Standards are key to innovation, progress and the functioning of the Single Market. They are essential to support European competitiveness and growth and to allow Europe to maintain its leadership in technical development and global trade.

Standards can also contribute to societal welfare (e.g. health, safety and the environment).

The Joint Initiative on Standardisation sets out a shared vision for European standardisation in order to take steps to better prioritise and modernise the current European standardisation system, as well as to strive for the timely delivery of standardisation deliverables.

A closing Plenary of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation will take place on 29 April 2016 from 10h30-17h30 in Brussels, in the context of 'A collaborative approach to unite market and policy needs'.

There are a limited number of places left, so, please register by Wednesday, 27 April 2016 by emailing: GROW-JOINT-INITIATIVE@ec.europa.eu indicating the following e-Pass details:

1. Name 
2. First Name
3. Date of Birth
4. Nationality
5. ID card number

Background

This plenary follows the first plenary of 23 November 2015 and the 9 consecutive meetings of the Editorial Committee of the Joint Initiative on Standardisation.

The Communication on the Single Market Strategy stated that: "…the standardisation process faces challenges from the changing nature of the economy and diversification of business models, the ever-increasing role of information and communication technology, and the growing importance of services in today’s global value chains, where goods and services are increasingly provided together in a package. The European Standardisation System needs to be up to these challenges, producing timely and market-driven standards in an inclusive way and consolidating Europe’s leadership in international standardisation. European standards need to support EU policies and for digital innovations, they need to offer increased security and interoperability. More generally, this means modernising the existing partnership. The Commission will therefore propose a ‘Joint initiative on Standardisation’ between the Commission, the industry concerned, European standardisation organisations and the standardisation community in general. The Joint initiative will aim to speed up and better prioritise standard setting across the board."

The Joint Initiative supports the relevant aspects of the ten European Commission Priorities and other policy objectives, while clearly respecting the distribution of different competences between the EU and its member countries.

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