CEN and CENELEC are reshaping standardization with the SMART project! This groundbreaking project has now delivered its second phase which allows Technical Committees to publish their SMART standards.
The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of SMART was delivered in January 2025 which allowed standards to be developed in SMART up to the Enquiry stage. The second phase of the project has been implemented, and it is now possible, as promised, for SMART standards to go all the way to Formal Vote and Publication!
But what is SMART, and how does it work? Continue reading to know more!
The benefits of SMART
SMART provides an innovative tool to draft new standards. It streamlines the drafting process by providing a pre-structured layout. This allows drafters to focus fully on the content rather than formatting. Drafters will be able to tag requirements, enabling end users to extract them easily.
In the past, standards were essentially written as a simple free text. SMART changes this and helps drafters structure the content of standards. For example, the type of information (requirements, permissions and so on) will need to be clearly identified and tagged, and provisions will need to be SMART (Standards that are Machine Applicable, Readable and Transferable).
But the real objectives of SMART are to provide benefits to standard users. Using a variety of tools such as wizards, imports/exports or data integrations that may be provided by Members, standard users will be able to automatically extract a structured list of the elements which were tagged. This will improve clarity and simplify implementation for standard users.
SMART standards mark a pivotal shift in European standardization, offering innovative tools for more efficient drafting and implementation. By integrating advanced functionalities, SMART addresses the evolving needs of both drafters and users, paving the way for a more effective standardization process.
Learn more about SMART from this video below:
CEN and CENELEC Technical Committees (TCs) interested in using SMART should contact the SMART mailbox (smart@cencenelec.eu). Availability is limited to maximum 20 TCs.
Please consult the project webpages SMART Standards - Experts CEN or SMART Standards - Experts CENELEC to find the dates of the upcoming training sessions or contact us on smart@cencenelec.eu
