NEWS
On 21 January 2026, the European Commission adopted its proposal for a Cybersecurity Act 2, aiming to revise the existing Cybersecurity Act of 2019. This revision responds to the significantly evolving cybersecurity threat landscape, shaped by increasing digitalization and a more complex geopolitical environment.
Over the last few months, CEN and CENELEC have been reaching out to the European Parliament regarding the drafting of the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and the 10th EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10, 2028-2034), the successor to Horizon Europe. Together with national Members, CEN and CENELEC will continue to reach out to the Members of Parliament in the ITRE committee to convince them to build on the European Standardization Strategy and the Guiding Principles of Knowledge Valorisation and Code of Practice on Standardization in the European Research Area (full article here).
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 European Commission’s initiative to revise Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement with the aim of increasing simplicity, flexibility, and transparency.
The European Commission has confirmed that the revision of the Standardization Regulation (EU Regulation no. 1025/2012) will be carried out in parallel with the revision of the New Legislative Framework Regulation and the Market Surveillance Regulation, resulting in a package of the European Product Act (EPA). CEN and CENELEC support this approach to ensure alignment with the three Regulations to strengthen European quality infrastructure.
In January, CEN and CENELEC participated in the European Commission’s public consultation on the European Research Area Act, the flagship initiative aimed at closing the EU’s innovation gap and making Europe the most attractive destination for researchers.
Europe faces growing geopolitical pressures and a rapidly evolving defence landscape. To build a resilient and competitive European defence sector, standardization must be integrated early and systematically into defence policy, planning, procurement, and capability development.
The war in Ukraine has made defence a top priority for Europe. Numerous policies focus on increasing European defence capabilities through greater cooperation and coordination of national defence forces, developing measures for interoperability, joint procurement, reducing industrial fragmentation, and strengthening supply chains.
The current lack of a dedicated, strategic framework for European defence standardization is an important opportunity to engage defence stakeholders and ensure standardization is focused on meeting their urgent and long-term needs.
Digital standards increasingly shape how digital markets function, how public services are delivered, and how innovation scales across borders. From digital identification and payment systems to Digital Product Passports (DPP), data exchange, and cybersecurity, standards form the technical foundation of the digital economy. The World Development Report 2025 (WDR) highlights that these standards are not neutral: they embed choices about interoperability, competition, and governance. This perspective is also reflected in the European Framework for Science Diplomacy, which recognizes standards as practical instruments for international cooperation, trust-building, and market shaping.
The European space sector is undergoing rapid expansion driven by increasing demand for space-based data and services. To support a competitive and innovative internal market, the European Commission proposed an EU Space Act. The initiative aims to harmonize rules for space operators, improve space object tracking, strengthen cybersecurity, and establish a common method for assessing environmental impacts, ensuring legal certainty and safeguarding the long-term use of space.
Standards are a proven instrument to operationalize EU legislation while reducing regulatory burdens and supporting SMEs. By building on the New Legislative Framework (NLF), the CEA can rely on harmonized standards to provide presumption of conformity with legal requirements, while leaving room for innovation. The consultation has identified barriers to a more integrated circular economy, including divergent classifications of waste and secondary raw materials, weak competitiveness of recyclates, insufficient transparency on recyclability and material composition, and resource loss due to inefficient collection, sorting and data gaps. Today, divergent national practices undermine the single market. Standards can directly address these challenges by establishing common definitions, quality criteria and testing methods across Europe.