EUROLAB has published its Position Paper on the European standardisation system & revision of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012

EUROLAB has published its Position Paper on the European standardisation system & revision of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012.

EUROLAB supports the overall objectives of the planned revision of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012, including more transparency, faster and more predictable processes, stronger SME participation, and a clearer interaction between legislation and standardisation.

However, EUROLAB would like to highlight the following considerations:

Laboratories and other CABs are highly standards-dependent actors, but their participation in standardisation work is often limited.
European standards are formally voluntary. In practice, however, they frequently become the recognised or de facto route to compliance with legal requirements
Wherever standards are used as an integral part of the regulatory framework, it becomes increasingly difficult to justify charging for basic access to those standards

Thus, from EUROLAB’s point of view, a reformed European standardisation system should:

Acknowledge the high standards-dependency of laboratories and other CABs
and reflect this in impact assessments, funding discussions and stakeholder-involvement provisions.
Clarify the status of standards with regulatory effects
and ensure that, where standards are used to implement legal requirements, appropriate rules on public access and transparency are in place in line with the CJEU case law.
Develop funding solutions in parallel with access solutions
so that free or eased access to such standards is compatible with a robust and sustainable funding framework for European and national standardisation – without overburdening standards-intensive SMEs.
Strengthen the voice of laboratories and other CABs in standardisation
through practical measures that enable their effective participation in the development and revision of standards, especially where these standards have regulatory impact

You can download our full Position paper: here