European Economic
and Social Committee
The annual Union work programme for European standardisation for 2018 (communication)
Key points
The EESC:
- welcomes the 2018 standardisation programme but recommends that in future versions a summary of compliance with previous programmes be included;
- calls on the Commission to maintain adequate budgetary resources and the necessary staffing to meet the objectives of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012;
- suggests that the EESC could create an ad hoc forum on the inclusiveness of the European Standardisation System;
- raises concerns regarding the Digital Single Market (DSM), whereby world-wide "de facto" standards are often driven by non-EU industry giants with negative consequences;
- recommends that the European Standard Organisations (ESOs) should simplify the procedures for Annex III organisations to access the standards drafting process and as such "lower the barrier" for effective participation;
- welcomes the different Joint Initiative on Standardisation (JIS) actions but also proposes to consider the indirect effects of the standard-setting activities on issues such as dislocation of jobs, inclusiveness of society, education and training, etc.
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