Elena Santiago Cid, CEN and CENELEC’s Director General, spoke at the “Cooperating on Digital Policy and Tech Standards” panel during the dedicated hybrid stakeholder roundtable at the occasion of the third Ministerial Meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) between the EU and the US. The TTC is a key forum to deepen transatlantic cooperation to facilitate trade and develop global standards on technology and security.
In her intervention, Mrs Santiago emphasized the importance of inclusive, voluntary, and market-driven international standards framed by shared values and a well-functioning public-private partnership for building trust in uncertain times.
Standards can contribute to an inclusive digital society and build a shared ecosystem of trust. CEN and CENELEC develop standards for cutting-edge digital technologies, such as cybersecurity, AI, blockchain, quantum, Fintech, eAccessibility. Whenever possible, their standardization activities build on work already initiated in international bodies such as ISO and IEC, while still aligning with European values that respond to relevant European policy needs.
Mrs Santiago Cid also highlighted how it is essential to make the respective EU and US reference networks interoperable, while taking into account the needs and interests of policy makers and stakeholders. Making the outmost of the EU-US standards cooperation requires the ability to jointly anticipate future challenges and to increase efforts in engaging interested stakeholders. For this reason, in order to be able to maximise the social, trade and economic benefits of the standards cooperation, it is crucial to ensure stakeholders’ engagement, together with a common understanding of the objectives.
