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The Standards system: CEN and ISO

by Keith Moyes, BSI British Standards

13 and 14 November 2008

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The world of standards and regulations: Three types

• Government regulations and specifications

– Mandatory within the national territory

– Barrier to trade between territories

• Formal standards (e.g. ISO and CEN standards)

– Recognised by governments

– Support regulation

– Voluntary

• Informal standards (e.g. Consortia standards)

– Voluntary

– Limited authority and recognition

• This presentation will give an overview of the second type

– Formal standardization

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Principle values of formal standardization

Formal standardization embody common principles:

• Their drafting and agreement of standards is:

– Consensual

– Transparent

– Open

– Non-discriminatory

• There content is:

– Regionally and globally relevant

• Their use is:

– Voluntary

• The international, European and national standards bodies all have similar statutes and rules of procedure

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The world of formal standards

• Standardization takes place in three sectors

– Telecommunications

– General

– Electrotechnical

• Each sector operates at three levels

– International

– European

– National

• This presentation will mainly describe

– General and Electrotechnical standardization

– At the the international and European level.

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Telecommunications standardization

International level

• ITU-T - International Telecommunications Union

European level

• ETSI – European Telecommunications Standards Institute

These bodies are associations of members

• The members are the national telecommunications operators

– Private companies

– Public bodies

National level

• Telecom operators and companies may develop in-house standards

• These do not have the status of national standards

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General Standardization

International level

• ISO - The International Organization for Standardization

European level

• CEN – Comitė Europėen de Normalisation

• These bodies are associations of national standards bodies

National level

• The national standards bodies (NSBs)

– BSI (UK)

– DIN (Germany)

– AFNOR (France), etc.

• These standards bodies are recognised by their national governments as the only ones able to represent their countries in ISO and CEN

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Electrotechnical standardization

International level

• IEC - The International Electrotechnical Commission

European level

• CENELEC – Comitė Europėen de Normalisation Electrotechnique

• These bodies are associations of National Committees (NCs)

National level

• NCs are standards bodies (e.g. BEC in the UK, VDE, in Germany, UTE in France, etc.

• These NCs are recognised by their national governments as the only ones able to represent their countries in IEC and CENELEC

• Sometimes they are departments of the NSB (e.g. BEC is part of BSI)

• Sometimes they are separate institutions (e.g. VDE & UTE)

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Formal standards Map

ISO

International

European

National

Telecommunications General Electrotechnical

ITU-T IEC

ETSI CEN CENELEC

Telecoms operators

NationalStandards

Body

NationalCommittee

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General Standardization: International

ISO: International Organization for Standardization

• Central Offices located in Geneva in Switzerland.

• An organization of over 150 members

• Members are the national standards bodies accredited by their national governments

• Develops and publishes International Standards (ISOs)

• Publishes in 3 official languages: English French and Russian

• Sells standards from its central offices and via its web store

• Distributes standards via its members and commercial distributors

• ISO members may adopt ISO standards as national standards and sell without payment of royalty to ISO

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ISO Governance

• General Assembly

– An assembly of all the members

• ISO Council

– The principal policy body with 18 members elected by the General Assembly

– Reports to the General Assembly

• TMB (Technical Management Board)

– Responsible for the work programme

– Members appointed by the Council

– Reports to Council

• CPSG (Commercial Policy Strategy Group)

– Membership by periodic appointment

– Advises the Secretary General and Council

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ISO financing

• ISO is mainly funded by the subscriptions of its members

– Subscriptions are based on the size of the national economy

• ISO also undertakes commercial activity

• This contributes approximately 35% of ISO revenue

– Sales of standards and other publications

– Royalties from members’ sales of ISO standards and publications

– Royalties from commercial distributors

• ISO receives no support from governments or other bodies

• ISO’s financial viability depends on the financial viability of its members

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ISO members: Legal status and funding

• Legal status of standards bodies varies from country to country

– Government departments

– Independent bodies

• All operate on a non-profit distributing basis

• Most sell standards and other services directly or through separate publishing and sales companies, for example:

