NEWS

The Covid-19 pandemic made the need for shared rules on community face coverings particularly urgent. In response, CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, developed in record time an initial deliverable that could provide the necessary guidelines: CEN Workshop Agreement 17553:2020 ‘Community face coverings - Guide to minimum requirements, methods of testing and use’. Although a Workshop Agreement (also known as CWA) does not count as an official standard, as it involves no obligation at the national level, thanks to its simplified format it can be produced and disseminated very quickly, and therefore it can help fill urgent needs.