Standardisation requests - Mandates
Standardisation requests (mandates) are the mechanism by which the Commission requests the European Standards Organisations (ESOs) to develop and adopt European standards in support of European policies and legislation.
Draft mandates are drawn up by the Commission services through a process of consultation with a wide group of stakeholders. Before being formally addressed to the ESOs, they are submitted for opinion to the Member States in the Standing Committee of the 98/34/EC Directive 
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The ESOs, which are independent organisations, have the right to refuse a mandate if they do not think that standards can be produced in the area being covered. In practice this refusal happens rarely due to the informal consultation mentioned above. Please note that European standards, even developed under a mandate and for European legislation, remain voluntary in their use.
Three types of mandates could be considered: study mandates to check the feasibility of standardisation, mandates requesting the elaboration of a standardisation programme and mandates for the development and adoption of European standards.
The following link gives access to a database of mandates, together with the access to their full text.
