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.
Besides the presentations , the panel discussion encouraged discussions around the following issues. First, the role of the European Standardisation System, especially the three European Standardisation Organisations was discussed. Here, especially the relation to and the influence on the international standardisation bodies has been addressed. In addition, the relationship between the formal standardisation bodies and consortia and fora has been a disputable issue, which has been touched in the following panel discussion.
In the second panel, a first topic being discussed was the adequate representation of consumer interest in national and European standardisation processes, which is obviously lacking – with a few exceptions – in most countries. The second topic of a better and more efficient integration between research and standardisation was in general supported, but the options to make progress are depending on the institutions being responsible for research funding, which need to be convinced with strong arguments. Here, the positioning of standardisation in the upcoming European Innovation Plan is an important strategic step. The issue of the handling IPR in standards remained open in the sense of no consensus on specific recommendations.
Finally, the future of the European Standardisation System has been discussed in the third panel. On the one hand, the closer collaboration between the three European Standardisation Organisations has been addressed especially taking converging technologies into account. On the other hand, the role of the national and European Standardisation Bodies in the international standardisation system has been discussed.
Finally, the role of consortia especially in their interplay with the European Standardisation Organisations remained unsolved. In summary, the differentiated landscape of standardisation organisations calls both for an effective and efficient framework organising their competition and for mechanisms for cooperation taking the needs of users and implementers of standards, but also of policy makers and governments into account.
