CEN and CENELEC are committed to fostering an inclusive, open and transparent system and enhance the participation of all stakeholders in their activities, including SMEs and Civil Society representatives.
For this reason, during the CEN and CENELEC Annual Meeting that was held in Amsterdam on 24-27 June, the CEN and CENELEC Administrative Boards agreed to grant Small Business Standards (SBS) – the recognised Annex III organisation representing SMEs’ interests in the European Standardisation System under EU Regulation 1025/2012 – the Right of Opinion in the CEN and CENELEC Technical work.
SBS has been a long-time Partner of CEN and CENELEC under CEN and CENELEC Guide 25. The close cooperation between the 3 organisations has shown successful outcomes over the years, with greater consideration being given to the needs of SMEs in the development of standards. SBS is directly involved in over 60 Technical Committees and Sub-Committees across CEN and CENELEC, in a wide variety of sectors.
The Opinion Mechanism, described on CEN BOSS and CENELEC BOSS, was established in 2017, allowing the Annex III Societal Stakeholder Organisations in partnership with CEN and/or CENELEC – ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation, ECOS – Environmental Coalition on Standards, ETUC – European Trade Union Confederation – to submit an opinion on standards under development, as a complementary tool to their key participation at the national level.
During the Annual Meeting week, the CEN and CENELEC Administrative Boards extended the Right of Opinion to SBS as an important step to further facilitate its effective and valuable contribution to the European standardisation process. The Right of Opinion is an additional right to the right to submit comments at the Enquiry and Final Vote stage, which is already granted to the 4 Annex III Partner Organisations (ANEC, ECOS, ETUC and SBS).
In addition, the Boards further encouraged SBS to reinforce their activities with national SMEs and SME associations in engaging with CEN and CENELEC Members to exploit the full benefits of the national delegation principle.
This new step is fully aligned with CEN and CENELEC’s strategic objective to foster an inclusive CEN and CENELEC system as the gateway to standardisation in Europe, as laid out in the CEN-CENELEC Strategy 2030 and is in line with the European Standardisation Strategy, in particular pillar III on upholding the integrity, inclusiveness and accessibility of the European standardisation system.