Primer on Standards - OEK - OVE

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CENELEC Standards are of the highest quality because all interested parties areinvited to contribute to their development: manufacturers, consumers, environmentalistsand anyone who has anything to say or is concerned by standards.CENELEC Standards define the characteristics of electrotechnical products orservices. These characteristics usually determine the performance and safetyrequirements that are voluntarily agreed upon by the interested parties. But inthe electrotechnical field, things are more complicated and safety of consumersis the number one priority. The European Commission often encourages andsupports this safety policy, which leads us to the so-called harmonized standards.The participation of National Committees and the two-step approach (nationalconsensus building followed by consensus building among National Committees)contribute to the strength of CENELEC, reflecting the subsidiarity principle, andthe different cultures and views of Europeans in standardization as well. NationalCommittees play a very important role for they provide a platform for smallcompanies who, for financial and language reasons, can only participate atnational level.Output of CENELEC European StandardsCENELEC publishes every year a large amount of European Standards, EN’s, forthe electrotechnical field. But not all standards published are reflected in ouroutput statistics. In fact, CENELEC only counts as valid standards those that arecurrently active and stops counting those that have been withdrawn after thedate of withdrawal or DOW. Such a status provokes situations in which thepublication of a new standard (for which an old one is withdrawn) results in areal output of zero.In this sense, CENELEC ended up the year 2000 with a total of 3633 standardsin its portfolio. The overall figure one year later, at the en of 2001 was only 4004,meaning that the net output of standards in 2001 was 371 when reality showsthat the real output was 467. There is a gap of 96 standards missing, meaningthat they have been withdrawn.18 CENELEC. <strong>Primer</strong> on Standards
45004000350030002500214424312854311833543633400420001500100050001995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001Figure 1: Total active CENELEC Standards at the end of every yearBut ironically, CENELEC does not sell nor publish European Standards. We maybetter explain the situation if we say that CENELEC brings about standardizationin Europe because it just prepares, drafts, and compiles the document and circulatesits definitive version while the National Committees are ultimately responsiblefor publishing and selling the official version in their respective languages (insome cases, only the English version is endorsed). In other words, it is not possibleto buy EN 50000, but BS EN 50000 (published and sold by the British Committeein English) or DIN EN 50000 (published and sold by the German Committee inGerman), and so on.Uncovering the mysteries of standardization in Europe 19
Page 1: Primer on Standard
Page 4 and 5: ContentsIntroductionChapter 1Introd
Page 6 and 7: IntroductionThis primer is intended
Page 8 and 9: ChapterIntroducingCENELECCENELEC, t
Page 10 and 11: CENEL, the European Committee for t
Page 12 and 13: The Central Secretariat handles all
Page 14 and 15: Documents used as a basis for CENEL
Page 16 and 17: ChapterThe EuropeanStandardWhat is
Page 18 and 19: European trade and consumers. Havin
Page 22 and 23: ChapterUnderstandingthe CenelecStan
Page 24 and 25: In the case of a European standard
Page 26 and 27: New work arises at European level v
Page 28 and 29: ChapterThe CenelecConformityAssessm
Page 30 and 31: Mutual Recognition Agreements signe
Page 32 and 33: ChapterThe EuropeanStandardization
Page 34 and 35: Legal framework of the New Approach
Page 36 and 37: The Role of European Standards in N
Page 38 and 39: New Approach Directives for which C
Page 40 and 41: ChapterCE Marking, ConformityAssess
Page 42 and 43: egardless of the product’s origin
Page 44 and 45: Some other products, mostly those i
Page 46 and 47: Market are governed by one (or some
Page 48 and 49: manufacturers are often approached
Page 50 and 51: COOPERATING PARTNERSAIECAPIELCEACEC
Page 52: For more information:35 rue de Stas

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