In October 2016, the IEC, which publishes the vast majority of international standards for electrical and electronic equipment and systems, and CENELEC, their European equivalent, signed the Frankfurt Agreement, which will strengthen harmonisation between international and European standards. The “Standards for Growth” unit of the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Directorate-General is active in all aspects of the normalization of the Commission`s dialogues with third countries and negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In order to avoid duplication between de-derisation at international and European level, to the benefit of contributors and users of standards, as well as to improve the effectiveness of standardisation at European and international level, CEN and CENELEC have signed agreements with their respective international partners, the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on the rules of cooperation. The Viennese Convention, signed in 1991 between the CEN and ISO, recognises the primacy of international standards and aims to simultaneously recognise standards at international and European level by improving information exchange and mutual representation at meetings. Either the NEEc or ISO take the lead in the development of a new standard and the related documents are submitted by both parties for simultaneous approval. This allows ISO members to influence the content of the CEN standard and vice versa. About 31% of the CEN standards are developed under the Viennese Convention. What: the STANDardisation CES project facilitates the participation of trade unions in European and international standardisation activities. At both levels, there is often parallel standardization work that addresses similar problems. The convergence between European and international standards is facilitated by the ongoing technical cooperation between CEN and ISO: the Viennese Agreement. The Technical Cooperation Agreement between ISO and CEN (Vienna Convention) is a technical cooperation agreement between ISO and the European Standards Committee (CEN). After being formally approved by ISO`s Executive Board at its meeting on 16-17 May 1991 in Geneva on 27 June 1991 by the NEB Board of Directors, it replaced the technical information exchange agreement between ISO and CEN concluded in 1989 (Lisbon Agreement). Vienn`s “codified” agreement was approved in 2001 by the ISO Board and the NEEC Board of Directors.
In order to avoid duplication between de-derisation at international and European level, to the benefit of contributors and users of standards, as well as to improve the effectiveness of standardisation at European and international level, CEN and CENELEC have signed agreements with their respective international partners, the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on the rules of cooperation. This webiner, organised in collaboration with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), explains how the technical agreement is implemented in practice. Nevertheless, the Vienna agreement allows the CEN or ISO to carry out standardisation activities on the same subject if deemed necessary. The Joint ISO-CEN Coordinating Group of the Technical Boards plays an important strategic role in monitoring the implementation of the Viennese Agreement and consulting with the CEN`s Senior Technical Committee and the ISO Technical Technical Committee on all matters related to the Viennese Agreement, including the need for revisions. In September 2001, a revised version (version 3.3) of the “Vienna” agreement was published, which reduced the agreement itself to the essential principles of cooperation between ISO and the NEC.