CELEX: 51985PC0230(01)
Language: en
Date: 1985-06-25
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON STANDARDIZATION IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

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,                              Commission may establish terms of reference for work
                                                                      on standardization of common interest to be undertaken
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                 jointly and at an early stage;
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 100 and
213 thereof,                                                          Whereas that Directive must be expanded so that in the
                                                                      field of information technology and telecommunications
                                                                      the Commission and the Member States are informed,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                      from the very beginning, of the drafting of technical
                                                                      rules and whereas the standstill procedure which is
Having regard to the Opinion of the European Par-                     applicable to them must be modified to enable the
liament,                                                              competent technical organizations to draw up common
                                                                      technical specifications or European standards;
Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                     Whereas the telecommunications sector is of economic
                                                                      importance both from the point of view of industrial
Whereas the standards applicable in the field of infor-               activity in this sector and by reason of its contribution to
mation technology and the activities necessary for their              the efficient exchange of information throughout the
preparation are of a special nature and involve the                   Community and in the light of the conclusions of the
following:                                                            Council of 17 December 1984 on a Community
                                                                      telecommunications policy;
— the complexity of the technical specifications and the
    precision required to ensure the exchange of data
                                                                      Whereas the increasing amount of technical overlap
    and the compatible operation of systems;
                                                                      between the different fields of standardization, par-
                                                                      ticularly in the case of information technology and
— the need to ensure rapid publication of standards so                telecommunications, is such as to justify close
    that undue delays do not result in the early                      cooperation between standardization bodies, which
    obsolescence of texts that have been overtaken by the             should collaborate in order to deal with these matters of
    speed of technological change;                                    common interest;
— the need to ensure the application of international
    standards on a basis which will guarantee their                   Whereas the agreements recently concluded by the
    credibility from      the standpoint of practical                 Commission
    implementation;
                                                                      — within the framework of the Memorandum of
— the economic importance of the role played by stan-                     Understanding signed with the European Conference
    dardization in contributing to the creation of a                      of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations
    Community market in this field;                                        (CEPT),
Whereas Council Directive 83/189/EEC O enables the                   — and in the context of the general guidelines agreed
Commission, the Member States and the standards                           with the joint European standardization organization
institutions to be informed of the intentions of standards                CEN/CENELEC,
institutions to draw up or to amend a standard, and
whereas under the terms of that Directive the                         now make it possible to assign responsibility for the
                                                                     drafting      of    common     standards     and    technical
0) OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8.                                   specifications particular to those two fields to those
 ---pagebreak--- No C 232/4                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                   12.9. 85
specialized technical organizations, without prejudice to             7. development standard means a standard with a sat-
any further procedures that may need to be set up;                       isfactory degree of stability, proposed by the
                                                                         standards bodies with which the Community has
Whereas application of the Council Directive on the                      concluded agreements and which has been tried out
initial stage of implementation of the mutual recognition                in practice before being formally adopted as a
of type approval for telecommunications terminal                         European standard;
equipment (x) will necessitate the planning of work on
the drawing-up of common technical specifications in the              8. Junctional standard means a standard that has been
telecommunications sector;                                               drawn up for the purpose of fulfilling a more
                                                                         complex function such as is required in order to
Whereas the field of public sector procurement                           ensure systems interoperability, that is generally
constitutes a particularly suitable area for the application             obtained by linking together several reference
of standards and technical rules and whereas Council                     standards which have already been adopted, and that
Directive 77/62/EEC (2) needs to be supplemented so as                   has been approved pursuant to the statutes of the
to reinforce the reference made to standardization;                      standards bodies with which the Community has
                                                                         concluded agreements;
Whereas a Standing Committee, composed of rep-
resentatives appointed by the Member States, should be                9. harmonization document means a document approved
set up to help the Commission to draw up guidelines and                   as such pursuant to the statutes of the standards
to define priorities in respect of the proposed activities,              bodies with which the Community has concluded
                                                                         agreements;
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
                                                                     10. technical regulation means the technical speci-
                            Article 1                                    fications, including the relevant administrative
                                                                         provisions, the observance of which is compulsory,
For the purposes of this Directive:                                      de jure or de facto, in the case of marketing or use
                                                                         in a Member State or a major part thereof, except
  1. technical specification means a specification contained             those laid down by local authorities;
     in a document which lays down the characteristics
     required of a product, such as levels of quality, per-
     formance, safety or dimensions, including the                   11. certification of conformity means the activity whereby
     requirements applicable to the product as regards                   the conformity of a product or service to given
     terminology, symbols, testing and test methods,                     standards or other technical specifications is certified
     packaging, marking or labelling;                                    by means of a certificate or mark of conformity;
  2. common technical specification means a technical
                                                                     12. information      technology     means   the    systems,
      specification which has been drafted with a view to
                                                                         equipment, components and software required to
     uniform application in all the Member States of the
                                                                         ensure the transmission, processing and storage of
      Community;
                                                                          information in all centres of human activity (home,
                                                                         office, factory, etc.) whose application generally
  3. standard means a technical specification approved by
                                                                         requires the use of electronics or similar technology.
