Activities of Malte GALLÉE related to 2022/2058(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on a standardisation strategy for the single market
Amendments (48)
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the functioning of the internal market is greatly facilitated by the market’s adoption and use of standards; whereas the adoption of European standards simplifies compliance for market participants and national authorities, replacing as many as 34 national standards with one European standardis a pivotal element of the single market, enhancing the competitiveness of European companies and the safety of citizens; whereas the adoption of European standards and European standardisation deliverables facilitates market access, contributes to strengthen the single market and simplifies compliance for market participants and national authorities, providing a presumption of conformity with the essential requirements of the Union legislation;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the European standardisation system isneeds to be based on an open, inclusive, transparent, reliable, high-quality and consensus- based, market-driven approach, ensuring thatapproach, which should involve all stakeholders in a way to ensure theat standards that are developed not only to respond to industry needs but also support the interests of wider societyto fulfil sustainability requirements and to support the interests of wider society, improving economic, social and environmental conditions as well as the quality of life of citizens, in particular of the most vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
B a. whereas the participation of civil society in the standardisation process is guaranteed by Regulation 1025/2012, but it is limited by high costs, which create entry barriers to the stakeholders with less financial resources;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas standards, both at international and European level, can be important drivers for market development and technological change towards a climate-neutral, resource-efficient and circular economy, as well as for fair competition, innovation and greater protection of consumers and the environment; whereas the Member States, European institutions and the European standardisation organisations (ESOs) cooperate with international standardisation bodies and have agreements in place to facilitate the use of international standards in the Union; whereas although European industry is an active participant in international standardisation work streams, the effective representation of smaller companies and othersocietal stakeholders in international forums is more challengingnot adequate;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas the use of open source software and hardware licensing solutions improves the effectiveness and transparency of work for public administrations and businesses and should be encouraged;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. whereas ICT standards are mostly developed at international level; whereas the EU needs to step up its efforts to improve expertise in this field and become a standard-setter, in order to develop interoperable solutions for complementary products and for the various parts of a particular product;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
C c. whereas the publication of public data should be based on open and standardised formats, in order to avoid ‘lock-in’ situations with proprietary solutions and in order to guarantee accountability, reproducibility, sustainability and reliability of governmental actions and public procurement;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the adoption of the standardisation strategy, which sets out five main areas for action for the Commission; considers that the classification of priority areas for action closlargely aligns with the weaknesses of the current system identified during the stakeholder consultation; notes also the adoption of, and progress on, the 2022 annual work programme on standardisationstresses, however, that such a list of areas for action should be non-exhaustive in order to quickly respond to the changing global challenges and that further focus on the uptake and implementation of standards, especially among SMEs is needed; notes also the adoption of, and progress on, the 2022 annual work programme on standardisation and looks forward to the 2023 and 2024 draft annual work programmes; stresses the need to further involve all relevant stakeholders in the interinstitutional dialogue for the preparation of the annual work programme;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Considers that the fundamental qualities of the standardisation system remain relevant and effective for the proper functioning of the internal market; recalls that harmonised standards are a voluntary, market- driven tool providing technical requirements and guidance, the use of which facilitates the compliance of goods and services with European legislation and supports the development ofimplementation of ambitious European policies in an accountable, transparent and inclusive way, ensuring that needs and specificities of all relevant stakeholders are taken into account; stresses, howemoreover, that standards cannot be seen as EU law, sinceRegulation 1025/2012 determines public law relevance of standards, which means that harmonised standards should comply with the objectives set out in the EU legislation and policies regarding the level of consumer, health, safety, environmental and data protection, and the level of social inclusion, are determined by the legislator;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Stresses that European Standardisation Organisations should comply with the EU legislation and policy objectives not only when drafting standards, but also in their governance; calls on the Commission to assess in the context of the evaluation process of Regulation 1025/2012 if the current governance model of the European Standardisation Organisations should be revised to meet such objectives and calls on the Commission to improve the participation and to strengthen the rights of the societal stakeholders, also within the national standardisation bodies;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Stresses that European standards and European standardisation deliverables should ensure the protection of personal data and privacy and should be open, inclusive, transparent, high- quality and sustainable, promoting durable products which are easier to repair, re-use and recycle;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2 c. Stresses that European Standards and European standardisation deliverables should meet the objectives of the EU Green Deal, including on climate, environmental, energy, resources-use and biodiversity targets; highlights, however, that in order to deliver on Green Deal commitments, standards should further improve product sustainability, durability, reusability, upgradability and reparability, reduce the expected generation of waste and increase recycled content in products;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 d (new)
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2 d. Regrets that many standards still present important differences between Member States, thus creating unjustified barriers to the single market; calls on the Commission to step up its efforts to introduce harmonised standards, in order to reduce market fragmentation and therefore decreasing administrative costs for citizens and businesses, in particular SMEs and microenterprises;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 e (new)
