6.1 European System of Standardisation

Short instruction

The European Standardisation System has an important role in establishing and strengthening the European Single Market. It is a unique standardisation system in the world, primarily because once published, the European Standard becomes the national standard in the 34 European countries, which enables the free circulation of services and products, facilitating cross-border trade – within Europe and the rest of the world (CEN/CENELEC, 2023). European standards are developed by European Standardisation Organizations (ESOs) (EC, 2023a): the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC), and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The European standard is defined as „a standard adopted by a European standardisation organization“ (EC, 2023a). The European standardisation framework provided by CEN/CENELEC is based on having a single European standard implemented identically throughout the member countries with the obligation of withdrawing any conflicting national standards, and no new work can start on issues covered by European standards (CEN/CENELEC, 2015).

The ILOs examples

K6.1., K6.2., K6.3., K7.1., K7.2., K7.3., S6.2., S6.4., S6.6., S7.3., S7.11.

Recommended Teaching Case studies/Serious games/Оther

Recommended duration of tutorials: from 30 minutes to 90 minutes

Good practice

Educators highlight the role of the European standardisation system in promoting harmonization across the EU. They explore the relationship between European Standardisation Organizations (ESOs) and emphasize the role European harmonized standards play in facilitating the free movement of goods, enhancing safety, and ensuring environmental protection while supporting policies and legislation within the EU single market. Educators often use examples to show how the application of European harmonized standards demonstrates compliance with EU directives (following the New Approach to Technical Harmonization and Standardisation).

Recommended sources

Abdelkafi, N., Bekkers, R., Bolla, R., Rodriguez-Ascaso, A., & Wetterwald, M. (2021). Understanding ICT Standardisation: Principles and Practice, ETSI 2021, URL: https://www.etsi.org/images/files/Education/Textbook_Understanding_ICT_Standardisation.pdf, 2nd Edition, Chapter 3.

Other sources on the European Organizations for Standardisation (ESOs):
Baron, J., & Larouche, P. (2023). The European Standardisation System at a Crossroads.
Bekkers, R. & Lazaj, E. (2024). Voting or Consensus? An empirical study of decision-making in the European standards body ETSI. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research.
Blind, K. (2024): The role of the quality infrastructure within socio-technical transformations: A European perspective, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Volume 199, 123019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.123019.
Delimatsis, P., & Verghese, Z. (2024). “To Antipolis, my sisters!”: ETSI as a forum of contestation, collaboration and orchestration. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2024.2379806
Egan, M. (2024). Navigating transatlantic power dynamics in ICT standardisation – The case of ETSI. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2024.2321842.
Kanevskaia, O., Delimatsis, P., & Bijlmakers, S. (2024). The European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI): in search for legitimacy and resilience of European standardisation. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2024.2395262.
Kamara, I. (2017). Co-regulation in EU personal data protection: The case of technical standards and the privacy by design standardisation ‘mandate’. European Journal of Law and Technology, 8(1).
Loyau, C. & Bijlmakers, S. (2024). Standards made in Europe for global use. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2024.2369157.
Medzmariashvili, M. (2019). Regulating European Standardisation through Law: The Interplay between Harmonized European Standards and EU Law.
Senden, L. (2020). Towards a more holistic legitimacy approach to technical standardisation in the EU. In The Legitimacy of Standardisation as a Regulatory Technique (pp. 20-47). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Stanojević, A. (2024). ETSI As a case study of organizational resilience in standard setting: strategies that ensure thriving despite organizational challenges. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2024.2369180.
Wettig, J. (2002). New developments in standardisation in the past 15 years—product versus process related standards. Safety science, 40(1-4), 51-56.
Other sources on the European Standards:
Cirrincione, L., Marvuglia, A., Peri, G., Rizzo, G., & Scaccianoce, G. (2019, December). The European standards for energy efficiency in buildings: An analysis of the evolution with reference to a case study. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2191, No. 1). AIP Publishing.
Kamara, I. (forthcoming in 2025). Standardizing personal data protection. (1 ed.) Oxford University Press.
Manatos, M. J., & Huisman, J. (2020). The use of the European Standards and Guidelines by national accreditation agencies and local review panels. Quality in higher education, 26(1), 48-65.
Orviska, M., Nemec, J., & Hudson, J. (2013). Standardisation and the European standards organizations. Central European Journal of Public Policy, 7(2), 36-58.
van Deventer, O., Spethmann, N., Loeffler, M., Amoretti, M., van den Brink, R., Bruno, N., ... & Wilhelm-Mauch, F. K. (2022). Towards European standards for quantum technologies. EPJ Quantum Technology, 9(1), 33.

Other sources on the Harmonized Standards:
Colombo, C., & Eliantonio, M. (2017). Harmonized technical standards as part of EU law: Juridification with a number of unresolved legitimacy concerns? Case C-613/14 James Elliot Construction Limited v. Irish Asphalt Limited, EU: C: 2016: 821. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 24(2), 323-340.
Cuccuru, P. (2018). The Public and Private Sides of Harmonized Standards: James Elliott Construction v. Irish Asphalt. German Law Journal, 19(6), 1399-1416.
Eliantonio, M. (2017). Judicial control of the EU harmonized standards: Entering a black hole?. Legal Issues of Economic Integration, 44(4).
Eliantonio, M., & Volpato, A. (2022). The European System of Harmonized Standards. Legal Opinion for ECOS. Legal Opinion for ECOS (March 11, 2022)
Kamara, I. (2022). General Court EU: Commercial interests block the right to access European harmonized standards. Journal of Standardisation, 1.
Lundqvist, B. (2017). European Harmonized Standards, EU Law and Copyright. Faculty of Law, Stockholm University Research Paper, (11).
Schepel, H. (2005). The constitution of private governance: Product standards in the regulation of integrating markets (Vol. 4). Hart Publishing.
Schepel, H. (2013). The new approach to the new approach: The juridification of harmonized standards in EU law. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 20(4), 521-533.
Schmidt, J., & Steingress, W. (2022). No double standards: quantifying the impact of standard harmonization on trade. Journal of International Economics, 137, 103619.
Stuurman, K., & Kamara, I. (2016). IoT Standardisation-The Approach in the Field of Data Protection as a Model for Ensuring Compliance of IoT Applications?. In 2016 IEEE 4th International Conference on Future internet of things and Cloud Workshops (FiCloudW) (pp. 336-341). IEEE.
Volpato, A. (2023). The legal effects of harmonized standards in EU law: From hard to soft law, and back?. In The Legal Effects of EU Soft Law (pp. 193-212). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Czubala, W., Shepherd, B., & Wilson, J. S. (2009). Help or hindrance? The impact of harmonized standards on African exports. Journal of African Economies, 18(5), 711-744.

Other sources on the Product Compliance and Presumption of Conformity:
Bruckner, G. K. (2004). Working towards compliance with international standards. Revue scientifique et technique-Office International des Epizooties, 23(1), 95-108.
Maskus, K. E., Otsuki, T., & Wilson, J. S. (2005). The cost of compliance with product standards for firms in developing countries: An econometric study (Vol. 3590). World Bank Publications.
Reynolds, G. (2018). Recognizing the Relevance of Human Rights: The Application of the Presumption of Conformity in the Context of Copyright. Intellectual Property Journal, 31, 63.
Savino, M. M., Ouzrout, Y., Mazza, A., & De Chiaro, S. (2013). The sustainability of product compliance within lifecycle design. International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 6(3), 288-309.
Twigg-Flesner, C. (2020). Conformity of goods and digital content/digital services. El Derecho privado en el nuevo paradigma digital, Barcelona-Madrid, Marcial Pons.