Primer on Standards - OEK - OVE

The Central Secretariat handles all the tasks assigned to it by the General Assembly,the Administrative Board and the Technical Board and is responsible for the liaisonand all correspondence with the Services of the European Commission and theEFTA Secretariat.CENELEC's priority areas of standardizationThe priority areas for CENELEC standardization work are those which determinethe safety and the free movement of goods and services and/or that are directlyor indirectly related to EU Directives. These are mainly:The development and implementation in Europe of a portfolio of EuropeanElectrotechnical Standards as far as possible in full conformity with the relevantinternational standards for electrotechnology prepared by the IEC, theInternational Electrotechnical CommissionProposals and drafts introduced by CENELEC’s Cooperating Partners, consumers’associations and social partnersThe scope of all New Approach Directives concerning the electrotechnical fieldSpecific proposals by CENELEC members for the preparation of relevantEuropean Standards. This includes the aim to feed in the resulting drafts intothe international work at IEC levelRequests of the relevant user industry and authorities to start the creationof standards needed for the free movement and/or certification of electroniccomponentsThe latest technological changes as well as the evolution of the energy marketin the European Union have led to two new additional areas of standardizationfor CENELEC:Merging technologies, like the ICT field, lead to obscure borderlines, responsibilitiesand scopes for the standardization organizations. The consequence isconfusion for standardizers and delay of standardization work, while expertscare for timeliness of standards. At the same time, a solid standards contributionfor the European infrastructure in the ICT field is in demandCENELEC observes that the energy market moves from national monopoliesto international ownership in a free market. The new market forces and anincreasing political attention towards energy conservation as well as emergingtechnologies like small-scale cogeneration, or fuel cells will require supportfrom standardization work to achieve optimal results10 CENELEC. <strong>Primer</strong> on Standards