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2 e. Stresses that the standardisation system should prioritize areas with the highest detriment to consumers and should increase its efforts to take in due account the needs of the most vulnerable consumers, such as older persons and persons with disabilities;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 f (new)
Paragraph 2 f (new)
2 f. Regrets that the standardisation system does not allow persons with disabilities and their representative organisations to participate on an equal footing with other stakeholders in the activities of European and national standardisation bodies when drafting accessibility standards; calls, therefore, for an improved representation within the standardisation system and for a balanced representation among designated experts, in order to guarantee a fair outcome of Union's accessibility legislation and standards;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 g (new)
Paragraph 2 g (new)
2 g. Calls on the Commission and on the European standardisation bodies to improve their efforts towards making the standards gender responsive, in line with the Gender Responsive Standards Declaration; invites the Commission to elaborate gender indicators and criteria that could be used in standards development, in order to achieve gender balanced, representative and inclusive standards;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Supports the creation of an annual standardisation dashboard, to be published along with the Annual Union Work Programme and the ICT Standardisation Rolling Plan, on the planned, current and completed standardisation activities with the aim to give more transparency in the European standardisation system;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Supports the launch of the High- Level Forum for Standardisation and the desire to broaden the range of voices heard when identifying standardisation priorities and needs, planning future activities and coordinating approaches ingiving suggestions to the Commission for possible reviews of existing standards, in order to meet the objectives of the European Green Deal and of the Europe Digital Decade; acknowledges that the High-Level Forum will coordinate the effective representation of EU interests and values in international standardisation bodiesfora; underlines that this expert group should include a diverse range of stakeholders, without losing sight of the bottom-up, market-driven nature of standardisation activitiesin a way to increase transparency and social impact of standards and in order to ensure the protection of the public interest and the environment;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Welcomes the fact that the Forum will work to strengthen technical expertise and skills in the standardisation system, also through sub-groups of experts; highlights that these sub-groups could elaborate programmes to mainstream training activities, in order to increase skills, competences and consistency at EU level;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the creation of an EU excellence hub on standards and the appointment of a chief standardisation officer (CSO) in the Commission; believes that this position and the hub, as a resource, should lead to greater consistency across the Commission in terms of standardisation requests and the preparation and adoption of standards and legislative provisions with relevance to standardisation; considers that the person holding this oversight function should be an important interlocutor for Parliamentpoints out that greater competences and consistencies would be key to increase the benefits of harmonised standards on public administrations and businesses; considers that the CSO as an important interlocutor for Parliament should report to the relevant committee every six months, enabling the technical scrutiny of the Commission’s standardisation activities;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Believes that the Commission should establish a clear set of key performance indicators on the aspects of standardisation within its remit, in particular for standards linked to the objectives of the European Green Deal and of the Europe Digital Decade, in order to measure, compare and set precise targets for standardisation-related developments and to identify possible risks and lack of essential aspects, such as participation of civil society, sustainability, security and reliability;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes that the Commission wishes to accelerate the steps involved in developing standards; considers that the timely preparation of standarhigh-quality standards meeting market and societal needs is necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market, in particular in the case of harmonised standards;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10 a. Recalls that standardisation requests are issued by the Commission, in line with EU legislation and policies that underpin the protection of consumers, health, safety, environment, data and that guarantee social inclusion; notes, in this context, that the role of European Standardisation Organisations is to meet such requests, in order to support the public interest’s objectives set out in the EU legislation;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses that there may be inherent limits to speeding up the standardisation process, as the prepadraftiong of standards, and citation of harmonised standards and industry implementation of those standards all add time before market adoption; recognises that it may be easier to accelerate administrative tasks, such as citation in the Official Journal, butthe publication of the harmonised standard’s reference in the Official Journal of the European Union; highlights that uptaking existing standards rather than drafting new ones would also have positive effects on timing and it would allow for easier understanding and implementation; points out, however, that the unduly rushed preparation or deployment of standards creates challenges for all stakeholders, including national authorities; encourages the Commission, in conjunction with improvements to its own internal processes, to continue working with the ESOs on ways of achieving timely delivery, including consideration of the most suitable standardisation deliverable depending on the needimportant issues for all stakeholders, including national authorities, since technical aspects and contributions require time to be elaborated by all stakeholders involved in the consensus-building process; stresses the important role on speeding up the standardisation process of the High- Level Forum for Standardisation and of the EU excellence hub, which should take a proactive approach to allow for a timely identification of standardisation needs and should help striking a fair balance between the need to shorten the process and the necessity to ensure open, inclusive, sustainable, reliable and high- quality standards; encourages the Commission, in conjunction with improvements to its own internal processes, to continue working with the ESOs on ways of achieving timely delivery, including early exchange of information on the content and feasibility of planned standardization requests and the consideration of the most suitable standardisation deliverable