• The European Commission has opened an evaluation of the European Standardisation Regulation (also known as Regulation (EU) 1025/2012), to which DIGITAL SME has responded by consulting its membership

• The position paper calls for more tailored attention to ICT standardisation needs in the Regulation, through light-targeted amendments

• It centers around four main lines for SMEs: effective inclusiveness, re-asserting the importance of the Regulation’s provisions on ICT technical specifications and public procurement towards better interoperability, making standards deployment a standalone objective, and better linking technical standards development to public policy

Background

In September 2023, a first call for evidence was launched by the European Commission regarding evaluating the European Standardisation Regulation to assess the fitness of the Regulation’s provisions, a decade after its original publishing. A public consultation was further initiated in May 2024. After having responded to the initial call for evidence, DIGITAL SME has now followed up with a position paper and submission of a formal response to the consultation.

This new position paper, drafted in consultation with the DIGITAL SME membership (particularly its Working Group Standards), expands upon some of the key points conveyed in the European Commission’s consultation. It centers around the issues that DIGITAL SME assesses as particularly critical to its large SME membership: inclusiveness, the issue of ICT technical specifications and public procurement, standards deployment, and finally linking technical standards development to public policy.

DIGITAL SME’s key messages

Overall, DIGITAL SME welcomes the evaluation process of Regulation (EU) 1025/2012, considering it an essential step towards the continued betterment of the European standardisation system. While the Regulation is still largely fit for purpose in its overall scoping, more tailored attention to ICT standardisation needs is called for under the relevant actions derivative of the Regulation’s provisions. Some light-targeted amendments in that direction would be pertinent to the Regulation’s adaptation to existing technological and policy trends.

Attention should notably focus on the full implementation and deepening of Articles 5 and 6, considering additional procedures for more balanced participation of stakeholder categories in standards-making as well as the right of opinion for all Annex III organisations in ESOs. Article 16 should be amended with new wording highlighting the importance of financing for inclusiveness measures in key technological areas, based on defined political and standardisation priorities in the Annual Union Work Programme on Standardisation.

The important role of ICT technical specifications in public procurement, laid out in Chapter IV of the Regulation, should also be re-asserted to ensure effective interoperability for SMEs. The Multi-Stakeholder Platform on ICT Standardisation needs to be empowered to better align its work with public procurement authorities, complemented by a dedicated Task Force mandated to raise awareness around these newly identified international technical specifications for smaller industry players who may be unfamiliar with them.

Moreover, standards deployment must become a standalone objective under the Regulation, with the addition of a further dedicated Article in that direction within Chapter III. The High-Level Forum on Standardisation could be channeled as the key body for the monitoring of a Standards Deployment Index in critical technology areas, by giving the possibility for stakeholders to flag deployment gaps during the Annual Union Work Programme on Standardisation consultation process.

Last, it is essential to level up the engagement capacities of all Member States’ public authorities and NSBs in European standardisation – all the more in the ICT realm. It would be pertinent to add some relevant wording towards that key objective in Articles 7 and 15, for instance by reinforcing the general coordination role and outreach of the European Commission’s High-Level Forum on Standardisation.