The Croatian Standards Institute joins the family of the CEN Members and the National Standards Bodies of Libya, Belarus and Azerbaijan become the CEN Affiliate status.
Brussels (26 November 2009) – The Extraordinary General Assembly of the European Committee of Standardization (CEN) on 25 November noted the positive recommendation from the CEN Administrative board and admits the full membership of the Croatian Standards Institute (HZN) which is effective as of 1 January 2010. This brings the total of CEN Members to 31: the 27 EU countries, 3 EFTA countries and Croatia.
The standardization system in Europe is based on the national pillars, which are the National Standards Bodies or the members of CEN. A National Standards Body is the one stop shop for all stakeholders and is the main focal point of access to the concerted system, which comprises regional (European) and international (ISO) standardization. The National Members have voting rights in the General Assembly and Administrative Board of CEN and they provide delegations to the Technical Board, which defines the work programme.
It is the responsibility of the CEN National Members to implement European standards as national standards, which is unique in the world. With the full membership of HZN, the same European Standard will be also implemented in Croatia. The National Standards Bodies distribute and sell the implemented European Standards. They have to withdraw any conflicting national standards. National implemented European Standards can be purchased with the National Members.
The CEN General Assembly has admit also 3 new Affiliates: the State Committee on Standardization, Metrology and Patents of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SCSMP), the Libyan National Centre for Standardization and Metrology (LNCSM) and the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus (BELST). As of 1 January 2010 CEN will count 19 Affiliates.
'Affiliate' status is open to a National Standards Body, which is a member (or corresponding member) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is the standardization body from a country listed in the EU neighbourhood defined by the European Commission. They may participate in the General Assembly and in technical committees. They receive all technical and general documentation of the European Standardization Organization with whom they are affiliated. Affiliates have the obligation of implementing as national standards the European standards produced by the technical committees in which they participate.
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