– DIN has Beuth Verlag

– Standards Norway has PRONORM

• Many standards get some government funding

– Government funding varies from 0% to 100%

– The standards bodies that contribute most to ISO’s work tend to get the least government funding

• Commercial exploitation of standards is crucial to the funding of the standards system

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Funding of ISO members: government and commercial

Members’ dependence on government funding and standards sales

     

Percentage rangePercentage of ISO members in range

Percentage of ISO members in range

  Government support Standards sales

% % %

0 12 37

1 –10 12 37

11 – 25 12 12

26 – 50 15 11

51 –99 26 3

100 23 0

Total 100 100

     

Average 49 10

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General standardization: Some key ISO members

Europe

• BSI (UK)

• DIN (Germany)

• AFNOR (France)

• UNI (Italy)

• AENOR (Spain)

• SIS (Sweden

• America

• ANSI (USA)

• SCC (Canada)

• ABNT (Brazil)

Asia

• GOST R (Russia)

• SAC (China)

• JISC (Japan)

• KATS (South Korea)

• BIS (India)

Pacific

• SA (Australia)

• SNZ (New Zealand

Africa

• SABS (South Africa)

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Electrotechnical standardization: International

IEC: International Electrotechnical Commission

• Central Offices located in Geneva in Switzerland.

• An organization of over 50 members

• Members are the National Committees accredited by their national governments

• Develops and publishes International Standards (IECs)

• Publishes in three Official language: English French and Russian

• Sells standards from its central offices and via its web store

• Distributes standards via its National Committees and commercial distributors

• National committees may adopt IEC standards as national standards and sell without payment of royalties to IEC

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IEC: Governance

• Very similar to ISO

• IEC Council

– An assembly of all the National Committees

• IEC Council Board

– The principal policy body

– 15 members elected by the Council Board

• SMB (Standards Management Board)

– Responsible for the work programme

• SAG (Sales Advisory Group)

– Membership by periodic appointment

– Advises the General Secretary and Council Board on commercial issues

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IEC funding

• Very similar to ISO

• IEC is mainly funded by the subscriptions of its NCs

• Subscriptions are based on the size of the national economy and electricity usage

• IEC also undertakes commercial activity

– Sales of standards and other publications

– Royalties from members’ sales of ISO standards and publications

– Royalties from commercial distributors

• IEC receives no support from governments or other bodies

• EC’s financial viability depends on the financial viability of its NCs

• NCs are funded in similar ways to ISO members

• Commercial activities are very important to the whole system

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General Standardization: Europe

CEN: Comité Européen de Normalisation

• Central offices in Brussels in Belgium

• An association of 30 European standards bodies

• Produces European standards (ENs) which each member must adopt as national standards

• CEN does not publish or sell ENs

• ENs can only be bought as national adoptions (e.g. BS EN, DIN EN, NF EN, etc.)

• They are published in 3 official languages (English, French and German)

• CEN members may adopt in one or all of these languages, but may also translate into their own language

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CEN governance

• CEN AG (General Assembly)

– An assembly of all the members

• CEN CA (Administrative Board)

– The principal policy body, responsible the General Assembly

– All members represented

• CEN BT (Technical Board)

– The policy body responsible for the work programme and the rules for developing standards. Reports to the CEN CA

• CEN SD (Sales and Distribution Committee)

– Advises the CEN CA on commercial issues

– All members represented.

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CEN financing

• Largely funded by the subscriptions of its members subscriptions

• 45% of funding of the CEN Management Centre by the European Commission

• Does not sell European standards (ENs)

• ENs are sold by the CEN members

• Each CEN member is responsible for sales and distribution in its own national territory

• Each CEN member is responsible for its own pricing

• CEN members may not actively market their ENs in the territories of other CEN members

• All CEN members can market and sell freely outside of the CEN area

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CEN Members

• Austria (ON)

• Bulgaria (BDS)

• Belgium (IBM)

• Cyprus (CYS)

• Czech Republic (CSI)

• Denmark (DS)

• Estonia (EVS)

