European Standards (EN) are documents that have been ratified by one of the 3 European Standards Organizations, CEN, CENELEC or ETSI. They are designed and created by all interested parties through a transparent, consensual process.

European Standards are a key component of the Single European Market. Though rather technical and unknown to the general public and media, they represent one of the most important issues for business. Although often perceived as boring and not particularly relevant to some organizations, managers or users, they are actually crucial in facilitating trade and hence have high visibility among manufacturers inside and outside the European territory. A standard represents a model specification, a technical solution against which a market can trade. It codifies best practice and is usually state of the art.

In essence, standards relate to products, services or systems. Now, however, standards are no longer created solely for technical reasons but have also become platforms to enable greater social inclusiveness and engagement with technology, as well as convergence and interoperability within a growing market across industries.

But the European Standard is something much more relevant than this. The Internal Regulations, Part 2, states that the EN (European Standard) “carries with it the obligation, to be implemented at national level, by being given the status of a national standard and by withdrawal of any conflicting national standards”.

The fact that CENELEC Standards must be transposed into a national standard in all member countries guarantees that a manufacturer has easier access to the market of all these European countries when applying European Standards. This applies whether the manufacturer is based in the CENELEC territory or not. Member countries must also withdraw any conflicting national standard: the EN prevails over any national standard.

All National Committees and all standardization partners such as consumers, trade unions, European industry and the European Commission and EFTA Secretariat participate in the CENELEC Technical Board meetings. CENELEC thus provides a highly effective instrument to respond in a timely and competent manner to legislative and economic requirements.

Benefits of European Electrotechnical Standardization