In certain EU harmonisation legislation for products, voluntary harmonised standards, developed by the European standardisation organisations (CEN, Cenelec and ETSI), may be used by manufacturers to demonstrate compliance of their products with applicable essential requirements.

Such harmonised standards grant a presumption of conformity with legally binding requirements after the European Commission has published their references in the Official Journal (OJ).

The publication of the references of harmonised standards in the OJ does not prevent manufacturers from applying any other technical solution or undergoing the alternative conformity assessment procedures provided for in the sectoral legislation to demonstrate the compliance of their products.

There are over 30 EU directives or regulations where harmonised standards can be used as a means to demonstrate compliance with EU legislation. The Commission frequently updates the lists of references of harmonised standards and new references are published in the OJ on the second Friday of each month.

Lists of references are published in the OJ but the Harmonised Standards webpage gives easy access to all the latest references.

Updated lists of references:

• Radio equipment
• Personal protective equipment