1. Introduction
2. Definitions
3. Policy guidance
4. Process guidance
5. Supporting tools
1. Introduction
It is essential that funding for the infrastructure needed to develop standards is secure. This means it is necessary to ensure that the rights to exploit the content of CEN standards are properly protected. The ease of electronic copying and distribution, and challenges to the true ownership of copyright, has made it necessary to move this protection to a formal basis.
This is being done through an 'exploitation rights assignment statement' (ERAS), an agreement between CEN and its National Members that passes on these rights to them. So the experts, creating the content of a standard, assign the exploitation rights of their work to CEN. The agreement between CEN and the National Standards Organizations (NSO) is already in operation.
The 'Exploitation Rights Assignment Statement' (ERAS) is incorporated into the 'List of Participants' and is therefore the first thing that the experts and delegates are asked to sign. The process for acquiring and archiving the necessary signatures is simple and provides the required legal protection.
2. Definitions
See glossary for the following definitions:
- Assignment of exploitation rights,
- Author rights,
- Contributor,
- Copyright,
- Intellectual property.
NOTE In this document, a 'Third Party' is a person not contributing to the CEN work, but owning the copyright of a document that represents a significant part of a developed European Standard (EN).
3. Policy guidance
3.1 On attending or joining a TC or WG, delegates and experts are to be informed that a condition of their participation is the acceptance of the Internal Regulations, in so far as they affect delegates and experts (see 
Internal Regulations – Part 2, Clause 3.2.3.1, 3.3.3.1, 3.4.2 and 9). The experts should be aware of the Internal Regulations and agree to contribute to the CEN work in accordance therewith.
3.2 As stated in the Berne Convention, the moral rights to the copyright always remain with the original drafter. CEN also recognizes this by stating in Clause 9 of the Internal Regulations – Part 2 that the copyright of existing material contributing to the development of a standard always remains with the originator. Only the exploitation rights are assigned to CEN.
3.3 Although the assignment is exclusive to CEN, this does not prevent the original drafter from using his contribution to the standard for his own purposes. These would include use in internal company processes, documentation, design and specification or use in specific scientific or technical publications.
The only restriction is the highly unlikely case where the CEN publication would be adversely affected by this, for example, if the contribution was marketed and sold as an alternative to the CEN standard or as an equivalent to it.
3.4 A formal written assignment of copyright to a person or a publisher, signed by the contributors, is accepted by a number of European courts as evidence of the transfer of exploitation rights. It ensures that there is no misunderstanding and that the organization to which the copyright is assigned can use the material without fear of any legal challenge.
NOTE The established practice is that no payment is made for the assignment, nor are individual contributions acknowledged in the published document. The duration of copyright protection is set by the Berne Convention and is currently 70 years.
3.5 A standard is normally developed by a number of individuals participating in WGs; thus, it is at the appropriate level where the standard is developed that the assignment of copyright exploitation rights must take place.
Acceptance of specific conditions, related to assigning the exploitation rights exclusively to CEN, shall be confirmed by signing the 'ERAS', included as part of the 'List of participants' to meetings at which standards are developed.
3.6 The assignment of the exploitation rights is under Belgian law as that is the country in which CEN is located. It is the legal basis of the related agreement between CEN and the National Standard Organizations (NSO).
4. Process guidance
4.1 Collecting exploitation rights assignment signatures
4.1.1 The first objective is to collect exploitation rights assignment signatures from all contributors currently active in developing standards on the present work programme in a TC, subcommittee (SC) or WG (referred to below as drafting groups).
4.1.2 Before requesting signatures, the TC or SC Secretary and the WG Convenor shall ensure that copies of the explanatory leaflet have been circulated.
4.1.3 Signatures of all current contributors should be obtained using the list of participants that incorporates the ERAS. See blank form in Clause 5.2.
Normally, the signatures should be collected over a period of two meetings. However, the above mentioned list of participants should always be used for its additional function of recording attendance. The attendance of any dissenting participants should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
NOTE Additional copies of the list of participants and the explanatory leaflet may be obtained from the TC Secretary.
4.1.4 The WG Convenor should cooperate with the Secretary of the parent TC to resolve any difficulties. Guidance notes have been prepared to help the WG Convenor to answer commonly asked questions and to resolve difficult situations.
4.1.5 When all signatures have been obtained, the WG Convenor takes a photocopy for his/her own files and sends the original assignment statement forms (no photocopies) to the TC Secretary. The TC Secretary will then pass them on to the NSO holding the TC Secretariat who safeguards the original ERASs and makes them available on demand.
4.2 Maintaining up-to-date exploitation assignments
4.2.1 The second objective is maintaining up-to-date exploitation assignments by collecting signatures from new contributors as they start to participate in the work of the group. This is normally done by new contributors participating at meetings and signing the ERAS.
The signature of new contributors is required even if they have already signed the ERAS as a contributor to another group. This enables retrieving a complete set of assignments relating to the work of a specific drafting group from the archives without the need for cross-indexing.
4.2.2 After obtaining the signatures of all participants as mentioned above, the completed original signed lists of participants have to be sent back to the TC Secretary after each meeting or as requested.
4.3 Avoiding potential problems regarding the use of existing copyright material in the development of a standard
4.3.1 Delegates or experts contributing to the work with existing copyright material should advise the Secretary or Convenor when they are not the copyright owner of such material or when they do not have the permission of the copyright owner for its incorporation, in part or whole, in the standard that is being developed. The contributor should indicate who the copyright owner is, if known.
4.3.2 If a person brings a significant contribution for inclusion in a standard for which the copyright belongs to someone else, he must declare this fact so that CEN can obtain permission to use it.
NOTE 'Significant' means more than 5 % of the document being copied, or the contribution being so important that a normative reference would need to be made to it in the standard if it was not included. There is no rigid rule; it is a matter for judgement and common sense.
4.3.3 In addition, the WG Convenor will have to establish whether there is 'significant' material already in the current drafts of the standards being developed by his/her group, for which the copyright is not owned by the people present at the meetings (also called 'Third Parties'). This might be material that has been created by national committee members that an attendee is passing on; material created by an ex-member of the group; or an extract from a document belonging to a third party such as a company manual or a published book.
4.3.4 For 'significant' contributions from an active or past CEN drafting group member, he/she should receive a copy of the explanatory leaflet together with a copy of the ERAS requesting his/her signature. For this purpose, a new assignment statement form should be used.
4.3.5 For significant contributions from Third Parties, the WG Convenor passes the details to the TC Secretary, who shall inform CCMC accordingly. CCMC will make the necessary arrangements to seek assignment, which may require the establishment of an 
Exploitation Rights License Agreement (ERLA). Negotiations on the ERLA should be handled by CCMC in order to ensure coherence at CEN level.
NOTE Additional ERAS forms can be obtained on request from the TC Secretary or, alternatively, photocopies may be made of an unused form.
5. Supporting tools
5.1 Reference documents
Internal Regulations – Part 2:
- 3.2.3.1: Technical Committees – Responsibilities of CEN/CENELEC Members
- 3.3.3.1: Subcommittees – Responsibilities of CEN/CENELEC Members
- 3.4.2: Working Groups – Membership
Internal Regulations – Part 3 (E, F, D)
- 6.6.3 and C.1.3: Use of Trade Names
5.2 Forms