8. The relationship between standardization and regulation in Europe – The European Commission (EC)

As we have seen, the need for standardization, at whatever level, can arise from requests from industry. Another source of work may be requests from the European Commission (EC) to enable the application of European Directives drafted within the framework of the New Approach.

Under the "New Approach", European Directives identify the essential requirements which the equipment they deal with MUST meet. Technical texts need to be drawn up in order to verify the conformity of these devices with the essential requirements. The European Commission asks standardizers (CEN, CENELEC or ETSI) to draw up these texts. They are then published as European standards in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). The advantage of this process is that references are genuinely flexible, in line with the evolution of industrial techniques. These European standards, published...