All of the products and services we buy and use in our everyday lives have to meet certain standards of safety and quality. In Europe, these standards are developed and agreed by the three officially recognised European Standardisation Organizations: the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
Together, CEN and CENELEC provide a platform for the development of European Standards and other technical specifications across a wide range of sectors. A quarterly report on the CEN and CENELEC activities is presented in ‘CEN and CENELEC in figures’, which include the standards publication.
While a number of standards affect workers and working conditions to varying degrees, the effectiveness of trade union participation requires a selection of the most relevant topics and corresponding Technical Bodies. Following consultation with ETUC affiliates, the ETUC selects and participates in standardisation fields which directly affect workers.
Technical Committees selected by the ETUC for participation in 2024:
- Ladders (CEN/TC 93)
- Ergonomics (CEN/TC 122)
- Roof covering products for discontinuous laying and products for wall cladding’ (CEN/TC 128)
- Protective clothing (CEN/TC 162)
- Maintenance services (CEN/TC 319)
- Private security services (CEN TC 439)
- Horizontal standards for the provision of services (CEN/TC 447)
- Climate change (CEN/TC 467)
- Artificial Intelligence (CEN-CENELEC JTC 21)
- Artificial Intelligence (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42)
- Translation, interpreting and related technology (ISO/TC 37/SC 5)
- General ergonomics principles (ISO/TC 159/SC 1)
- Safety of machinery (ISO/TC 199); (CEN/TC 114)
- Human resource management (ISO/TC 260)
- Internships (ISO/TC 232/JWG9 - joint with TC 260)
- Facility management (ISO/TC 267)
- Occupational health and safety management (ISO/TC 283)
- Sustainable raw materials (ISO/PC 348)