depending on the need; welcomes in this context the action plan of the Task Force “Timely European Standards for a Green and Digital, Single and Global Market” between the Commission, EFTA and the ESOs;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Stresses the need for stable and clear criteria for the assessment of harmonised standards, commonly understood by all stakeholders, as well as for the provision of the necessary resources to ensure the timely assessment and citation, in particular with regards to the work of the HAS consultants;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Considers that anthe evaluation of Regulation (EU) 1025/2012 may identifythat was launched in 2022 should identify best practices and areas where reform is needed beyond the targeted amendment already introduced by the Commission; considers that the role, participation and input of relevant stakeholders, including those representing, inter alia, SMEs and environmental, social and consumer interests, should be evaluated and strengthened where such reforms may be beneficialstrengthened in order to ensure that core interests and values of the EU citizens are adequately represented and in order to support and complementary to the work envisaged by the ESOs following the Commission’s call for them to present proposals to reform their own internal governance; notes that such a reform should address the uneven and non-transparent representation of industrial interests while ensuring inclusiveness and effective participation of societal stakeholders, which should be implemented beyond the simple obligation of efforts, as defined in Articles 5 and 16 of Regulation (EU) 1025/2012, also taking into account the results of the consensus-building process;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Acknowledges that only a limited number of civil society organisations participate in the European and national standardisation work; believes that, in view of increasing the participation of civil society and broadening the scope of Annex III of Regulation 1025/2012, the Commission should carry out a mapping of civil society organisations which have an interest in contributing to the standardisation work at European level;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the focus on national- level involvement of wider stakeholders in standardisation activities; notes that not all organisations listed in Annex III have national counterparts in the Member States; considers that the Commission may direct funding or technicall Member States that are able to participate in the work of the national mirror committees; stresses the diversity of practices in defining membership conditions by national standardization bodies in Europe, including participation fees; considers that the Commission should increase technical support and direct funding in order to guarantee substantial, long-term and stable financial support to thosee European organisations to ensure participation in national standardisation activities, including not only technical work on standards, but also the preparation of positions vis-à-vis standardisation requests at the European and international levels, thereby reinforcing the inclusivity of the process as a wholelisted in Annex III and to ensure the effective participation of their national organisations in national standardisation activities on an equal footing with industry representatives, including not only technical work on standards, but also the preparation of positions vis-à-vis standardisation requests at the European and international levels, thereby ensuring that their interests and inputs are duly taken into account and reinforcing the inclusivity of the process as a whole; invites the Commission to assess whether the Member States should support the funding to the European organisations listed in Annex III in order to foster a harmonised approach in the EU;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Points out that the financial support of the Commission could not be sufficient for the European organisations listed in Annex III to ensure the effective participation of their national organisations in national standardisation activities on an equal footing with industry representatives; stresses that in some Member States national standardisation bodies have already established solidarity mechanisms in which industrial stakeholders contribute to the participation fee of societal stakeholders according to certain elements, such as the size and the turnover of the company; calls on the Commission and on the European standardisation organizations to encourage the harmonisation of such a mechanisms, in order to decrease the fragmentation of the single market;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13 b. Notes that the inclusiveness of the European and international standardisation systems also depends on the ability of stakeholders to identify and staff the standardization areas and committees that are relevant to them; considers that the national authorities should support national standardisation bodies initiatives for stakeholder inclusiveness, including providing these stakeholders with assistance in identifying standardization areas and committees that are relevant to them;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Recognises the need for a consistent and harmonised approach towards technical or common specifications, in particular as different legislative processes may give rise to divergent provisions; considers, therefore, that this mechanism should only be used in exceptional circumstances and only while relevant standards do not exist; expresses concern about technical specifications concerning, among other things, respect for fundamental rights, where recourse to implementing acts affects the co-legislators’ powers of scrutinyensure the involvement of all relevant stakeholders and that it should generally be used in the absence of harmonised standards and when standards developed by European Standardisation Organisations are not deemed adequate by the Commission to support EU law;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Stresses that the role of standards is not to define fundamental rights, but to provide technical solutions for their respect; calls on the Commission and on the co-legislators to further detail in legislation key aspects for the respect of fundamental rights, including safeguards and definitions; points out that when standards are not adopted timely or are not fit for purpose, common specifications should be introduced in order to ensure the full respect of fundamental rights;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers that divergent regulatory outcomes may also affect the standardisation process more generally, owing to differing terminology, the lack of standard clauses for standardisation requests and difficulties in ex ante oversight; underlines that this problem is even more significant where standards are relevant for more than one regulatory act; believes that a common approach or formalised agreement between the Commission and the co-legislators could be explored in order to streamline the preparation of standards and detailed conditions for technical specifications;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Welcomes the launch of a peer review process among Member States and national standardisation bodies to exchange good practices and propose new ideas for a more effective involvement of civil society and users, as well