The European Commission and the Council are seeking to reform the European standardization system. The system should be better able in future to respond to innovative developments and to support the competitiveness of companies. For this purpose, the standards organizations should revise their business models and gear the system more closely to the needs of small and  medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Although the institutions of the EU endeavour to formulate directives comprehensively and clearly, questions repeatedly arise regarding their application in practice. Interpretation of the texts of New Approach directives is the task of European Commission services and of European bodies. The functions of these services and bodies will be described briefly below.

In order to ensure that harmonized European standards adequately support the essential safety requirements of EU directives, CEN/CENELEC and the European Commission make use of a system of independent consultants. These consultants are contracted to CEN/CENELEC. Through their review of the standards – approximately 570 in the area of machinery alone – they make an important contribution to quality assurance of the standardization system.

EN ISO 8041 sets out requirements for vibration measuring instruments and describes their testing and calibration. The standard is required in the field, but cannot be applied in its current form at justifiable cost. For this reason, KAN has drawn up a position paper containing concrete proposals for improvements to be made during the revision of the standard.

Owing to the high accident rate on channel baling presses, OSH representatives called in 2006 for a standard supporting the safety requirements of the Machinery Directive to be developed for these machines. Three standards, for different types of presses, are now being formulated in a project committee set up by CEN. The draft standard for horizontal baling presses will be presented shortly for public enquiry.

With its 413,000 inhabitants, Malta is the smallest Member State of the European Union. Owing to the small size of the country, the different authorities involved in OH&S matters maintain particularly close links and collaborate intensively.