NEWS
Today, the European Commission published its proposal for the New Standardization Regulation, which would repeal Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012. CEN and CENELEC support the objective of making European standardization faster and more effective. However, several elements of the proposal risk weakening the very system it seeks to improve. Reform should strengthen, not fragment, the successful system Europe already has.
CEN and CENELEC welcome the proposal from the European Commission to revise the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR) and In-Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (IVDR), supporting efforts to ensure a regulatory framework that is robust, transparent and sustainable, while continuing to safeguard public health and foster innovation.
CEN and CENELEC welcome the European Commission’s EU Tech Sovereignty Package, published on 3 June, and its strong focus on Europe’s capacity to develop, deploy and scale trusted digital technologies and infrastructure.
EU Ministers gathered in Brussels yesterday for the Competitiveness Council. Across discussions on industry, research, and space, the meetings reflect a strong political commitment to strengthening Europe’s competitiveness, resilience, and innovation capacity.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.