NEWS
EN ISO 12100, widely regarded as the cornerstone standard for machinery safety, underpins all machinery standards linked to the Machinery Directive and the upcoming Machinery Regulation. This so-called ‘A-type standard’ has been under revision for several years now to accommodate the new health and safety requirements introduced by the future Machinery Regulation. Given its central role, its revision is expected to have far-reaching implications for worker protection across Europe. The ETUC has therefore been actively participating in this work.
We are pleased to inform you about the upcoming CEN and CENELEC activities in 2026.
To mark International Women's Day 2026, the International Federation of Standards Users (IFAN) organized a special webinar and released new conversations through the recently launched IFAN Podcast, highlighting the contribution of women to the global standardization system.
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).
A joint online technical exchange between CEN-CLC/JTC 25 'Data management, Dataspaces, Cloud and Edge' and SAC/TC 609 'Data' took place on 20 March. The meeting brought together the leadership of both technical committees, with the participation of CCMC and SESEC expert Dr. Betty Xu, who also contributed to facilitating the discussions.
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.
The 4th meeting of the High-Level Forum on European Standardization took place on 19 March 2026, gathering together high-level representatives of Member States and relevant stakeholders in standardization.
The February issue of the CEN and CENELEC newsletter 'On the Spot' is out now!
European legislation such as the EU Green Deal, the revised Construction Products Regulation (CPR-2024), and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD-2024) emphasize the importance of assessing the environmental performance of construction products with a life-cycle perspective.
The European Standardization Organizations (ESOs) CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI, together with European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), successfully co-hosted the 10th Cybersecurity Standardization Conference on 12 March 2026 in Brussels.