as to set up SMEs-friendly conditions for standardisation;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. BRecognises the strategic use of international standards to promote global leadership in critical areas such as green and digital technologies and the need for the EU to ensure its competitiveness, security and strategic autonomy; believes that it is essential to improve European coordination and engagement at international level in relation to standardisation, while respecting the right of national delegations to reach their own decisions in international forumith like-minded global partners that share the EU’s social, environmental and ethical values; considers, nevertheless, that where similar viewpoints exist, and are also shared with like-minded third- country partners, European policy leadership on standards development can act as a multiplier for European industrial leadershipand societal leadership; is of the opinion that the Commission should set high-level principles to determine if, according to the EU strategic interest, a certain standard should be developed in the European Standardisation Organisations or at international level;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Regrets that the effective contribution of societal stakeholders in the international standardisation processes continues to be a major challenge; stresses that the participation of the organisations listed in Annex III should be guaranteed in the technical committees and should not depend on the decision of each committee, which can result in the exclusion of stakeholders representing the interests of consumers, workers and the environment; calls on the Commission and on the European Standardisation Organisations to engage with international counterparts and like- minded trade partners to ensure greater inclusiveness of the international standardisation system and stronger representation of all stakeholders;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Emphasises that prioritising standardisation matters in cooperation with third countries in bi-, multi- and pluri- lateral settings is also important to ensure that like-minded, inclusive approaches towards standardisation can prevail at international level; encourages, in this regard, the Commission and the CSO to develop key performance indicators, to monitor commitments and developments on standardisation between the Union and third countries;
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Regrets that the EU was not able to take the lead in drafting international standards in very sensitive areas, such as green and digital transition and internet protocols; is worried that technical solutions, often incompatible with the EU’s values and interests, were approved in the international technical committees, endangering the EU objective to promote a free, open, accessible, inclusive and secure global internet; urges the Commission to step up its efforts to become a standard-setter in the international context also through the proposal of policy measures to foster the deployment of key internet standards and sustainability requirements;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Stresses the value of commercialisation for research activities launched under the Union’s research funding programmes, including earlythe consideration of the suitability for standardisation of projects launched under the Union’s research funding programmesat an early stage; welcomes the creation of the ‘standardisation booster’, as a test bed for standards’ suitability;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Stresses the need to unleash the full potential of EU funded pre-normative research in support of standardisation needs; calls on the Commission to encourage further coordination between National and European Standardisation bodies and the research system, in order to bridge the gap between research and the market and to ensure a proper allocation of resources; recalls that the dissemination of research results contributes to the general awareness and creates the basis for further innovation;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Acknowledges the development of the European Code of Practice for researchers on standardisation to promote an overarching approach to standardisation activities; calls on the Commission to ensure that those activities will be in line with EU policy objectives and strategic interests, in particular with the EU Green Deal commitments, and that the achievements in the area of research and innovation will be taken into account by the EU excellence hub;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 c (new)
Paragraph 18 c (new)
18 c. Notes that standards will rely more and more on machine-readable formats rather than on simple texts; calls on the European Standardisation Organisations and on the National Standardisation Bodies to concretely support this transition by ensuring that these formats will be interoperable and reliable and by integrating open source software solutions into their activities, in order to facilitate the uptaking of digital technologies by public administrations and businesses, in particular SMEs and microenterprises;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 d (new)
Paragraph 18 d (new)
18 d. Is of the opinion that open standards are essential to develop innovative solutions and open government policies, including on public procurement, based on transparency, accountability, sustainability and reliability; believes, therefore, that documents and data should be published in open, standardised formats that are easy to implement;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 e (new)
Paragraph 18 e (new)
18 e. Believes that the Commission should make additional efforts on setting open, inclusive, sustainable, reliable and high-quality ICT standards that ensure interoperability, accessibility and privacy- by-design solutions;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Supports the development of awareness-raising and training programmes, including life-long learning programmes, vocational education and training, aimed at developing pathways towards standardisation activities for academics, future industry professionals and, policymakers and representatives of the civil society;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19 a. Notes that drafting, implementing and enforcing standards requires a high degree of technical expertise and that there is no formal education nor vocational training on standardisation in the EU, thus contributing to a lack of qualified experts in the public and private sectors; is of the opinion that this situation will be emphasized by the generational turnover and by the new digital challenges that will require more technical skills and competences and that further efforts are needed to increase knowledge and awareness among public and private stakeholders;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19 b. Welcomes the Commission’s initiative to organise the Standardisation University Days to promote awareness among academia and students and to further include standardisation among the projects of the EU Academy; notes that the High-Level Forum will promote development and dissemination of standardisation academic teaching modules to train young professionals in order to improve competences at operational level; encourages Member States to include relevant professional education courses on standards in their national education systems;