On 24 March, the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) held a Structured Dialogue with EVP Commissioner Séjourné to discuss the barriers preventing full harmonization of the Single Market. During the exchange, standardization was highlighted as one of the “Terrible 10” obstacles, with concerns raised that developing a standard takes, on average, eight years.
CEN and CENELEC welcome the increased political focus but would like to clarify the realities of standardization timelines as well as outline the concrete actions already underway to modernise the European Standardization System (ESS).
According to the European Commission’s 2025 evaluation of Regulation 1025/2012, the full process from standardization request to citation in the OJEU takes an average of 6.1 years. This reflects shared responsibility between the Commission requesting, assessing, and citing standards and the European Standardization Organisations in drafting standards. According to CEN and CENELEC data from 2024, the time to draft harmonized standards was 3.1 years for homegrown standards and 4.4 years for standards based on ISO and IEC work.
The development times for standards is significantly shorter than pre‑Regulation 1025/2012, but still too long for the needs of Europe’s fast‑moving economy.
CEN and CENELEC fully recognise the importance of improving efficiency and to this end, we are actively working on improving and modernizing the system to be fit for the future, including by further opening of the system, digitalizing and streamlining processes and creating new deliverables.
As the development process of standards depend on many interlinked steps of the stakeholders involved, in order to meet Europe’s ambitions improvements must take place across the full standardization chain. This requires all the stakeholders working together
A modern, coherent ESS is essential for Europe’s strategic autonomy, democratic legitimacy and global leadership. CEN and CENELEC remain committed to constructive cooperation with all European institutions to ensure a standardization system that delivers for Europe’s economy and long‑term prosperity.
You can find some additional data on the development timeframes and insights into the ongoing activities within CEN and CENELEC to ensure a future proof European Standardization System in this policy brief.