      a recognized standards body for repeated or
     continuous application, compliance with which is not
     compulsory;
                                                                                                Article 2
  4. test standard means a standard concerned exclusively           In the field of the standardization of information
     with test methods, sometimes supplemented by other             technology and telecommunications, and particularly
      provisions relating to the test in question and               that part of it which is concerned with the preparation
      covering such matters as sampling, the use of stat-           and application of standards and common technical
      istical methods and the test sequence;                        specifications pursuant to the procedures laid down in
                                                                    Articles 4, 5 and 6, the following measures shall be
  5. international standardmeans a standard adopted by a            implemented at Community level:
      recognized international standards body;
  6. European standard means a standard which has been               1. regular, at least annual, determination on the basis of
     approved pursuant to the statutes of the standards                 international standards, draft international standards
     bodies with which the Community has concluded                      or equivalent documents of priority standardization
     agreements;                                                        requirements with a view to the preparation of work
                                                                        programmes and the commissioning of such European
                                                                        standards and common technical specifications as may
(') Directive proposed on the same date.                                be deemed necessary to ensure the exchange of infor-
(2) O J N o L 13, 15. 1. 1977, p. 1.                                    mation and systems interoperability;
 ---pagebreak---  12.9.85                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 232/5
2. on the basis of international standardization activities:        dardization programmes entrusted to the European
                                                                    standards institutions or by the work entrusted to the
                                                                    specialized technical bodies in the telecommunications
    (a) the clarification and supplementing of existing             sector with a view to drawing up common technical
        international standards and recommendations so              specifications.
        as to ensure that the quality of their definition
        guarantees the precision required by users for the
        exchange of information and systems inter-                  3.    If no European standard or common technical
        operability, having recourse, if necessary, to the          specification exists and if the European standards
        drafting of functional 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
    (b) direct action to ensure the preparation of                  technical rules, if necessary in the form of programmes,
        technical specifications which may form the basis           in the sectors which make up the field covered by this
        of European standards in the absence of inter-              Directive with a view to ensuring the necessary exchange
        national standards, or when such action is                  of information and systems interoperability and which
        justified by excessive delays;                              correspond to the priorities laid down by the
                                                                    Commission after consultation of the Committee
                                                                    provided for in Article 6.
    (c) measures to facilitate the application of the
        standards and common technical specifications, in
        particular by means of:                                     The Commission shall inform the other Member States
                                                                    without delay and invite them to state whether they wish
        — the verification of the conformity of products
                                                                    to see a European standard or a document resulting in
             and services to the standards and common
                                                                    common technical specifications prepared.
            technical specifications, preferably on the basis
            of test standards;
        — the certification of conformity to standards              Within three months of being notified of the intentions
             and common specifications in accordance with           of a Member State, and after consulting the Committee
            properly harmonized procedures;                         provided for in Article 6, the Commission may assign the
                                                                    task to the European standards institutions or ask the
        — the organization of demonstrations of ways in             specialized technical bodies in the telecommunications
            which standards are being developed so as to            sector to undertake the work of drafting common
            ensure credibility;                                     technical specifications.
    (d) promotion of the application of standards and               4.    If, at the end of the period laid down for the tasks
        common technical specifications relating to infor-          assigned to the standards institutions or for the drafting
        mation technology and telecommunications in                 of common technical specifications, the technical
        public sector procurement.                                  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                  if, at the end of the three-month period referred to in
referred to in Article 6; it shall be updated at least once         the third subparagraph of paragraph 3, no decision has
every three years.                                                  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
                           Article 3                                sector
 1.    When technical regulations are being drawn up in
the fields covered by this Directive, the Member States             the Member State will be free to prepare the technical
shall refer to European standards and common technical              rules referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 in accordance
specifications when they relate, even partly, to the                with the obligations laid down in Directive 83/189/EEC.
technical specifications necessary for the establishment of
those technical regulations.
