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CEN and CENELEC have launched a section on their website as part of their ongoing efforts to encourage the widest possible range of stakeholders to get involved in standardisation activities and help shape the content of European Standards. The ‘Societal Stakeholders’ Toolbox’ is aimed, in particular, at supporting the participation of organisations that are concerned with defending the interests of consumers, protecting the environment and promoting the health and safety of workers.
Standards, which are documents that set out specifications and other technical information with regard to various kinds of products, materials, services and processes, can have significant impacts on the safety and well-being of consumers and workers, as well as on the wider society and the environment. Enabling organisations representing societal stakeholders to participate in the development of standards helps to ensure that all relevant concerns can be taken into account during the drafting process.
The toolbox can be accessed from the homepage of the CEN/CENELEC website, www.cencenelec.eu. It provides advice to organisations representing consumers, workers and environmental interests on where to find information about ongoing standardisation activities and how they can contribute to the standards development process at national, European and international levels.
The toolbox has been developed in the framework of their ongoing collaboration with three umbrella organisations that represent the interests of specific groups within the European Standardization System. These organisations are: ANEC (the European consumer voice in standardisation), ECOS (European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation) and ETUI (European Trade Union Institute – Health and Safety Department).
Many CEN/CENELEC members are co-operating with societal stakeholders organisations. Based on examples of good practice, they are encouraging members (in 33 European countries) to support the involvement of societal stakeholders in standardisation activities and to facilitate this by providing information on their websites.
