PRESS RELEASE - for immediate release -

CEN and CENELEC, the European Standardization Organizations, have combined efforts to develop a common approach to ICT standards issues.
Brussels (11 December 2008) – CEN, The European Committee for Standardization, and CENELEC, The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization, will be collaborating on their future standards work in the domain of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

This initiative will combine the ongoing efforts both organizations have in this fast-moving domain - CEN in terms of applications such as eBusiness, eHealth, eGovernment etc., and CENELEC for IT hardware and systems issues - such as those associated with SmartHouse.

With hundreds of industry consortia at global level, technology standards are often fragmented. This environment can be perplexing for stakeholders, and resulting specifications may not always reflect European needs. To increase clarity, and ensure European needs are met, CEN Members had a long-term strategic group – the CEN/ISSS Forum – whose Chair reports to the Technical
Board, which sets CEN technical standards strategy.

With converging technologies in this domain, and an increasing interest to see collaboration with consortia, CENELEC is joining the Forum, which becomes the CEN/CENELEC ICT Forum as of 1 January 2009. The new Forum’s role will remain advisory, but the collaborative effort will ensure greater transparency and better handling of European standards needs.

The new Forum starts its activities on 1 January 2009. For more information contact
luc.vandenberghe@cen.eu or operations@cenelec.eu

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