Brussels (25 November 2010) – During CEN’s Extraordinary General Assembly of 24 November, CEN National Members designated Dipl.-Ing. Friedrich Smaxwil as the new CEN President for a three-year term starting January 2012, with a running-in period as President Elect for the year 2011.

Mr Friedrich Smaxwil will take over from Mr Juan Carlos López Agüí, who has been leading CEN since 2007. Mr Smaxwil has been a Board Member of the Transportations Systems Group with Siemens AG, responsible, as Senior Vice-President, of the Mobility Division for the Corporate Account DB AG and Industry Relations. He has also been an Executive Board Member of the Association of the German Railway Industry (VDB), where he was president from 2004 until 2009.

On his election, Mr Friedrich Smaxwil declared, “As an industry manager for the last 20 years, I am well aware of the significance of standardization. Based on my professional background, I am committed to contribute actively to the further development of the European Standardization System to the benefit of the European economy. This will be done in close cooperation with the CEN Members”.

He added, “The private-public partnership of the European Standardization System works well. More than 60.000 experts from business and research community ensure that our standards are state of the art. The national delegation principle facilitates the involvement of all stakeholders in the standardization process, including SMEs and societal partners. European standardization is an important framework for industry’s effectiveness and competitiveness. It is important that we work very closely together to strengthen the European economy”, together with our sister organizations.

He will represent CEN at the European and international levels, ensuring that good relations with all CEN partners are maintained and developed further.

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The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) is a business catalyst in Europe, removing trade barriers for European stakeholders such as industry, public administration, service providers, consumers and other stakeholders. Its mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens, and the environment. Through its services CEN provides a platform for the development of European Standards and other specifications.
CEN’s 31 National Members work together to develop voluntary European Standards (ENs) in various sectors to build a European Internal Market for goods and services and to position Europe in the global economy. By supporting research, and helping disseminate innovation, standards are a powerful tool for economic growth. More than 60.000 technical experts as well as business federations, consumer and other societal interest organizations are involved in the CEN network that reaches over 480 million people.
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