for these
products
to be transformed into formal standards,
where appropriate, as soon as possible;

comprises

while maintaining their commitment to formal standard-
isation;

14. REQUESTS the Commission to examine how a Community
framework of principles should be developed with regard
to the use within Community policies of specifications
which do not have the status of formal standards;

15. REQUESTS the Commission to examine whether differences
between standardisation in the field of information and
communications technology and standardisation in other
sectors give rise to problems and opportunities and,
if
so, how these should be addressed;

16. CALLS UPON national as well as European standards bodies
to continue to support the functioning of the European
attainment of
standardisation infrastructure
common European objectives;

and the

Enlargement

17. WELCOMES the measures by the applicant countries and
their standards bodies to create and further develop, with
the support of the European Union, the necessary stan-
for
dardisation infrastructures
membership of the European standards bodies so as to
allow for a full and effective participation in European
standardisation; calls upon the European standards bodies
to carefully examine the need to adapt
internal
procedures to an increased membership;

the conditions

to meet

their

the internal market, which combines

20. NOTES that the new approach created for the completion
the official
of
the Directive with voluntarily applied
instrument of
European standards, has proved itself and should be
further applied, and invites the Commission to examine
systematically whether the new approach principle can
be applied to sectors not yet covered as a means of
improving and simplifying legislation wherever possible;

21. CONSIDERS that cooperation between the Community and
the European standards bodies should be based on a part-
nership, characterised by common objectives, and that new
mechanisms for cooperation and transparency between the
and the European
authorities
Commission, national
standards bodies should be created, and in particular calls
upon the European standards bodies to adopt procedures
to resolve,
in cooperation with the public authorities,
problems which might otherwise lead to the application
of the safeguard clause;

Efficiency

22. INVITES the European standards bodies

to constantly
update their policies for increasing the efficiency of the
standardisation process, so as to deliver in a timely way
the standards that meet the requirements of the market,
including SMEs, and (cid:151) as the case may be (cid:151) of the terms
of Community mandates and of Community legislation;
and to report on a regular basis on the impact of
policies on efficiency;

23. in this context, INVITES the European standards bodies to
consider more frequent recourse to indicative voting at an
earlier stage in the standardisation process in order to
verify consensus
the necessary
in cases where
technical elements are present, where the non-respect of
agreed target dates is at risk, and where a draft is likely to
obtain the number of positive votes required;

all

Role of public authorities

18. HIGHLIGHTS the legitimate interest of public authorities in
European standardisation given its wide impact on society
and given the new dimension it has taken as a result of the
wide recourse made to it by Community policies, especially
in support of legislation under the new approach;

24. INVITES the European standards bodies to develop or
improve existing mechanisms, supplementing consensus
at national level, allowing them to give broad consideration
to the positions expressed by the various interest groups
during the standardisation process;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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25. CALLS UPON the Commission:

(cid:151) to ensure that standardisation mandates under the new
approach are prepared accurately and efficiently,
affording Member States and the European standards
bodies sufficient opportunity to contribute,

(cid:151) to ensure that standardisation activities covered by
mandates are subject
to thorough monitoring and
that appropriate measures are examined with the
European standards bodies in order to ensure proper
progress, and

(cid:151) to carry out, as part of

the continuous evaluation
impact of standard-
process, studies on the overall
in close cooperation with
isation, and to contribute,
to establishing a
the European standards bodies,
system for benchmaking the performances of
those
bodies, and to keep the Council informed of progress
in this work;

26. CALLS UPON public authorities in the Member States to
make appropriate and timely contributions to the process
of standardisation,
in particular where standardisation is
undertaken in support of Community policy or in the
public interest;

27.

