In the Roadmap document, the Commission accurately identifies various aspects related to standards development and their uptake in Europe that should be addressed. These include not in the least alleviating the standardisation bottlenecks, more strategic and agile approaches to standardisation priorities and development, also at a global level, and including all stakeholders from an early phase and increasing resources for training and education. The contents of the roadmap are strongly interconnected to the New Industrial Strategy 2020 for building a stronger Single Market for Europe’s recovery.

This initiative’s overarching goal is to consolidate and improve the EU standardisation system, so that it continues to support a well-functioning single market and the competitiveness of EU industries and protects EU citizens and the environment. The strategy will seek to do the following:

1. Modernise and consolidate the European standardisation system, ensuring it is better oriented towards meeting the EU’s main interests, policy priorities, core principles and values, notably the green/digital industrial transition, in a timely manner. This could mean:

• finding ways to anticipate and define standardisation priorities at political level and with European stakeholders.
• addressing bottlenecks within the standardisation system, including procedural aspects and working on the delivery mechanisms to ensure speed and quality. A joint task force between the Commission and the European Standardisation Organisations (CEN/CENELEC and ETSI) has been set up for this purpose, as a follow-up to the update of the industrial strategy.
• introducing more agile working methods and developing closer cooperation between national standardisation bodies, the European industry, European Standardisation Organisations and the European Commission and further improvements of governance and funding mechanisms of the European Standardisation Organisations, while preserving the inclusiveness of the European standardisation system (role of SMEs, civil society organisations and ‘vertical’ industries).
• finding ways to incentivise coordination, efficiency and flexibility in the timely delivery of European standards.

2. Develop a more strategic and coordinated approach to global standards-setting in areas of strategic EU interest, including through Member States, the European Parliament and European stakeholders, and fostering strategic partnerships with like-minded trading partners.
3. Make full use of EU industrial resources to contribute to (pre-) standardisation activities, including research and innovation activities.
4. Address standards-related education, skills and expertise, both in the public and private sector.

As a follow-up to the updated industrial strategy, the Commission will assess whether amendments to the Standardisation Regulation are required to achieve the objectives outlined above. Complementary to the Commission’s announcement on an initiative for business services standards, the strategy will look at further developing services standardisation activities.