Today, the European Commission adopted the 2016 Annual Union Work Programme (AUWP) for European standardisation. The AUWP identifies the main objectives of European standardisation in relation to the Commission priority to create new jobs and boost growth in the EU.

The programme:

  • Sets out the objectives for the international dimension of European standardisation in support of EU legislation and policies.
  • Indicates the European standards the Commission will request from the European standardisation organisations (CEN, CENELEC, ETSI) and defines the specific objectives and policies these standards support.
  • Proposes actions for greater involvement of all stakeholders in the standardisation process (industry, small and medium-sized enterprises, consumers, environmental organisations and trade unions).
  • Emphasises the need to better link research and innovation activities with standardisation. This should enable a timely start of standardisation activities and contribute to improving the competitiveness of European businesses, including SMEs.

Specific actions envisaged in the AUWP facilitate consumer use of alternative fuels and information sharing in the area of maritime security.

For example, the programme foresees standardisation work to implement the Clean Power for Transport package. In addition to the ongoing standardisation work in this area, standards on labelling will be developed to provide users with simple and easy to understand information on the compatibility of their vehicles with fuels or electricity re-charging points.

And to help bring down barriers and unlock online opportunities in the EU Digital Single Market, the Commission will request the standardisation organisations to develop standards enhancing automatic information sharing between the national authorities involved in maritime surveillance. These standards will be crucial to promote and ease cross-sector and cross-border information sharing.

For more information:

European Commission - Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs issued this content on 2016-01-06 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 2016-01-08 12:26:15 UTC

Original Document: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8616&lang=en&tpa_id=0&title=Standards%2Din%2D2016:%2DThe%2DAnnual%2DUnion%2DWork%2DProgramme%2Dfor%2DEuropean%2Dstandardisation