NEWS
In 2023, the European Single Market celebrates its 30th anniversary. Since its creation in 1993, the Single Market has established itself as one of the EU’s greatest and most brilliant achievements: by facilitating trade across borders, reducing red tape, and ensuring the same levels of safety and quality, it has helped make everyday life easier for people and businesses, fuelling jobs and growth across the EU.
On 23 January, Elena Santiago Cid, Director General of CEN and CENELEC, was invited to speak at the European Parliament during the hearing on Standardization in the Single Market held by the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).
The new year is an opportunity to start things right. In this spirit, on 13 January, the directors of CEN and CENELEC met with the new Chief Standardization Officer of the European Commission, Maive Rute, for a strategic conversation on European Standardization. Mrs Rute was accompanied by Sophie Müller, Head of Unit, and Matthias Bergdahl, Deputy Head of Unit Standards Policy at the European Commission.
The preparations for the High-Level Forum on European Standardization officially began on 10 January 2023, with the first meeting of the Sherpa sub-group. CEN and CENELEC are proud to be sending three experts each to the Sherpa sub-group, to contribute to the coordination of the Green, Digital, and Resilient priorities which will steer the work of High-Level Forum.
The European standardisation system is a global success story. After the release of the European Standardisation Strategy in 2022, it became clear that the work of standardisation was growing in its role as an integral tool of the European Single Market.
Elena Santiago Cid, CEN and CENELEC’s Director General, spoke at the “Cooperating on Digital Policy and Tech Standards” panel during the dedicated hybrid stakeholder roundtable at the occasion of the third Ministerial Meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) between the EU and the US. The TTC is a key forum to deepen transatlantic cooperation to facilitate trade and develop global standards on technology and security.
On 4 October 2022, the EU Parliament voted in favour of adopting a common charger for the EU single market, through an amendment to the Radio Equipment Directive (RED), which establishes a single charging solution for small and medium size electronic devices regardless of their manufacturer. Those devices shall be equipped with USB-C receptable at the device side by 2024 to access the EU market. The same requirements will also become applicable to laptops in 2026.
In a recently published position paper, CEN (the European Committee for Standardization) and CENELEC (the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) warmly welcome the draft “Code of Practice on Standardization for Researchers” proposed by the European Commission.
On 12 October, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU struck a political agreement on the Amendment proposed to Regulation 1025/2012, which regulates standardization in Europe. CEN and CENELEC look forward to working together with the EU institutions to reinforce the European Standardization System.
On 4 October, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting a common charger for the EU single market. CEN and CENELEC welcome the decision and look forward to continuing to support this legislation through our standardization activities.