                                                                                              Article 4
                                                                    The Commission, taking into account the information
2.     The Member States shall refrain from drafting                procedure laid down in Directive 83/189/EEC and in
technical regulations in the fields covered by this                 consultation with the Committees referred to in Article
Directive when the technical specifications correspond to           6, shall determine the priority needs of the Community
aspects covered either by the tasks or approved stan-               in the fields covered by this Directive on the question of
 ---pagebreak--- No C 232/6                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                  12.9.85
standards and common technical specifications and the                   documents and common technical specifications is made
verification of conformity with the standards or common                 in public procurement orders relating to information
technical specifications. It shall draw up programmes in                technology and telecommunications and that those
line with these needs with a view to assigning the                      standards or common technical specifications are used as
technical work to the competent technical organizations                 the basis for the exchange of information of public
in accordance with the following procedures:                            interest.
(a) In the information technology sector covered by the                 Application of this Article shall take account of the need
     European standards institutions, the Commission,                   for the continuity of operation of existing systems and
     after consulting the Committee provided for in                     their extension during the transitional period required
    Article 6, shall entrust the technical work to these                for their adaptation to technical progress.
     organizations requesting them, if necessary, to draw
     up corresponding European standards.
                                                                        These provisions amend the application of Article 7 of
(b) In the telecommunications sector, the Commission,                   Directive 77/62/EEC to public supply contracts in
     after consulting the Committees provided for in                    respect of information technology equipment.
     Article 6, shall request the specialized technical
     bodies in the telecommunications sector to draw up
     common technical specifications within an agreed
                                                                                                  Article 6
     period in accordance with the procedure laid down
     in Article 5 of Directive . . . (x)                                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
(c) In the field common to information technology and                   representatives appointed by the Member States, who
     to telecommunications, the Commission, after                       may be assisted by experts or advisers, is hereby
     consulting the Committees provided for in Article 6,               established under the chairmanship of a representative of
     shall request the European standards institutions and              the Commission.
     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
                                                                        The Commission shall consult the Committee on the
     work which will take into account:
                                                                        definition of general guidelines, the analysis of
     — the level of convergence to be ensured,                          requirements,      the  determination     of    Community
     — the participation       of   experts    from      associated     priorities, the drawing up of programmes, the veri-
         sectors,                                                       fication of conformity with standards and with common
                                                                        technical specifications and other subjects connected
     — a definition of the framework in which the work                  with standardization in the field of information
         will be carried out.                                           technology, telecommunications and fields in which they
                                                                        overlap.
     After receiving this proposal, the Commission shall
     entrust the work to be carried out to these organ-
     izations in accordance with the procedures described               The Commission shall coordinate the activities of this
     in points (a) and (b) as a function of the need to                 Committee with t^o^e of Committees existing in related
     draw up either European standards or common                        «°cto.a — where necessary on the basis of joint meetings
     technical specifications.                                          — particularly in areas of technical overlap.
                           Article 5                                                              Article 7
The Commission shall ensure that the standards, the                     1.    The Committee shall meet at least twice a year.
harmonization documents and the common technical
specifications defined in this way are applied in the case
of all Community projects and programmes, including                     2.    The Committee shall draw up its own rules of
public procurement          orders       financed      from     the     procedure.
Community budget.
                                                                        3.    The activities of the Committee and the infor-
Member States shall take all necessary steps to ensure                  mation submitted to it shall be confidential. Nevertheless,
that reference to European standards, harmonization                     subject to the necessary precautions, the Committee and
                                                                        the national authorities may seek the expert advice of
(') Directive proposed on the same date.                                natural or legal persons in the private sector.
 ---pagebreak--- 12.9. 85                                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                    N o C 232/7
                              Article 8                                                                Article 9
                                                                           Member States shall take the measures necessary to
Every two years the Commission shall submit a progress                     comply with this Directive by . . . (*) at the latest and
report to the European Parliament and the Council on                       shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
standardization activities in the information technology
sector. This report shall refer to the implementing                                                   Article 10
arrangements adopted within the Community, the results
obtained, the application of those results in public                       This Directive is addressed to the Member States.
procurement contracts, and, in particular, their practical
significance for certification.                                            (') Three months after the adoption of the Directive.
                                                                 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;
              (') 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).
 ---pagebreak--- 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;
 ---pagebreak---  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