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On the Spot - Issue 66 • October 2025

Under the title “Europe as a global standard-setter – between AI, alliances and competitive-ness”, Austrian Standards hosted talks on 11 November 2025 as part of the WE NORM THE FUTURE | Summit 2025. Valerie Höllinger, CEO of Austrian Standards, was delighted to welcome more than 300 participants. In her speech, she emphasized that standardization is an essential framework within which Europe's future is taking shape.

The Online Standards Development (OSD) platform, jointly develop by ISO and IEC, aims to replace the Word-based standard development way-of-working with a unique, harmonized and collaborative space for all contributors from the drafting stages all the way through to publication. The project is a cornerstone of the CEN and CENELEC Strategy 2030 Goal 2 “Our customers and stakeholders benefit from state-of-the-art digital solutions”.

ANEC took part in the CEN-CENELEC event, “Setting the Standard: A Strategic Dialogue for an Inclusive Standardization System” on 17 November 2025, where Deputy Director General, Chiara Giovannini, joined a panel of societal and SME representatives. The audience was comprised of CEN-CENELEC members and representatives of the EU institutions.

More than 1,000 interested parties from European Commission, business, administra-tion, science and civil society made it clear how central standardization is as a lever for innovation and competitiveness. Over three days, the WE NORM THE FUTURE | Summit 2025 covered a wide range of topics, from expert talks on the European standardization strategy and the circular economy to the annual construction conference. All formats focused on dialogue: intensive discussions were held along the entire value chain on how complex future issues can be translated into viable solutions with the help of standards.

The ETUC took part in the plenary meeting of the CEN-CENELEC Joint Technical Committee 21 on Artificial Intelligence, held from 18 to 21 November in Copenhagen. The meeting brought together delegates from across Europe, along with international observers, to advance the standards requested by the European Commission to support the implementation of the AI Act’s requirements for high-risk AI systems.

As Europe accelerates its transition toward cleaner transport, inland waterways are expected to play an essential role. One promising solution is methanol, a fuel that can be produced from renewable sources and that burns more cleanly than traditional fuels. To support its safe uptake, CEN/TC 15 ‘Inland Navigation Vessels’ has developed EN 18071:2025 ‘Inland navigation vessels – Methanol bunkering’, a new European Standard that sets out clear technical and operational requirements for refuelling vessels with methanol.

Sleep apnoea breathing therapy depends not only on the performance of the therapy device itself, but also on the safety and reliability of the interface that connects the patient to it. EN ISO 17510:2025 addresses this critical link by specifying safety and performance requirements for masks and application accessories used in sleep apnoea therapy.

SBS has launched a new and updated version of its SME Compatibility Test for Standards. The Compatibility Test, originally launched at the end of 2020, provides an overall appraisal of the SME compatibility of a given standard. The Compatibility Test is based on CEN and CENELEC and ISO Guide 17 “Guidance for writing standards taking into account micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) needs”.

In April, the online workshop ‘Organ on Chip: Towards Standardization’ took place as the 2021 edition of Putting Science into Standards (PSIS) in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.