This EU standardization white paper is a weak attempt to focus on important issues. What is an ICT standard? Is a cell phone battery standard an ICT standard? Is a computer environmental disposal standard an ICT standard? Are the standards for telephone electronic components ICT standards? In fairness I do recognize this paper discusses standards that apply to the compatibility of computer or communications systems or equipment, less confusingly termed “compatibility” standards. The confused title is only preamble. Considering that the EU does not even have a reasonable (or widely accepted) definition of a technical standard proposing goals for a “quality” standard or “open” standard is meaningless.

Read More…

Standardisation of ICT solutions is an essential enabler for climate change. Whether it is for infrastructures supported by ICT (buildings, energy networks, logistics…) or ICT infrastructure itself (fixed and mobile networks, data centres, PC’s…and the various applications running on these…), interoperability of ICT products and services enable energy reduction in two ways: firstly by avoiding (or at least reducing) the need for development of interfaces between systems, which themselves require hardware to run, consuming unnecessary energy;
Read More…

Photo: Xavier Häpe

The World Standards Day 2009 conference ‘European Standardisation for the next decade’ organised by the European Commission was also used to publish the issue paper of the EXPRESS group. Several issues were up for debate by expert panels.
Read More…

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.

Read More…