Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 from 2013 to 2015

This report (and the accompanying evaluation) assesses the performance of the European Standardisation System (ESS) including the Regulation since its entry into force in 2013, in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value. The report includes:
- Analyses of the implementation of the Regulation, through the reports provided by the ESOs and the Annex III organisations concerning the years 2013 and 2014;
- Evaluation of the relevance of standardisation activities receiving Union financing;
- Assessment of opportunities for simplifying the financing of European standardisation and reducing the administrative burden.

This evaluation is linked to the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme of the Commission because of the importance of standardisation as a way to harmonise the Single Market and of its impact on the competitiveness of the EU economy. This evaluation is of particular relevance to regulatory fitness: it draws upon studies or reports in relation to the ESS and its processes, specifically in relation to further involving particular stakeholders such as SMEs, refining Union financing and addressing the issue of administrative burden on the European standardisation organisations (ESOs) and the National standardisation bodies (NSBs).

Given the recent entry into force of the Regulation, a full ex post evaluation of the Regulation cannot be achieved due to the fact that a full cycle of the standardisation work requested by the Commission since 2013 has not yet been completed. This report (and the accompanying SWD) assesses whether the ESS is on track with achieving the objectives expected by the legislator when it reformed the standardisation system and adopted the Regulation and makes, where appropriate, recommendations on how to improve the implementation of the Regulation and the ESS.

The report is part of a comprehensive package on standardisation, including a Commission Communication on European standards for the 21st century and the annual Union work programme for European standardisation for 2017.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: SWD(2016)126: Analysis of the implementation of the Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 from 2013 to 2015 and factsheets http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2016:126:FIN

ESO: Background information: Commission takes steps to modernise EU's standardisation policy http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-commission-takes-steps-to-modernise-eus-standardisation-policy/

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