On the 5^th and 6^th of June, CEN and CENELEC held their 15^th Annual Meeting in Bucharest, Romania. As part of the Annual Meeting, CEN and CENELEC held their General Assemblies, where they were able to evaluate their achievements so far and set the priorities for the future.

CEN and CENELEC’s Annual Meeting is one of the flagship events of the European Standardization community. This year’s edition, hosted by ASRO, the Romanian Standards Association, was an opportunity for CEN and CENELEC’s members to meet, reflect on past accomplishments and agree on the way forward.

The two-day event began on Wednesday the 5^th of June with the closed-door meetings of the CEN and CENELEC Administrative Boards, the main governing bodies of the two organizations.

The day after, Thursday the 6^th, was dedicated to the General Assemblies, which are strictly statutory. After meeting separately to discuss specific organizational and procedural elements, CEN and CENELEC members held a common session dedicated to discuss matters of joint interests. During this session, CEN and CENELEC’s Presidents and Vice-Presidents reported on key strategic, policy and technical matters related to European standardization.

The CEN and CENELEC General Assemblies also approved some important actions and decisions for the future development of the organizations. Among the most relevant ones:

• In an effort to strengthen the cooperation with the European Commission, joint KPIs were proposed to help the monitoring of the performance in the process of developing harmonized Standards;
• CEN is finalising a Cooperation Agreement with US standardization organization ASTM International, as a pilot exercise to enhance cooperation with the US;
• The discussion on the ‘Strategy beyond 2020’ (which will follow the existing Ambitions 2020) continued, with the engagement of Members to take into consideration the strength of the European system in the international context. A special workshop 'Strategy beyond 2020' will take place on 17-18 July 2019 for CEN and CENELEC board members;
• The new Strategic Advisory Group on Digital and Information Technology (DITSAG) was established, with the aim to ensure a comprehensive and efficient management of IT projects and pilots part of the CEN and CENELEC’s Digital Transformation Strategy;
• Finally, CEN and CENELEC confirmed the objective to further strengthen their cooperation with ETSI. The first big development in this regard will be the organization of a joint stakeholder engagement event in 2020.

The day was closed by a thought-provoking debate on ‘Cybersecurity and Standardization’. Digital transformation offers many opportunities and benefits, but being more interconnected also increases the risk of sophisticated cyber-threats and attacks. For this reason, at the end of 2018 the EU proposed its own ‘Cybersecurity Act’, with the aim establish a common European cybersecurity certification framework for ICT products, systems and services, thus ensuring strong cyber resilience and the ability to respond effectively to cyber-attacks. In this framework, the CEN and CENELEC discussion analysed in depth the challenges, as well as the opportunities cybersecurity brings to business and policy makers, and suggested some ways for standardization to contribute in order to , make new technologies as safe, accessible and trustworthy as possible for European businesses and citizens.

Thanks to its discussions and exchanges, the CEN and CENELEC Annual Meeting testified to the strategic role of standardization in supporting the EU Single Market. Elena Santiago Cid, CEN and CENELEC’s Director General, commented: “European Standardization continues to prove its value for the EU’s economic and societal growth, bolstering Europe’s ability to navigate the 4th Industrial Revolution as a leader. The Members and friends of standardization participating to this Annual Meeting show the strength of our system, based on its inclusiveness. Thanks to it, we are ready to meet the opportunities and the challenges of the future, contributing to a smarter, more competitive and more sustainable Europe to the benefit of its businesses and citizens alike”.

The next Annual Meeting, which will reach its 16^th edition, will take place in Vienna, Austria, in June 2020. The event will be jointly hosted by the Austrian CEN member ASI (Austrian Standards International) and Austrian CENELEC member OVE (Austrian Electrotechnical Association).

CEN and CENELEC

CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) are recognized by the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as European Standardization Organizations responsible for developing standards at European level. These standards set out specifications and procedures in relation to a wide range of materials, processes, products and services.

The members of CEN and CENELEC are the National Standardization Bodies and National Electrotechnical Committees of 34 European countries. European Standards (ENs) and other standardization deliverables adopted by CEN and CENELEC, are accepted and recognized in all of these countries.

European Standards (ENs) contribute to enhancing safety, improving quality, facilitating cross-border trade and strengthening the European Single Market. They are developed through a process of collaboration among experts nominated by business and industry, research institutes, consumer and environmental organizations, trade unions and other stakeholders. CEN and CENELEC work to promote the international alignment of standards in the framework of technical cooperation agreements with ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission).

CEN website: www.cen.eu

CEN-CENELEC website: www.cencenelec.eu