Standards for a strong Europe

Artificial intelligence, 5G, battery technologies, hydrogen - Europe wants to set the pace in key technology fields in the future. The European Commission's industrial strategy from last year describes the transition to a green and a digital economy. European industry should become more competitive worldwide and Europe's strategic autonomy should be strengthened.

The proposed EU standardization strategy emphasises the role that standards play in achieving these goals. It attributes a significant role to the European Standardization Organizations (the ESOs: CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) and envisages an even closer partnership between the European Commission and the ESOs in the future. DKE basically supports the plans of the Commission and, as a German member of CENELEC and ETSI, stands ready to implement the strategy efficiently and in a target-oriented manner, with the involvement of all stakeholders. Michael Teigeler, Managing Director of DKE, comments:

"With the new European standardization strategy, the EU Commission is focusing on the strategic trade and geopolitical importance of standards. To maintain Europe's digital sovereignty and global technology leadership, a continued strong engagement of European industry - specially SME - in standardization is needed."

Standardization and strategy: Shaping the future together

Digitalization is advancing and the world is growing together. We take this into account by launching different thrust areas and attending important target projects.

Our goal is to further develop standardization and to make our contribution as a standardization organization in business, society and politics.

The European single market is a central element of the EU - it provides security and growth opportunities for European companies and serves as a catalyst for internationalization. Standards are intended to consolidate the function of the single market and to further strengthen it. A single market based on harmonized European standards creates security for consumers and investment security for industry. Teigeler comments:

"The cooperation between the EU Commission and standardization via so-called standardization requests has proved its worth. However, adjustments to procedures and processes are needed to enable a quicker harmonization of standards and thus strengthen the European single market, because regulation and standardization will have to adapt to the ever-faster innovation cycles of industry in the future.

The international link must continue to be ensured in all future efforts. The broad adoption of international IEC standards at European level by CENELEC (regulated in the Frankfurt Agreement) is a successful model for electrotechnical standardization. The link of the European internal market to other global markets is ensured by international standards and is of utmost importance to the European industry."

DKE welcomes the strengthening of the national delegation principle in the EU standardization strategy. This creates a balance of interests in Europe and a transparent involvement of all technical and interest groups, like industry, civil society, consumer protection and public authorities. DKE, with its approximately 10,000 active experts, represents German interests with the involvement of all interested parties in European and international standardization work at CENELEC, ETSI and IEC.