Joint Annex III proposals for CEN and CENELEC governance reform are published
European stakeholder organisations representing SMEs, consumers, environmental interests, trade unions and SMEs in standardisation, collectively known as “the Annex III organisations”, have long been requesting the reinforcement and streamlining of inclusiveness in European, national and international standardisation in line with Regulation (EU) 1025/2012.
It is crucial that CEN and CENELEC further modernise their governance in order to help ensure the inclusiveness of the system and an effective participation of underrepresented stakeholders within the European Standardisation System. The paper seeks to identify particular areas within CEN and CENELEC the Annex III organisations believe that governance changes can and should be implemented.
Among the main points put forward are the overall strengthening of the role and rights of Annex III organisations within CEN and CENELEC and a rebalancing of representation of interests in standardisation a the national level. In particular, the lack of systematic and active facilitation of the participation of the constituencies of the Annex III organisations within National Standardisation Bodies (NSBs) has a knock-on effect on the adequate representation of the interests of all stakeholders at national, European, and international standardisation.