Standardisation, innovation and the role of standards in support to EU legislation
Published: 23 June 2008
Policies & Issues: Internal Market - Compliance, Standards & Enforcement
EC Communication on standards and innovation COM(2008)133 final
Orgalime generally welcomes the Commission’s initiative to strengthen public awareness of the role of standards and to facilitate access to standardisation, where necessary. This we believe is essential at a time when the New Legislative Framework (NLF) offers the opportunity of reinforcing the use of standards in support to EU regulation.
Nevertheless, there are several instances in the Communication where the role the Commission wishes to play and its objectives are not clear, as we comment thereafter in more details.
* We see a role for standards in support for innovation, not in priority actions.
* We welcome the development of standards to support Directive 2005/32/EC on the eco-design of Energy-using Products (EuP)
* It is up to innovation builders to decide whether to engage in formal standardisation or in developing other deliverables
* We support the promotion of the use of international standards
* We have concerns about increasing Community funding to “designated” interest groups without the possibility for sector-specific associations to benefit from similar funding possibilities in order to increase their participation of relevant experts in the various standards committees
* The Commission’s intention to provide free access to standards developed in support of EU legislation and policy needs thorough consideration