From its creation in 1973, CENELEC has included within its terms of reference the promotion of mutual recognition agreements for testing and/or certification of electrical products, as a natural complement to its activities for the harmonization of European standards in the electrotechnical area.

As a result, in most cases, the National Electrotechnical Committees, members of CENELEC, have all these years been involved in, or have actively promoted, the conformity assessment of products. Major decisions regarding the promotion and creation of mutual recognition agreements have been taken following the same rules and procedures as applied for standardization.

While reference to third-party certification of electrical products had been deleted from the Low Voltage Directive, the question was raised whether CENELEC should follow the tendency which seems to exist in a lot of countries, to make testing and certification activities independent from standardization.

Noting that mutual recognition agreements meet the needs of the market on the basis of the relevant standards, the challenge is to find proper solutions for this new situation, where the responsibilities for the operation of the conformity assessment are given to those who really perform these activities, but where the benefits of the symbiosis between certification and standardization, as it exists today, are maintained.