Report on Harmonisation of freshwater biological methods

Consultation open to ECOSTAT &interested expertsTime frame variableInformalproposalAdvancedworkingdocumentNewWorkItemproposal3 year limit imposed by CENbeyond here for publicationFormalvotePrEN vote&c ommentsDraftprENComments on draft only throughNational Member bodyFigure 1. Stages involved in developing a European Norm in CEN.4. At the draft prEN stage CEN/TC 230 including member (standardization) bodiesare asked to approve the document for prEN voting within 6 weeks. At this stage thevote is either yes or no, but inevitably some comments are received but usually theseare considered following the subsequent prEN voting stage.5. At the prEN voting stage, member bodies consult national experts and will votepositively or negatively and provide comments. Where votes are negativeexplanations for the vote are given.6. All comments received are collated by the relevant task group convenor and anofficial response to each and every comment must be given. Comments may begeneral, editorial or technical. These may be accepted or rejected but each and everycomment must be responded to giving a reason, where necessary, for rejection. Thesecomments and the responses are circulated with a revised text following the prENstage. Every effort is made to reach consensus including delaying further procedureuntil outstanding issues can be discussed and resolved at a task group meeting,bearing in mind that meetings are usually only held annually.7. At the formal vote stage voting is either positive or negative. No further commentsare acceptable with the possible exception of minor editorial changes. Voting at theprEN and formal vote stage are by weighted majority.104