State Secretary Winkelmeier-Becker: "We need a strong and unbureaucratic European standardisation system to make the Green Deal a success”

The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is today hosting a virtual European workshop entitled ‘Strengthening European Standards - Adding impetus to the Green Deal’ as part of the German Presidency of the Council of the EU--european union.

Parliamentary State Secretary Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, said: “The crisis caused by the pandemic has made it particularly clear how important it is to have a well-functioning standardisation system supported by industry. At a European level, however, procedures need to be streamlined and speeded up. The German Council Presidency would like to constructively discuss proposals for this with all stakeholders so that our common goals, such as the Green Deal, can be successfully implemented and standards can make an effective contribution to promoting clean growth and sustainable development.”

As part of efforts to tackle the pandemic, the standardisation organisations have made available a considerable number of (otherwise payable) standardisation texts free of charge, and have also taken their own initiatives, for example on rules of conduct and simple protective masks. 

The German Council Presidency is now discussing the status and future of European harmonised standards with leading representatives of European industry, standardisation organisations and companies. 

The standards system developed at European level and supported by industry, together with CEN/CENELEC and our German national organisations DIN and DKE, has proved its worth as a system of voluntary technical rules and as part of the quality assurance infrastructure. But the speed of this work must be increased. Proposals for accelerating it need to be jointly developed by the Member States together with the European Commission, which is responsible for publishing European harmonised standards, in order to safeguard Europe’s independence through the creation of good standards and ensure that European findings and Europe’s views are taken into account in international competition, for example in the recycling sector and in digitisation. In this way, common goals, such as the Green Deal, can be implemented successfully.