Standardisation in the context of European policy objectives

With the beginning of the current EU legislative term in 2024 and the new European Commission’s assumption of office under President Ursula von der Leyen in her second term, the focus in Brussels has shifted appreciably. The realignment of the political agenda has had a profound impact on many policy areas, particularly European standardisation.

Whereas the previous legislative approach was characterised by regulation, the Commission is now increasingly pursuing and developing measures and initiatives aimed at simplification, reducing the burden on enterprises and increasing the competitiveness of the European Single Market.

As long ago as 2022, in the EU Strategy on Standardisation, the Commission highlighted technical standardisation as a key instrument for strengthening Europe’s competitiveness, expanding technological sovereignty and driving the green and digital transitions forward. As a pillar of the Single Market, standards make a decisive contribution to Europe’s ability to innovate and also to making products interoperable and safe. Even at the time of the strategy’s launch, however, challenges increasingly facing European standardisation were already becoming apparent: high time pressure in the development of harmonised standards, increasingly shorter innovation cycles and the need for standards to be aligned more closely with market needs and the EU’s strategic objectives.

Standardisation as a strategic instrument

With the Commission’s new policy priorities, these issues are gaining centre stage more than ever before. In January 2025, the Commission cited revision of the Standardisation Regulation as one of the horizontal enablers for its Competitiveness Compass. It explicitly announced its intention to accelerate the standardisation process and make it more accessible. In addition, for the first time, it is also linking the common specifications to competitiveness. Common specifications are European implementing acts that the Commission regards as an alternative to harmonised standards in cases where the European standardisation organisations deliver harmonised standards that are unsatisfactory, or fail to deliver them at all.

The increased relevance of standardisation is evident once again in the Single Market Strategy published in May 2025. In this strategy, the Commission focuses not only on the standardisation system, but also on the New Legislative Framework (NLF) and the provisions concerning market surveillance, with the aim of making the Single Market more competitive. The Commission regards long delays in standard-setting as one of the ten biggest barriers – the “Terrible Ten” – hampering competitiveness in the Single Market. It has a similar view of the harmonised product regulations of the NLF, which it considers to be outdated, and also of the lack of product conformity; the latter additionally requires improvements in the area of market surveillance.

Impetus for reform: European Product Act and Omnibus IV package

The strong focus of policy on simplification and competitiveness has therefore not only given marked new impetus to revision of the Standardisation Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012, but has also triggered a reform of the NLF and revision of the Market Surveillance Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. Although an evaluation of the Market Surveillance Regulation was originally to be conducted first, the Commission has decided that evaluation will now be integrated directly into the revision process. The Commission’s view is that revision of all three acts in parallel, i.e. as a package, offers potential for synergies and simplification across the entire European product framework. The Commission therefore plans to present the revisions of the Standardisation Regulation, the NLF and the Market Surveillance Regulation together, in the form of the “European Product Act”, in the third quarter of 2026.

The instrument of common specifications has increased significantly in relevance as a result of policy being focused on competitiveness. One of the Commission’s proposals in the Omnibus IV legislative package published in May 2025 is to enshrine common specifications systematically within the European framework for product legislation. In the past, they have been introduced only on a sector-specific basis in individual acts. The proposals in question form the fourth in a series of several “omnibus legislative packages”. These have the aim of reducing the burden on enterprises and cutting administrative costs by simplifying regulations.

It is clear from current developments that European standardisation policy has rarely been linked as closely as this to the European Commission’s strategic priorities. The political reorientation towards competitiveness, simplification and the elimination of bureaucracy is creating a noticeable dynamic in the area of standardisation policy. In the course of the reform, it will be crucial to create a standardisation system and a framework of product legislation capable of responding flexibly and efficiently to new challenges, whilst remaining faithful to the proven basic principles.

KAN is following the developments at European level closely and is voicing its opinion in the legislative processes. It issued a statement on the Omnibus IV package in August 2025, having already formulated a critical assessment of the instrument of common specifications in a position paper in October 2024. Over the course of revision of the Standardisation Regulation, KAN has expressed its opinion on several occasions. It adopted a joint position on the Regulation in December 2025.

To all KAN position papers