Coinciding with the beginning of a new year, CENELEC puts on its best outfit to welcome 4 new members, the National Electrotechnical Committees of Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia, which are joining CENELEC on this date.
These four countries join now a list that includes the Czech Republic (member since 1997), Malta (2001) Hungary & Slovakia (2002) and Lithuania (2003) completing the enlargement to the East even before the target date. With this, CENELEC demonstrates once again a forward-looking vision and a proactive attitude towards the early approval of new members once they fulfill all the conditions.
With the four newcomers, CENELEC will reach 27 members. One of the consequences of the enlargement will be the adoption, also from January 1st 2004, of the weighted votes agreed by the European Union in the Treaty of Nice. CENELEC hopes and expects Cyprus to become the 28th member before May 2004 completing this way the objectives set out by the European Commission.
The National Electrotechnical Committees representing these four new countries within CENELEC are the following:
· Estonia: EVS – Estonian Centre for Standardization
· Latvia: LVS – Latvian Standard
· Poland: PKN – Polish Committee for Standardization
· Slovenia: SIST – Slovenian Institute for Standardization
More members can only make CENELEC stronger, more representative and more efficient in standardization. CENELEC standards will therefore become more internationally accepted and globally recognized.
The CENELEC President, Administrative Board and all current members welcome the new National Committees and congratulate them all for their collective achievement.
For further information about this news release, please contact:
Caroline Alibert
CENELEC Communications Manager
Tel: +32 (0)2 519 68 67
E-mail: info@cenelec.org