.. to coordinate the standardization activities in the field of Information and Communications Technologies

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CENELEC - European Committee for Electronical Standardization

http://www.cenelec.eu

CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, was created in 1973 as a result of the merger of two previous European organizations: CENELCOM and CENEL. Nowadays, CENELEC is a non-profit technical organization set up under Belgian law and composed of the National Electrotechnical Committees of 30 European countries. In addition, 8 National Committees from neighbouring countries are participating in CENELEC work with an Affiliate status.

CENELEC’s mission is to prepare voluntary electrotechnical standards that help develop the Single European Market/European Economic Area for electrical and electronic goods and services removing barriers to trade, creating new markets and cutting compliance costs.

For doing this, CENELEC is strongly committed to:

• Satisfy the needs of the European industry and other stakeholders in the market place in the areas of standardisation and conformity assessment in the fields of electricity, electronics and associated technologies.
• Lead the improvement of all aspects of product quality, product safety, service quality and service safety in the fields of electricity, electronics and associated technologies, including protec¬tion of the environment, accessibility and innovation, and so to contribute to the wel¬fare of society.
• Support IEC, the International Electrotechnical Commission, in achieving its mission: To be globally recognised as the pro¬vider of standards and conformity assessment and related services needed to facilitate international trade in the fields of electricity, electronics and associ¬ated technologies.

The priority areas for CENELEC standardization work are those which determine the safety and the free movement of goods and services and/or that are directly or indirectly related to EU Directives. These are mainly:

• The development and implementation in Europe of a portfolio of European Electrotechnical Standards as far as possible in full conformity with the relevant international standards for electrotechnology prepared by the IEC, the International Electrotechnical Commission.
• Proposals and drafts introduced by CENELEC’s Cooperating Partners, consumers’ associations and social partners.
• The scope of all New Approach Directives concerning the electrotechnical field.
• Specific proposals by CENELEC members for the preparation of relevant European Standards. This includes the aim to feed the resulting drafts into the international work at IEC level.
• Requests of the relevant user industry and authorities to start the creation of standards needed for the free movement and/or certification of electronic components.

The latest technological development as well as evolution of the energy market in the European Union have led to two new additional areas of standardization for CENELEC:

• Merging technologies, like the ICT field, lead to obscure borderlines, responsibilities and scopes for standards organizations. The consequence is confusion for standardizers and delay of standardization work, while experts care for timeliness of standards. At the same time a solid standards contribution for the European infrastructure in the ICT field is in demand.
• CENELEC observes that the energy market moves from national monopolies to international ownership in a free market. The new market forces and an increasing political attention towards energy conservation as well as emerging technologies like small-scale cogeneration or fuel cells will require support from standardization work to achieve optimal results.

Other specific proposals are made by CENELEC members, or relevant areas of industry, to prepare European Standards, but also with the aim of feeding relevant drafts into international work in IEC:

• Co-operation with IEC: More than 90 per cent of the work of the International Electrotechnical Commission is used as the inspiration for European Standards prepared by CENELEC, and indeed in 70 per cent of cases, the European Standards are identical to the International Standards. This unique arrangement is governed by the Dresden Agreement which foresees parallel voting of standards and parallel enquiry at the end of the drafting stage. Correct implementation in all European countries with as few local changes as possible, helps European industry in markets worldwide.