Standards Setting In The European Union—Standards Organizations and Officials in EU Standards Activities

Roger A. Rensberger, Standards Specialist, Office of Standards Services, NIST, Rene van de Zande, Senior Commercial Specialist, USEU, and Helen Delaney, Commercial Attache, Standards, USEU

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 1997)

Standards are a principal element of trade in general and a vital focus of the European Union's Single Market Program. The single market is one of the cornerstones of trade in the EU. This is an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, people, services, and capital inside the European Community is ensured. The free movement of goods is covered by Articles 30 to 36 in the 1957 Treaty of Rome that established the European Economic Community.The EU is creating harmonized, European-wide standards in key product sectors to replace the many thousands of differing national standards in member countries. The guide Standards Setting in the European Union, Standards Organizations and Officials in EU Standards Activities is designed to help U.S. manufacturers, exporters, government, and private-sector standards interests locate contact points for important information on the development of standards and conformity assessment issues.The guide includes a brief history of the role of standards in the European Union and the latest information on the EU's harmonization directives for implementing the "New Approach" and the "Global Approach" for harmonizing technical regulations and standards to reduce barriers to trade. The harmonization of standards is expected to lead to expanded trade within Europe as well as with other key markets, including the United States. Although this guide does not address technical regulations, exporters need to be aware of regulations that affect products in both the EU and member countries.The standards guide also contains information on the three key European standards organizations that are mandated by the EU Commission to draft European technical standards; information on European testing and certification activities; and a list of EU officials with standards-related responsibilities. The appendices include a bibliography, an extensive list of standards-related publications and directories that are available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); sources for ordering U.S. and European standards information in the United States and Europe; and contact points for standards-related information on the European Union in the United States.