19 Amendments of Malcolm HARBOUR related to 2010/2051(INI)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas it is necessary to develop a strategic approach to European standardisation and review the current system in order for it to remain successful and respond to the needs of the forthcoming decade,
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Considers that these principles could be complemented by additional attributes such as maintenance, availability, quality, neutrality and accountability; believes that all those principles need to be further detailed and defined, and a specific monitoring system must be introduced to ensure their implementation at national and European level in the development of standards in support of EU policies and legislation;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Reiterates that it is essential for European standards to be developed within a reasonable period of time, in particular in those areas where standards are needed quickly in order to meet the requirements of public policies and rapidly changing market conditions; invites, therefore, the European and national standards bodies to continue improving their efficiency and effectiveness, bearing in mind that the acceleration of the standardisation process must not take place to the detriment of the principles of openness, quality, transparency and consensus among all interested parties;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Believes that the standardisation process will be partly accelerated through a better consultation between the Commission and the ESOs prior to issuing a mandate, which will enable them to respond quicker, preferably within a two-month period, about their possibility to undertake a standardisation work;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Notes the importance of the Directive 98/34 Committee as a forum between the European Commission and the Member States in the discussion of issues related to technical regulations and standardisation; considers that European Parliament representatives should be invited to the meetings of this Committee (or its successor body) which should be also, where appropriate, open to the observership of the European and national standardisation bodies and European-level stakeholder organisations, especially during the discussion of standardisation mandates;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to check standards against delivery in a more thorough way in order to ensure that they meet the requirements of the mandate, in particular when the standards are used for the purposes of ‘New Approach’ legislation, while ensuring that no significant delay shall be added to the standards approval; intends to examine – in the context of the forthcoming review of the European Standardisation System – the possibility of extending to the Parliament the right, currently accorded to the Commission and Member States, to dispute a harmonised standard which does not appear to entirely satisfy the essential requirements of the corresponding legislation;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Asks the Commission, for the sake of transparency, to make decisions on formal objections to standards public in a consolidated way, and make available an updated table of all actions in relation to formal objections; calls also on the Commission to present an annual report on the standardisation mandates and the progress on their fulfilment;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12c. Invites the ESOs to reinforce their existing appeal mechanisms which are meant to be used should a disagreement over a standard arise; notes that the current mechanisms may not always be effective as their composition reflects in practice the position of those that approved a standard; proposes, therefore, to enlarge the composition with the participation of external independent experts and/or European societal stakeholders that are currently associate members or cooperating partners of the ESOs;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 d (new)
Paragraph 12 d (new)
12d. Is aware that the current system of EU funding in support of European standardisation often leads to frustration in terms of rule changes, the large cost of auditing and delays in the authorisation of payments; stresses that there is an urgent need to reduce these costs and the high administrative burden that at times outweigh the benefits of the provided financial support, while respecting EU financial rules; considers that the Commission and the ESOs could improve their cooperation in order to guarantee a stable and user-friendly framework for the EU financial contribution to European standardisation which will increase significantly the efficiency of the system;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 e (new)
Paragraph 12 e (new)
12e. Expresses its support for the Keymark, a voluntary European certification mark, owned by CEN/CENELEC, which demonstrates compliance with European standards; stresses that the Keymark is a valuable alternative to the various national certification schemes that entail multiple testing and marking of products in several Member States and can therefore become a barrier to trade within the Internal Market and cause significant costs for small companies that may be reflected in higher prices for the consumer; encourages, therefore, national standards bodies, and other national certification bodies, to promote the Keymark as an alternative to national certification schemes; calls also for a pan-European information campaign in order to raise awareness amongst business and consumers about the benefits of the Keymark;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Commends the initiative of CEN and CENELEC to introduce a peer assessment process in order to evaluate the correct application by the NSBs of the WTO principles (and additional attributes) and to encourage continuous improvement and exchange of good practice; stresses that this project should serve as an effective tool for the strengthening of the NSBs and the improved participation of all relevant stakeholders at national level; believes that this project should involve all NSBs and be underpinned by independent audits; invites CEN and CENELEC to prepare and make publicly available a report on the results of the peer assessment process;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Calls on the ESOs and Member States to provide periodically to the Commission a progress report on their actions to ensure balanced representation in the technical bodies responsible for the development of mandated standards, which should be based on specific reporting requirements; stresses that these reports should subsequently feed into a Commission report on the efforts undertaken by the European and national standardisation organisations and the results achieved;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Calls on NSBs to follow the ISO Code of Ethics in order to ensure that the impartiality of standards is not endangered from other activities such as certification or accreditation;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Welcomes the ongoing initiative of the ESOs to draw up and publish on-line, without any access restriction, a summary of all their standards, and asks for the fast completion of this project; stresses, however, that this project should be also implemented at national level, in order to enable standards users to obtain information on the items covered by each standard in their own language via the web-site of NSBs;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 b (new)
Paragraph 25 b (new)
25b. Underlines the importance of providing standards into all EU official languages in order to ensure proper understanding by users; calls on the Commission to further support, and simplify the financial arrangements for, the translation of harmonised standards;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26 a (new)
Paragraph 26 a (new)
26a. Stresses the need to promote the inclusion of standardisation in academic curricula, education and lifelong learning programmes in order to raise awareness amongst current and prospective economic operators and policy makers about the importance and benefits of standards; encourages actions aimed to assess, quantify and communicate the economic and social benefits of standardisation;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Reaffirms that tackling climate change and other future global energy and environmental challenges implies developing and promoting clean technologies and green products; considers, therefore, that there is an urgent need to integrate environmental aspects into all relevant products and services, and that the European Standardisation System needs to develop an improved system to ensure such aspects are properly addressed when standards are developed; stresses the need to promote the active involvement in standardisation committees – at national and European level – of environmental organisations and public authorities responsible for environmental protection;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27b. Points out that both intellectual property rights (IPRs) and standardisation encourage innovation and facilitate the dissemination of technology; emphasises that a correct balance should be established between the interests of the users of standards and the rights of owners of intellectual property; calls on European and national standards bodies to be particularly vigilant when developing standards based on proprietary technologies, in order to allow broad access to all users; stresses the need to ensure that licenses for any essential IPRs contained in standards are provided on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions; encourages owners of intellectual property to apply royalty-free policies in order to promote the broad implementation of the standards;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Supports the secondment of two European standardisation experts to China and India with the aim to support the ESOs, promote European standards and provide feedback on the standardisation systems of these countries;