NEWS

Do you want to know how standards, local business services and technology solutions are being used as powerful tools on businesses’ path to net-zero?

On 21 October, the European Committee of Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC) renewed their cooperation agreement for further five years. Through the agreement, the three organisations aim to enhance the exchange of knowledge and expertise between scientific research and European standardization.

In the face of natural or man-made disasters, urban search and rescue (SaR) teams and other first responders like police, medical units, civil protection or volunteers, race against the clock to locate survivors within the critical 72-hour timeframe (Golden Hours), facing challenges such as instable structures or hazardous environments but also insufficient situational awareness – all resulting in lengthy SaR processes.

CEN is happy to announce the recent publication of a new technical report, CEN/TR 17698 ‘Ergonomics - Demands and Availability of anthropometric and strength data of children in Europe’. This TR is based on the results of a project on anthropometric and strength data of children in Europe (funded by the European Commission). Its objective is to help relevant stakeholders to identify and possibly acquire the anthropometric and strength data they need to make their products or services.

CEN and CENELEC would like to congratulate Jo Cops, from Belgium, for his election as the next President of the IEC, the International Electrotechnical Commission. Mr Cops will start his mandate in 2023 and will succeed current President Yinbiao Shu.

Brussels/Vienna – 12 October 2021 - Thirty years ago, the global economy was placed on a new footing in Vienna: the Vienna Agreement set the course for even closer co-operation and collaboration. What has changed since then? Fewer barriers to trade, more harmonized rules and more room for innovation. Under the heading "From global to local: Joining forces to help global standards create local impact", the leaders of international standardization organizations such as CEN and ISO met again in Vienna on 11 October to further advance international co-operation.

The 2021 edition of the CEN and CENELEC Standards+Innovation Awards was presented on Tuesday 5 October 2021 to celebrate and acknowledge the important contribution of research and innovation to standardization.

Standards is one of the main elements that were discussed at the Trade and Technology Council between the EU and the US that took place in Pittsburgh last 29 September. 

Under the Renewable Energy Directive, fuels produced through co-processing can be accounted for their bio-based part. The European Commission sees the need for a verifiable option for allocating that bio-based content. As co-processing in a refinery is no constant factor, a viable alternative to Carbon14 testing – which is quite imprecise at the low levels of bio-based content - is required.