Turn on more
accessible mode Skip to main
content Turn off more
accessible mode

Search

FAQ

Sitemap

Contact
us

Home
page

New
to standards?

About
us

Members

Products

Our
services

Sectors

Work
area

News

Search
standards

Home page
> Products
> European Standards
(EN)

European
Standards (EN)

Draft
European Standards (prEN)

CEN
Workshop Agreements (CWA)

Technical
Specifications (TS)

Technical
Reports (TR)

Guides

Search
on CEN products

Latest
publications

Where to
obtain CEN products?

Print

European Standards (EN)

A standard (French: Norme, German: Norm) is a technical
publication that is used as a rule, guideline or definition.
Essentially, it is a repeatable way of doing something, developed
through consensus. Standards are created by bringing together all
interested parties including manufacturers, consumers and regulators
of a particular material, product, process or service.
Everyone benefits from standardization through increased product
safety and quality as well as lower transactions costs and
prices.

The definition of a standard is given in Part 3 of the CEN/CENELEC Internal
Regulations.

A European Standard (EN) is a document that has
been adopted by one of the three recognized European Standardization
Organizations: CEN, CENELEC or ETSI. An EN is available, in
principle, in the three official languages of CEN (English, French
and German).

European Standards are a key component of the Single European
Market. Perhaps rather technical and 'hidden' from the public and
media, but they represent one of the most important issues for
business. These technical documents - perceived as irrelevant to
some organizations - are crucial for facilitating trade and hence
have high visibility among manufacturers inside and outside Europe.
A standard represents a model specification, a technical solution
against which a market can trade. It codifies best practice and is
usually state of the art.

In essence, standards relate to products, services or systems.
Today standards are no longer created solely for technical reasons
but have also become platforms to enable greater social
inclusiveness and engagement with technology, as well as convergence
and interoperability within a growing market across industries.

Developing a European Standard

In CEN, the development of an EN is governed by the principles of
consensus, openness and transparency.

Consensus reflects the economic and social interests of 31 CEN
Member countries channeled through their National Standards Bodies.
The development of the standards is driven by business and each one
is drafted by experts in the field. In building European consensus,
industry, trade federations, public authorities, academia and NGO
representatives are invited to contribute to the standardization
process. It is this open participation which accounts for the
strength of European standardization.

The standardization process includes the following steps:

Proposal

Acceptance

Drafting

CEN
Enquiry

Adoption
by weighted vote

Publication
of the EN

Review
of the EN

Proposal – Starting the
work

In principle, any interested party is able to introduce a
proposal for new work in CEN. Most standardization work is proposed
through the National Standards Bodies.

Top

Acceptance

The appropriate CEN Technical Committee makes a decision on the
adoption of the proposal. An accepted standardization project is
allocated to one of its working groups for the drafting of a
standard.

If the proposal is for a new field of standardization activity, a
decision is made by the CEN Technical Board first. The
participants in the Technical Board include all National Standards
Bodies and all standardization partners such as consumers, trade
unions, European industry and the counselors namely the European
Commission (EC) and European Free Trade Association Secretariat
(EFTA).

One of the principles of standardization in CEN is that, once a
project to develop a standard has been accepted, the National
Standards Bodies put all national activity within the scope of the
project on hold. This means that they do not initiate new projects,
nor revise existing standards at national level. This obligation is
called 'standstill' and allows efforts to be focused on the
development of European Standards.

Top

Drafting

The EN is then developed by experts appointed in a working group
of the Technical Committee .

Top

CEN Enquiry – public comment at
national level

Once the draft of a European Standard is prepared, it is released
for public comment, a process known in CEN as the 'CEN Enquiry'.
During the public commenting stage, everyone who has an interest
(e.g. manufacturers, public authorities, consumers, etc.) may
comment on the draft. These views are collated by the 31 National
Standards Bodies and analyzed by the CEN Technical Committee.

Top

Adoption by weighted
vote

Taking into account the comments resulting from the CEN Enquiry,
a final version is drafted which is then submitted to the 31 CEN
Members for a weighted Formal Vote.

Top

Publication of the
European Standard (EN)

After its adoption, each of the 31 National Standards Bodies
publishes the new EN as an identical national standard and withdraws
any national standards that conflict with it. Hence, one EN becomes
a national standard in the 31 member countries of CEN. This is
unique in the world and guarantees that a manufacturer, for example,
has easier access to the market of all these European countries when
applying European Standards.

For example, the EN on toy safety, EN 71, has been adopted as NF
EN 71 by AFNOR in France and as EVS EN 71 by EVS in Estonia. These
standards are made available by the National Standards Body in each
country.

Top

Review of the EN

To ensure that a European Standard is still current, it is
reviewed at least once every five years. A review is initiated by
the Secretary of the Technical Committee (TC) after 4 years. It may
be carried out earlier at the request of the TC, the Technical
Bureau (BT), a CEN National Member, the European Commission,
the European Free Trade Association Secretariat or the CEN
Management Centre (CMC). If no TC exists, it is the responsibility
of the BT to decide, after close examination, on the proposal
prepared by the CMC.

As a result, the EN may be confirmed, withdrawn,
amended of revised.

Top

For more information please download:

CEN Compass

Standards matter - Bird's eye view on European
standardization (presentation)

How to get started... Developing a European Standard
- The process (presentation)

Harmonized Standards

Harmonized Standards are European Standards that are produced by
CEN, CENELEC, or ETSI under a mandate given by the European
Commission. In general, these standards support the essential
requirements of a New Approach Directive.

A list of Harmonized Standards is available here. Please click on 'Subject (short title
of directive)' to view the list of titles and references of
harmonized standards under the directive.

Beyond Europe

European Standards are drafted in a global perspective. CEN has
signed the 'Vienna Agreement' with the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) through which common European and
international standards can be developed in parallel. More than 30%
of the whole collection of the European Standards adopted by CEN are
identical to the international standards. These EN/ISO standards
have the dual benefits of automatic and identical implementation in
31 CEN Member countries, and global applicability...

More information in the BOSS - Business Operation
Support System

The Vienna Agreement – CEN as an international
partner (presentation)

© 2009 CEN. All rights reserved. Terms
of use