"A European standard is shaped by those who contribute to its development."
Standards are driven by business and drafted by experts in the field. In building European consensus, industry, trade federations, public authorities, academia, NGO and other representatives are invited to contribute to the standardization process. It is this open participation which accounts for the strength of European standardization.
The route for participating in the development of European Standards is through a National Standards Body (NSB) or through a trade federation. Through the NSB, you can become involved in a national 'mirror committee' which is responsible for developing a national position on a particular standard and representing this position to the relevant CEN Technical Committee. It may also be possible to become a member of the national delegation to the CEN Technical Committee or to be nominated to serve as an expert in one of the Working Groups. Most of our European Standards and other approved documents have been drawn up in Technical Committees.
The traditional possibilities of standardization work is extended by the CEN Workshop to meet market needs in bridging the gap between consortia documents and European Standards. The CEN Workshop delivers a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA), which is a less formal document. A CWA will satisfy market demands for a more flexible and timelier alternative to the traditional European Standard (EN), but one which still possesses the authority derived from the ‘openness of participation’ and agreement inherent in the operations of CEN and its national members. Participation in a workshop is thus open to anyone, non-Europeans being welcome, and the opportunity to participate will be widely advertised in advance by its proposers and by CEN and its member bodies.
An overview of the CEN Technical Committees, Workshops and other bodies is provided in the left navigation bar. Information per body is provided being: an executive summary, the business plan, the body structure (secretariat, chairperson, secretary), a list of references of standards under development and published standards.