CENELEC
New approach Directives
More than twenty years ago, the New Approach enabled the different European Standards Organizations (ESOs) to take part in the legislative make-up. Indeed,
the ESOs, together with the European Commission and EFTA, have been involved in a successful partnership providing
one of the key elements necessary to complete the Single Market.
The European Union directives, known as the "New Approach Directives", define "essential requirements" related
to health, safety and environment issues. Products must meet these requirements in order to be placed on the European market.
The three European Standards Organizations, CEN (European Committee for Standardization), CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical
Standardization) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) enable these requirements to be fulfilled through the
path of harmonized European Standards. This benefits not only industry but also other stakeholders, in particular the consumers.
Indeed, if industries follow harmonized standards, they benefit from a presumption of conformity to the essential requirements
set in the directive. Thanks to this, they access 31 countries and reach over 500 million consumers who can benefit from safe and
environment-friendly products and services.
A close relation with our respective International Standards Bodies (ISO a has also strongly contributed to widely
spread European technology all over the world. Since the launch of the New Approach in 1985, several success stories
came into being, for example, a set of standards related to CATV network, known as "Cable networks for
television signals, sound signals and interactive services" and published in the Official Journal of the European
Union under the Low Voltage Directive and the Electro Magnetic Compatibility Directive. These standards opened new
markets, created a breakthrough of interactive services and introduced upstream data exchange such as the interaction
with the World Wide Web and other new forms of multimedia information and entertainment (for example digital TV).
For further information on the New Approach, please visit
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/european-standards/index_en.htm
A specific website administered by CEN, CENELEC, ETSI, the European Commission and EFTA Secretariat is also dedicated
to the New Approach. It lists all published standards and ongoing work, by directive and by subject, related to
the European Union's New Approach directives. To visit this site, please follow this link:
http://www.newapproach.org
Examples of Directives for which CENELEC has developed work:
- LVD - Low Voltage Directive (2006/95/EC)
- EMC - Electromagnetic Compatibility (2004/108/EC)
- R&TTE - Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (1999/5/EC)
- MD - Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC)
- MDD - Medical Devices Directive (93/42/EEC)
