NEWS
On 14 October, ANEC joined the global celebration of World Standards Day 2026, under the theme “Shared vision for a better world: Spotlight on SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy”.
The ETUC participated in the 15th CEN-CENELEC JTC 21 Artificial Intelligence Plenary and Working Group meetings, held from 6 to 9 October in Winterthur, Switzerland.
The Croatian Standards Institute (HZN) marked World Standards Day on 14 October by holding the sixth session of its Technical Council, bringing together HZN members, Governing Board representatives and staff. Participants included Mr Goran Romek, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy and President of HZN’s Governing Board.
Reflecting on a high-impact week in Paris, the active presence of the International Federation of Standards Users (IFAN) at both global and national levels reaffirmed the organization's continued commitment to advancing international cooperation and standardization excellence.
Pressurized systems are found at the core of many of our key industries, including hospitals, chemical plants, and nuclear power stations – they are even in the heating systems in our homes. Sudden failure of these systems can be catastrophic, so industry first started work to standardize the design, operation, and maintenance in the 1880s. EN ISO 24817:2026 provides guidance on using advanced composite materials such as carbon or glass fibre reinforced epoxy resins (as an alternative to traditional methods) to enable the continued, safe operation of pressurized systems where inspection identifies points of concern.
On 15 October, Andreea Gulacsi, Director of Policy and External Affairs at CEN and CENELEC, participated in a public hearing of the European Parliament's Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) on the European Product Act. The hearing brought together representatives of the European Commission, national authorities, consumer organizations, industry and standardization bodies to discuss the New Standardization Regulation as well as the upcoming European Product Act that will set the future of EU product legislation.
World Standards Day this year marked an additional milestone for Europe's AI ecosystem. The day coincided with the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) of the Commission Implementing Decision citing the first harmonized standard in support of the AI Act: EN 18286:2026 'Artificial Intelligence – Quality management system for EU AI Act regulatory purposes'.
Today, 14 October, we celebrate World Standards Day under the theme 'Shared vision for a better world: Spotlight on SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy'
Today, the European Commission published its proposal for the New Standardization Regulation, which would repeal Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012. CEN and CENELEC support the objective of making European standardization faster and more effective. However, several elements of the proposal risk weakening the very system it seeks to improve. Reform should strengthen, not fragment, the successful system Europe already has.
A new CEN/CLC Workshop is being established to explore the options of second life batteries in the context of an interoperable Battery Management System (BMS). The Workshop stems from work being done in Battery2Life – a project aiming to bring innovation to the European battery industry.