European Committee for Standardization (CEN) Visits ANSI
Washington, DC, Jun 25, 2003
In conjunction with a meeting of an ANSI-CEN ad hoc group on technical cooperation, representatives from the
European Committee for Standardization (CEN) visited the American National Standards Institute's Washington, DC office today to make a presentation to ANSI staff about CEN and its work with the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
The two-part presentation (connected to ANSI’s New York office via videoconference) began with Mr. David Wooliscoft, CEN Director of technical activities, giving a brief, yet comprehensive overview of CEN. Explaining CEN’s role in the European Standardization structure and its relationship with CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), Mr. Wooliscoft described CEN as a regional multi-sector organization which addresses the standards development for a broad spectrum of industries, with the exception of the electrotechnical and telecommunications industries, which are maintained by CENELEC and ETSI, respectively. Mr. Wooliscoft also went on to clarify CEN’s membership and affiliate structure, the objectives of the organization, CEN’s standards development process, as well as the organization’s work with ISO.
The second part of the presentation was made by Mr. Stephen Russell, Head of Technical Policy at the British Standards Institute (BSI), Vice Chair of the CEN Technical Board and BSI's member of the ISO/TMB, who offered statistical information about CEN and ISO project leads on identical ISO and European Standards (EV) and European Prestandards (ENV) in 2002, as well as the number of projects under development at the end of the same year. Mr. Russell also presented information about CEN’s funding and addressed questions related to European bloc voting in ISO and European legal requirements.
The presentation concluded with a question and answer session, which addressed various topics and perceptions concerning the organization. Additional information and resources about CEN can be found at www.cenorm.be.
Please click here to view a copy of presentation.
