Press Release: European standardisation: harnessing the power of the market to deliver on public policy aims

The European Commission has published a new report on standardisation on 27th September 2001. The EU's market-led standardisation model is delivering the regulatory flexibility we need to keep pace with technological change, encourage innovative entrepreneurs, sustain the internal market's vitality, and duly protect the environment and consumer interests. The report notes that the European standards organisations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI have made good progress, both in stepping up their output of new standards and in cutting the costs of standardisation procedures, in fields where harmonised standards offer a presumption of conformity with requirements of single market directives. This makes it much easier to do business on the single market. In addition to the promising results achieved for construction product standards (the first harmonised ones for cement became available this year), other products benefiting from this system include toys, pleasure boats, pressure vessels, medical devices and personal protective equipment.

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/enterprise/standards_policy/index.htm http://ec.europa.eu/comm/enterprise/standards_policy/index.htm

---