European Standards Organizations
The European standards organizations CEN and CENELEC act as the holding entity for all national standards organizations in Europe.
The European standards organizations are:
- CEN European Committee for Standardization
- CENELEC European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
- ETSI European Telecommunication Standards Institute
The European standards organizations CEN and CENELEC are the umbrella organization for all national standards bodies in Europe.
In CEN and CENELEC there is one member each per country, representing the standardization interests of that country. German interests are represented by DIN in CEN and by the DKE in CENELEC. In 2006 a total of 30 countries had full representation in CEN and CENELEC. Besides full members, there are also affiliates and associated organizations.
Members are active in the organs of CEN/CENELEC, the General Assembly, policy and technical steering committees and technical committees, to which national delegations are sent to represent the represent the consolidated standpoint of their countries. Delegates from European organizations representative of the respective subject area may participate as observers.
CEN and CENELEC have adopted the vote weighting system specified for the European Union in the Nice Treaty. In the formal vote, 71 % of the weighted votes are necessary for a European Standard to be adopted. The number of votes each country is allocated as shown in this figure.
DIN staff members running secretariats ensure that the internal rules and guidelines governing European standardization are adhered to. They see to it that meetings of European standards committees and German mirror committees are properly prepared, conducted and followed up. They also carry out formal voting. The CEN Management Centre (CMC) and CENELEC Central Secretariat in Brussels carry out an evaluation of the voting procedures and circulate the results.
ETSI was formed in 1987 to develop standards previously dealt with by the European Conference of Post and Telecommunications Administrations. Rather than working with national delegations, its members are interested companies, organizations and administrations. The German members are on the ETSI Technical Advisory Board of the Deutschen Elektrotechnical Kommission im DIN and VDE (DKE).