Communication: The annual Union work programme for European standardisation for 2016

European standardisation is the cornerstone of the functioning of the internal market. The positive effects of standardisation are well known and recognised. It is a key action of the Single Market Strategy and is also part of several other policy initiatives, including the Industrial Policy and the Digital Single Market Strategy. The Commission set out its strategic vision for European standardisation in the Commission Communication for standards, and set out the legal framework in the Regulation on European standardisation that has been in force since 1 January 2013.

One of the novelties of the Regulation is the obligation for the Commission to adopt an annual Union work programme for European standardisation, identifying strategic priorities for European standardisation reflecting the policy objectives set by the Commission in its own planning. The annual Union work programme (AUWP) is a tool to improve the cooperation between the Commission and the European standardisation system (ESS) by setting out the Commission's vision and plans for the following year as regards standardisation: actions are proposed to ESS actors in this context.

As highlighted in the Single Market Strategy, standardisation is crucial to support efficiently the Commission’s priorities in particular to: create growth for our economy and jobs for our citizens, enhance the connected digital market, form a resilient energy Union and further improve the internal market with a strengthened industrial base, the EU being a stronger global actor and the negotiator of a reasonable and balanced EU-US trade agreement. For standardisation to properly support these priorities in the coming years, alongside the regular requests for standard setting, the Commission intends to revisit its partnership with the ESS to ensure that it suitably meets the involvement needs of all stakeholders.

In 2015, the Commission concluded a number of important assessment and evaluation activities regarding the standardisation framework. Therefore, for 2016 the AUWP starts by giving account of the results of the various activities and measures to improve the implementation of the Regulation. Then it reports on the planned 2016 standardisation requests indicating their contribution to achieving the Commission's policy priorities: the detailed requests are listed in the annex. Finally, it covers and updates the content of a number of important topics resulting from the Regulation and already present in previous AUWPs such as inclusiveness, international cooperation, IPR and research, financial and operational issues. In those areas, the Commission identifies also certain points on which a higher degree of involvement of other members of the European standardisation community would be needed.

EUR-Lex: SWD(2015)301: Commission Staff Working Document on the implemetation of the actions foreseen in the 2015 and 2016 Union work programmes for European standardisation, including the implementing acts and mandates sent to the European standardisation organisations http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2015:301:FIN

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