They are invisible, but indispensable in everyday life: standards guarantee that the mobile phone can connect to the WiFi router; they dictate how reliably face masks filter particles from the air; they are the reason why DIN A4 sheets fit in the printer paper tray. In addition, these standards are strategically important, because those who set the standards for innovative goods or software applications have enormous advantages in international competition. The EU Commission therefore presented a strategy in Brussels on Wednesday on how it intends to make the European standardization system more effective.
Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said “Europe’s technological sovereignty will depend on our ability to set global standards”. Among other things, the authority proposes changes to the relevant EU law. This amendment is intended to give the national organizations of the member states, such as the German Institute for Standardization (DIN), more decision-making powers when important standards for telecommunications technology are developed at EU level. This is intended to prevent “undue influence” by corporations from outside the EU, the Commission explains – and is implicitly referring to the Chinese technology provider Huawei.
From the point of view of the export-dependent German industry, such reforms are overdue: Association representatives fear that China will overtake Europe when it comes to standards; the lobbyists also complain that the EU system has become cumbersome. “German industry is following the targeted international dissemination of state-driven, national technology standards from China with great concern,” says about BDI President Siegfried Russwurm.
Christoph Winterhalter, head of the DIN Institute in Berlin, also warns that the pressure for reforms has increased: “On the one hand, China’s strategic approach threatens Europe’s pioneering role in standardization,” he told the SZ. On the other hand, “future technologies such as artificial intelligence or the green transformation of the economy quickly demand international standards” – and these should best be created under European leadership. His institute represents Germany in the European and international standardization organizations.
The EU must eliminate “formal requirements,” says the lobbyist
In the EU, the three organizations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI define standards. In their committees, experts from the industry set the tone, from European and non-European companies. Companies are not required to adhere to standards with their products, but in fact the buyer will often insist on it. In addition, the EU Commission specifically commissions the development of certain standards. These then lay down the technical details for EU laws, for example on product safety. If a product meets the standard, it is clear that it also complies with Brussels law. Such standards, which are important for EU legal acts, are called harmonized standards – and they have been very controversial for some time.
Since 2018, the Commission has been giving the standardization committees more detailed specifications on how the new standards should look; checking the result is also more meticulous. Critics complain that this leads to delays. So Hartmut Rauen demands from the mechanical engineering association VDMA that the commission must “eliminate formalistic requirements and superfluous checks”. The industry must first “regain confidence in the system”. The governments of 17 EU countries, including Germany, are calling for a position paper also to more speed and flexibility.
In fact, the authority promises in its strategy paper to speed up the process. In addition, the three European standardization organizations should plan more with foresight in the future and set their priorities on standards that are important for the EU’s climate protection goals, for example. DIN CEO Winterhalter welcomes this: “Business and the EU Commission must not fight each other, they must pull together,” says the former top manager at mechanical engineering company ABB. “We have to work together to design scenarios, which standards we need, for example, for the development of a hydrogen supply or for autonomous driving, and then consider how we can get there as quickly as possible and how we can best exert our influence on international standardization organizations such as ISO.”
Governments should support companies
The Commission’s concept also envisages closer coordination with partners such as the United States. The EU and the US government established a trade and technology council last year anyway. Cooperation in the worldwide competition for standards is one of the topics that working groups of this council are to deal with.
One challenge, however, is the shortage of skilled workers. The Commission warns that many standardization experts are close to retirement age. DIN boss Winterhalter suggests that the EU governments should provide companies with financial support so that they send more experts to standardization committees. This is appropriate, at least for important projects, he says: “After all, the experts from the companies invest a lot of time in the international standardization projects in order to represent strategic European interests. China’s government promotes such commitment because it wants to increase China’s influence there in a targeted manner.”