• Finland (SFS)

• France (AFNOR)

• Germany (DIN)

• Greece (ELOT)

• Hungary (MSZT)

• Iceland (IST)

• Ireland (NSAI)

• Italy (UNI)

• Latvia (LVS)

• Lithuania (LST)

• Luxembourg (SEE)

• Malta MSA

• Netherlands (NEN)

• Norway (NSF)

• Poland (PKN)

• Portugal (IPQ)

• Romania (ASRO)

• Slovakia (SUTN)

• Slovenia (SIST)

• Spain (AENOR)

• Sweden (SIS)

• Switzerland (SNV)

• United Kingdom (BSI)

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Electrotechnical standardization: Europe

CENELEC: Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique

• Central offices in Brussels in Belgium

• An association of 30 European National Committees

• Produces European standards which each member must adopt as national standards

• CENELEC does not publish or sell ENs

• ENs can only be bought as national adoptions, with the national prefix BS EN etc.

• ENs are prepared in 3 official languages (English, French and German)

• CENELEC National Committees may adopt in one or all of these languages, but may also translate into their own language

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CENELEC Governance

• Very similar to CEN

• CENELEC AG (General Assembly)

– An assembly of all the National Committees

– Representatives are from industry, not from the institutes

• CENELEC CA (Administrative Board)

– The principal policy body, responsible the General Assembly

– Representatives are from industry, not from the institutes

• CENELEC BT (Technical Board)

– The policy body responsible for the work programme and the rules for developing standards. Reports to the CEN CA

• CENELEC COMPOL (Commercial Policy Committee)

– Advises the CENELEC CA on commercial issues. All members represented.

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CENELEC financing

• Very similar to CEN

• Largely funded by the subscriptions of its members subscriptions

• 10% of funding of the CENELEC Central Offices by the European Commission

• Does not sell European standards (ENs)

• ENs are sold by the CENELEC NCs

• Each NC is responsible for sales and distribution in its own national territory

• Each NC is responsible for its own pricing

• NCs may not actively market their ENs in the territories of other CENELEC members

• All NCs can market and sell freely outside of the CENELEC area

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CENELEC National Committees

• Austria (OVE)

• Belgium (CEB)

• Bulgaria (BDS)

• Cyprus (CYS)

• Czech Republic (CNI)

• Denmark (DS)

• Estonia (EVS)

• Finland (SESKO)

• France (UTE)

• Germany (VDE-DKE)

• Greece (ELOT)

• Hungary (MSZT)

• Iceland (IST)

• Ireland (ETCI)

• Italy (CEI)

• Latvia (LVS)

• Lithuania (LST)

• Luxembourg (SEE)

• Malta MSA

• Netherlands (NEC)

• Norway (NEK)

• Poland (PKN)

• Portugal (IPQ)

• Romania (ASRO)

• Slovakia (SEV)

• Slovenia (SIST)

• Spain (AENOR)

• Sweden (EES)

• Switzerland (SEV)

• United Kingdom (BEC)

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Collaboration in formal standardization

• The guiding principle is: “Do it once, do it right and do it internationally”

• ISO and IEC collaborate to produce joint standards

• CEN and CENELEC collaborate to produce joint standards

• ISO and CEN collaborate under the Vienna Agreement

– Wherever possible, CEN standards are developed in ISO

– Members vote on them in ISO and in CEN simultaneously

– These standards are published both as ISO standards and As EN standards

– 40% of CEN standards are produced in ISO

• IEC and CENELEC collaborate under the Dresden Agreement

– 90% of CENELEC standards are now produced in IEC

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Collaboration between standards bodies and regulators

• There is a world wide trend towards ‘lighter regulation’

– Regulations specify general requirements

– Standards specify optimum ways to comply with them

• In Europe that is embodied in ‘The New Approach’

• New Approach Directives are mandatory for all EU countries

• CEN, CENELEC and ETSI write ‘harmonised’ standards to support them

– The use of these standards is voluntary

– Compliance with the standards is the best means of assuring compliance with the Directive

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