EDF and many of our members are increasingly following and contributing to the development of European Standards. These technical documents are crucial for the success of all sorts of policies, including, for example, legislation such as the European Accessibility Act.
However, the standardisation world is tricky, difficult and often unfair towards disability organisations. In this article, we will explain the basics of the European standardisation system, what EDF priorities are, and useful resources and insights for you to get involved.
What?
A European standard or norm (EN) is a technical documents that provide rules, guidelines or characteristics of products, services, environments, etc.
Example of a requirement: “handrails shall be provided on both sides of stairs or ramps to provide support to right and left-handed persons”.
It is important to note that, unlike legislation, European Standards are voluntary.
Why?
If they are voluntary, why are they important? Firstly, because by following them companies and public administrations ensure key objectives, such as quality, safety, sustainability or accessibility.
This is why, the European Commission often requests the European Standards Organisations to prepare ENs in order to support policies or legislation.
Example: the European Commission standardisation request M/587 in support of the European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive. The Commission requested six ENs to fulfil the mandatory requirements of this legislation.
After receiving the requested ENs, the European Commission can decide to refer to these ENs in the Official Journal of the EU. By doing so, the European Standards will become Harmonised European Standards (HENs).
This is very important because by following the HENs, companies and public administrations will demonstrate compliance with the law.
Example: According to a Commission decision in 2018, by following the HEN 301 549 on accessibility requirements for ICT products and services, public sector bodies will be sure to be compliant with the Web Accessibility Directive.
Even if the HENs are not mandatory, they explain how to comply with the legislation, and, therefore, it is important to ensure that the HENs’ requirements are fulfilling what the law requires in an ambitious manner.
Example: the Accessibility Act requires that information about products is provided in an “understandable way”. What this means in practice needs to be detailed in the future HENs.
Access the standards
Thanks to a decision of the European Court of Justice, recently there is a new way to access all HENs: Visit repository of Harmonised European Standards (Warning: we do not know if this web portal is accessible)
The AccessibleEU centre has also granted access to non-profit organisations to the existing ENs on accessibility: Visit Accessibilitas web portal (You only need to apply for premium access).
Which?
EDF is following the development of six HENs requested by the Commission to support the implementation of the European Accessibility Act and the Web Accessibility Directive. Three of them will be new, and the other three will be revisions of current ENs.
- Revision of the HEN 301 549 Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services. This one is the only freely available. Canada also adopted it and provides it in more accessible formats.
- Revision and harmonisation of EN 17210 Accessibility and usability of the built environment – Functional requirements.
- Revision and harmonisation of EN 17161 Design for All – Accessibility following a Design for All approach in products, goods and services – Extending the range of users.
- Development of a new HEN setting up requirements on the accessibility of non-digital information related to products.
- Development of a new HEN for the accessibility of support services related to products and services (help desks, call centres, technical support, relay services and training services)
- Development of a new HEN accessibility and interoperability of emergency communications and for the answering of emergency communications by the public safety answering point (PSAPs) (including to the single European Emergency number 112).
Who?
ENs are developed and adopted by the European Standards Organisations CEN, CENELEC and ETSI. Depending on the purpose of the EN, the document is developed by one or more of these organisations. CENELEC focuses on electro-technical standards, ETSI on ICT standards, and CEN on all the rest.
Example: the EN 301 549 on ICT accessibility is developed jointly by CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, whereas the EN on accessibility for the built environment is developed only by CEN.
These organisations put together Technical Committees to develop the ENs. These committees are formed by experts from national standards organisations, industry representatives and civil society organisations.
The European Standards Organisations request funding to the European Commission to develop the requested ENs. They can then launch a call for paid experts to develop the standards in collaboration with the Technical Committees.
Example: EDF supports the candidature of technical experts that assist us in conveying and defending our positions in the technical discussions.
Where?
Even if there are Technical Committees at European level, the national standards bodies are the ones with most influence, as they submit comments and vote the adoption of the ENs.
It is therefore important that we are present at national level to influence the country’s position and vote. Usually national standards organisations set “mirror committees” to discuss and agree on the position of the country regarding specific ENs. You can find a list of mirror committees following accessibility standards at the end of the AccessibleEU report on standards.
The problem is that the European and particularly the national standards bodies are not inclusive to persons with disabilities and disability organisations. There are often fees to participate in the committees, accessibility barriers and over representation of industry representatives. EDF is advocating for a deep reform of the European Standardisation System.
How?
Check the national members of CEN, and CENELEC, and get involved, if possible, in the national mirror committee responsible for the Accessibility Act standards. You can find the list of mirror committees in the AccessibleEU report.
Join forces with consumer organisations active in standardisation (ANEC is their representative organisation at European level with which EDF works closely).
Join forces with technical experts that can assist you in putting forward your proposals. You can also contact the AccessibleEU centre, as it has a large network of experts, and they are active in the Accessibility Act standards.
Contact EDF secretariat.
When?
The HENs for the Accessibility Act should be ready at different times:
- The revision of the ICT, built environment, and Design for All standards by September 2025.
- The non-digital information and support services standards by March 2026.
- And the standard for the communication with 112 emergency number by January 2027.
However, standardisation often takes longer, and it is expected that there will be delays.
In the meantime, we should remind companies and public administrations that standards are voluntary and that they should comply with the law nonetheless.
Resources:
- EDF work on standardisation
- EU Regulation on European Standardisation
- EDF position regarding the European Standardisation System
- AccessibleEU center report: “Accessibility Standards at European Level”