INVITES all interested parties to participate actively in the
to the
standards
elaboration of
management of the standardisation process;

and to contribute

28. WELCOMES the presentation by the European standards
bodies of common, user-friendly, up-to-date and readily
accessible information on progress in standardisation, and
invites the standards bodies continually to improve their
provision of information;

29. NOTES WITH CONCERN that the production of harmonised
European standards is subject to delays in some sectors,
and in particular
the absence so far of harmonised
standards in relation to Council Directive 89/106/EEC of
21 December 1988 on the approximation of laws, regu-
lations and administrative provisions of the Member States
relating to construction products (1) and calls upon all
concerned to take the necessary steps to allow delivery
of the standards needed to facilitate the free movement
of goods in this sector;

Financing

30. CONSIDERS that the costs of elaborating standards should
in principle be borne by the interested parties themselves;

31. CONFIRMS ITS INTENTION to continue to provide targeted
Community financial support to European standardisation
within appropriate budgetary limits;

(1) OJ L 40, 11.2.1989, p. 12.

32. INVITES the national and European standards bodies and
public authorities to examine how the viability of an
overall standardisation system in Europe can best be finan-
cially guaranteed in the light of a rapidly changing
European and international evironment and of anticipate
changes in the traditional sources of income;

International standardisation

33. RECOGNISING the increasing importance of

internationl
standards as markets become globalised, CONFIRMS its
commitment to international standardisation and to the
the World
Trade Organisation’s
under
obligations
(WTO-TBT),
Technical Barriers
to Trade Agreement
believing in particular that the use of full
international
further promoted through this
standards
the
that
Agreement,
Member States and the European standards bodies have
created instruments
these obligations
effectively;

the Commission,

to implement

and noting

should be

introducing

standards-receptive

34. CALLS UPON Europe’s trading partners to give concrete
expression to their commitment to international standard-
regulatory
isation by
models and to promote the coherence of standards by
withdrawing national standards which conflict with inter-
such international
except where
national
standards would be
for
inappropriate,
ineffective or
instance, because of an insufficient level of protection or
fundamental climatic or geographical
factors or funda-
mental technological problems;

standards,

of

the

exemplary

the Vienna
nature
35. EMPHASISES
Agreement
(between ISO and CEN) and the Dresden
Agreement (between IEC and Cenelec) and ENCOURAGES
standards bodies of Europe’s trading partners to adopt
comparable mechanisms for cooperation with international
standards bodies and for the transposition of international
standards;

36. STRESSES the need for European participants in inter-
national standards bodies to use their best efforts to
those bodies are efficient and accountable,
ensure that
and that international standards are of sufficiently high
quality to play the role given to them by the WTO-TBT
Agreement;

37. STRESSES the need, while respecting the indepencence of
national standards bodies, to ensure that interests defined
at European level be presented coherently in both inter-
national standards bodies and intergovernmental fora, and
that to this end appropriate mechanisms for the exchange
of relevant information and preparatory consultations be
foreseen by the Commission, the Member States and the
European standards bodies;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

19.5.2000

38. REMINDS the European parties

(cid:151) of

the need to take full account of
requirements of Community legislation, and

the essential

(cid:151) that, in compliance with, inter alia, Article 137 of the
Treaty, Member States are entitled to specify national
requirements concerning the health and safety of
workers at work, environmental protection, consumer
protection and other relevant policies,

isation policy in the international context which takes
into account the elements referred to in paragraphs 33
to 39 above and to report
to the Council before July
2001. Such guidelines should build on the experiences
a
and
contribution to the development,
in close cooperation
with Europe’s trading partners, of international standards
which play an important role in the removal of technical
barriers to trade;

standardisation

European

strenghts

of

as

when the elaboration of a harmonised standard is based on
international work;

Conclusion

39. STRESSES

that

interested parties

such as workers’,
consumers’, and environmental interest groups should be
fully involved in the standardisation process at all relevant
stages, when standards are drawn up at the international
level;

41. CALLS UPON the Commission to report to the Council by
30 June 2001 on the action it has taken in accordance
with this resolution;

40. REQUESTS the Commission to develop, in consultation with
the Member States, guidelines for a European standard-

42. RESOLVES TO REVIEW the implementation of this resolution
on the basis, inter alia, of the Commission’s report and to
decide on futher action if necessary.