How European Standards are developed to support European Directives

This article describes the overall process used for the preparation of European Standards, how papers are circulated between CEN itself, CEN Technical Committees and National Technical Committees and finally how it is possible to get involved in the standards drafting process.

Direct involvement in the drafting process can give very positive advantages including an insight into the technical requirements within a standard, new contacts with Engineers from all over Europe and a good understanding of how standards are used in removing barriers to trade.

General (Directives and Harmonised standards)
A New Approach Directive is a legislative act of the European Union which requires member states to achieve its essential requirements without dictating the means of achieving that result. The European Commission (EC) is involved both at the very beginning (drafting and bringing into force each Directive) and at the very end of the standardization process (publishing each harmonized standard in the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Union).

Harmonized Standards are European Standards that support the essential requirements of a New Approach Directive (e.g. The Pressure Equipment Directive). These are produced by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) or European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

The overall responsibility for drafting Harmonized standards is given by the EC, via a Mandate to CEN who then give that responsibility, through the CEN CENELEC Management Centre to one of its Technical Committees.

Committee relationships, responsibilities and membership
Each CEN Technical Committee (CEN/TC) has responsibility for drafting standards within its scope, interpret the Essential Safety Requirements of a Directive and include them in a standard. In the UK, the work of each CEN/TC is shadowed by a National Technical committee (see Figure 2).

Each CEN/TC is responsible for the co-ordination of its own programme of work and answering any questions related to the clarification of requirements in its portfolio of standards, having its own Chairman and Secretary and monitored by a Programme Manager in CCMG.

At CEN/TC level, National opinions are expressed (which are decided by National Technical Committees with the help of the National Standards Body) and meetings are attended by National Delegations (appointed and briefed by the National Technical Committee).

At CEN Working group (CEN/WG) level, meetings are attended by experts and individual opinions are expressed. This is where the detailed drafting work for each standard is carried out.

National opinions are debated and decided in National Technical Committees and the process is facilitated by National Standards Bodies (in the UK, BSI).

A BSI technical committee is responsible for:

a) all standards in its portfolio
b) British Standards in its portfolio, answering technical queries
c) considering all the responses received following the circulation of a paper, draft standard or standard requiring comment and discussing and agreeing the UK position to be taken regarding each one
d) appointing and briefing UK delegates and delegations to attend CEN TC meetings
e) nominating UK Experts to take part in WG activities

There are three ways to take part in the work of a BSI Technical Committee:

f) being put forward by a nominating body (e.g. a Trade Association, Consumer Body, Professional Institution or a Trade Union). This is the preferred route by BSI and formally the member expresses the view of their nominating organization
g) having a particular area of expertise that is relevant to the work of the committee and so be nominated as an Individual Member (e.g. Individual Member – Gate valves)
h) being co-opted

BSI Technical Committee Members (however they are nominated) are expected to attend as many meetings as they can and contribute (e.g. by email) as often as they can. Internationally, in Europe and the UK, all documents, information and standards are now distributed via the internet.

Comment progression
Comments are requested at various times during the development of a standard (see Figure 3) and are submitted in two ways:

a) expressing the UK position (which has been discussed and agreed in the responsible National Technical Committee) for votes which are administered through the CEN CENELEC Management Centre
b) expressing the National Technical Committee position for votes which are administered through the CEN/TC itself

At the Initial Draft stage, technical and editorial comments put forward by the Working Group experts can be submitted. When considered good enough it can be issued for wider circulation and comment as a Committee Draft.

At the Committee Draft stage, technical and editorial comments can be submittedby NSB’s on behalf of their National Technical Committees. Once a re-drafted standard has been prepared including all the accepted comments, it is passed to CEN CENELEC Management Centre for Technical Enquiry circulation.

At the Technical Enquiry -Draft European Standard (prEN)- stage, technical and editorial comments can be submitted. Voting positions and comments are agreed in National Technical Committees and put forward by each NSB. In the UK, this process includes, the Public comment period in order that comments can be solicited and submitted by people and organizations outside the National Technical Committee. Once a re-drafted standard has been prepared taking account of all the agreed comments, it is passed to CEN CENELEC Management Centre for Formal Vote circulation.

At the Formal Vote -Final Draft European Standard (FprEN)- stage, only editorial comments can be submitted. Voting positions and comments are agreed in National Technical Committees and submitted by each NSB. This includes an assessment by the responsible CEN Consultant regarding the level of alignment of the draft European Standard with the Essential Safety Requirements of the Directive with which it is claiming compliance.

Until the CEN Consultant has assessed and agreed its wording, the draft European Standard cannot be accepted for publication in the Official Journal. Once a redrafted standard has been prepared taking account of all the accepted comments, it is passed to the CEN CENELEC Management Centre for consideration for being published in the Official Journal.

Once the standard has passed through all these stages and is published in the Official Journal it becomes a harmonized standard and each EC Country then has to adopt it as a National Standard (a BS EN in the UK) and withdraw any conflicting National Standards.

Published: 28th June 2013