The “Way Forward” White Paper notes that “without decisive action the EU risks becoming irrelevant in ICT standard setting which will take place almost entirely outside Europe and without regard to European needs,” and “it is indeed imperative to modernise the EU ICT standardisation policy and to fully exploit the potential of standard setting.” This comment argues that the EU should adopt the “ex ante due process criteria” and the “ex post viability criteria” listed in § 2.1 of the White Paper as EU policy as EU ICT standardisation policy. Recognition of ICT standards developed by fora and consortia with reference to these criteria is a necessary but not sufficient condition to achieving modernisation of EU ICT standardisation policy, however. In order to marshal the expertise necessary to determine whether individual standards meet the criteria, a new EU authority may be required. Such an EU authority could use the criteria to accredit fora and consortia; review applications to recognize ICT standards produced by fora and consortia and make recommendations to the Commission; maintain a database of accredited fora and consortia, and recognized fora and consortia standards; and support networks of local, regional and global private stakeholders, national regulatory bodies, EU institutions and multilateral organizations to provide input into and disseminate the results agency deliberations. Standards issues related to e-signatures are used as an example to show why such an approach is needed and how it might work.

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Please visit http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=1387 and join the discussion.

Professor Knut Blind just published an interesting comment, which is available here http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=1561.

Comments on the European Commission’s White Paper on ICT standardisation

Knut Blind

2009-09-02
First draft

1. Introduction

The European Commission’s White Paper “Modernising ICT Standardisation in the EU – The Way Forward” responds to some general trends, which require some adaptation of the European standardisation system. The first generic trend is the growing importance of ICT for the development of the global economy. Secondly, standardisation in ICT at the global level becomes more and more important, especially in times of progressing globalisation. Finally, European companies are losing shares in the global ICT markets and European stakeholders and institutions influence in global ICT standardisation.
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Talkstandards.com held an online forum September 2 about the EU White Paper on ICT standardization. Seven brief notes were presented and the subsequent discussion has been lively.

Further comments and views are most welcome! Please visit http://www.talkstandards.com/?p=1387 and join the discussion.

Background information: http://www.talkstandards.com/?page_id=1373.

Overall, I find this White Paper pragmatic and progressive. It’s four key points – market driven approach, global viewpoint, incorporation of IP and inclusion of informal fora and consortia – are all welcome.

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In a recently released white paper, entitled Modernising ICT Standardisation in the EU – The Way Forward, the Commission presents a cogent picture of the growing importance of standardization in the ICT sector and delineates a number of admirable goals.

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The Commission´s White Paper (“Modernising ICT Standardisation in the EU – The Way Forward”) articulates a number of sound and reasonable ideas. The discussion is based on the simple facts that ICT standardization is largely market-driven, global, innovation-based and informal.

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The European Commission White Paper entitled “Modernising ICT Standardisation in the EU” focuses on four substantive issues:

1) Standards in Government Procurement
2) Standards and Public Sector Research
3) Standards and Intellectual Property Rights
4) The Role of Consortia, Fora and Open Source Communities

I will offer a few brief comments on the first, third and fourth topics:

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Statement regarding COM(2009)324

“Modernising ICT standardisation – The Way Forward”

By Siemens AG Healthcare, Dr. Georg Heidenreich, Manager Healthcare IT Standards

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The EU legal framework for e-signatures is currently being reviewed, and this presents an opportunity for engaging with private ICT SDOs such as IETF, OASIS, W3C, Liberty Alliance with regard to this requirement in the 1999 E-Signature Directive:

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