The EU executive will establish a ‘High-Level Forum on European Standardisation’, according to a draft decision due to be adopted on Thursday (1 September), seen by EURACTIV.
The expert group is the result of the European Standardisation Strategy, which was presented by the European Commission in February as a way to better advance EU values and interests in shaping technical standards.
“The European Commission will set up a High-Level Forum to assist the Commission in anticipating upcoming standardisation priorities and engage with the European Parliament and Council to ensure political concertation on these priorities,” the strategy reads.
According to the draft decision, the forum will advise the Commission on matters related to standardisation policy, support the identification and implementation of annual priorities, single out future standardisation needs, help coordinate EU interests in international fora, and recommend how to better interlink academia and research with standardisation.
The forum will interact with similar expert groups such as the Data Innovation Board, which was established under the recently adopted Data Governance Act, the Industrial forum, the European Forum on Security and Research and other industrial alliances.
The group will be composed of 60 members, including European standardisation organisations, trade associations “with a demonstrated interest in European standardisation”, organisations representing SMEs and societal stakeholders such as consumer and environmental groups, and academia.
The group will also comprise authorities from the European Economic Area, the EU27 plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. These representatives are to be directly appointed by the relevant authorities, whereas for all other forum members, there will be a public call for application.
The call will detail the selection criteria, including the required expertise, and will be open for at least four weeks. The members’ mandate would last until the term of the forum or until they are replaced.
The Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) will select the candidate, chair the committee, manage the group’s operations and provide secretariat support.
Moreover, the Joint Research Centre will be able to provide scientific advice and services within its areas of expertise.
The forum will adopt its opinions, recommendations or reports by consensus, but in the event of a vote, only a simple majority would be needed. As there will be 30 countries represented, the national representatives on their own would only need an additional vote to reach a simple majority.
However, “members who have voted against shall have the right to have a document summarising the reasons for their position annexed to the opinions, recommendations or reports.”
The main operational body of the forum will be the ‘sherpa’ subgroup that will manage the preparatory work. The Commission might set up additional subgroups. These subgroups might include members that are not members of the forum, in which case another public call for application would be opened.
However, the EU executive may restrict participation to subgroups dealing with critical or sensitive subjects for EU security if they deem an organisation or individual under the control of a third-country or third-country entity.
Control is defined as “the ability to exercise a decisive influence on an entity or individual directly, including through national legislation or indirectly through other means including control over its corporate structure and decision-making process, its infrastructure, facilities, assets, resources, intellectual property or know-how needed for the purposes of the forum.”
The point of dealing with third-country organisations is bound to be controversial, especially in industry, as most trade associations count non-European companies among their members.
The standardisation strategy has drawn criticism, especially from US stakeholders, who have called for presenting a united front in international standardisation organisations based on shared democratic values.
By contrast, the Commission’s approach has so far been to advance the principle of digital sovereignty, pushing against any non-European interference in EU standardisation bodies.
The forum will have a mandate until 31 December 2025, an expiration date the Commission can extend “in due time”.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
