European Standard
The European standards ( EN ) are rules that have been ratified by one of the three European committees for standardization ( European Committee for Standardization CEN, European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization CENELEC and European Institute for Telecommunications Standards ETSI) . All EN were created through a public standardization process .
Numbering and designation
Basically, the numbering begins with EN 1 ("Heating stoves for liquid fuels with evaporation burners and chimney connection"). The following predefined number ranges are an exception.
The following number ranges are predefined:
| Number range | comment |
|---|---|
| EN 1 to EN 99 | Original work by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) |
| EN 1000 to EN 1999 | Original work by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) |
| EN 2000 to EN 6999 | Standards developed by the European Association of Aerospace Equipment Manufacturers (AECMA) |
| EN 10000 to EN 10999 | Range of numbers to reserve |
| EN 20000 to EN 29999 | Outdated numbering for standards adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). "ISO NNNN" became "EN 2NNNN", e.g. B. ISO 2338 = EN 22338 (currently: EN ISO 2338) |
| EN 40000 to EN 49999 | Refers to IT standards and were developed by CEN or CENELEC |
| EN 50000 to EN 59999 | CENELEC standards |
| EN 60000 to EN 69999 | CENELEC standards, based on standards of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), with or without changes |
| EN 100000 to EN 299999 | CENELEC Electronic Components Committee (CECC) Documents for quality assessment for electronic components |
| EN 300000 to EN 399999 | European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standards |
Since the standards are updated as required (they are checked for up-to-dateness about every five years), it makes sense to specify a version. The year of origin is added after the standard, separated by a colon, example: EN 50126: 1999.
In addition to the EN standards mentioned, there are also the ISO standards with the numbers ISO 1 to 59999 and the IEC standards from IEC 60000 to 79999 as well as EN standards outside the defined number ranges.
If an EN is adopted by a national standards institute in the national set of rules, it is given the status of a national standard (e.g. DIN standard (DIN), Austrian Standards International (ÖNORM), Swiss Association of Standards (SN)). The name is then preceded by the country-specific abbreviation (e.g. ÖNORM EN ...), whereby the number of the European standard is usually adopted, e.g. B. DIN EN ISO 2338: 1998 or ÖNORM EN ISO 9001: 2000 .
Elaboration
European standardization work begins with a standardization proposal that is submitted by a member of the European standardization organizations CEN, CENELEC, ETSI such as B. the DIN German Institute for Standardization e. V. or Austrian Standards International , the European Commission or European or international organizations.
If the willingness to participate nationally and if the financing is secured, the work at CEN and CENELEC will be assigned to an existing technical committee or a new working body will be set up. The secretariat is run by one of the national standardization organizations.
A first manuscript for a European draft standard is being prepared by the responsible working committee. This can be followed by others in the course of the deliberations until a consensus is reached. A consensus-based proposal is then passed on to the national standardization organizations for public discussion.
To this end, CEN and CENELEC are launching a public survey with the publication of a European draft standard (prEN) in German, English and French. The national standardization organizations then have five months to submit a national statement. In Germany, the German language version is published as a draft of a DIN-EN standard, on which comments can be submitted within two months. The nationally responsible committee (mirror committee) will then discuss the statements and issue a national statement.
On the basis of the national statements, the European working committee prepares a final draft, which is published again in German, English and French. The national standardization organizations then decide on acceptance as a European standard in a two-month final vote. At least 71% of the weighted votes of the CEN / CENELEC members are required for acceptance. A European standard is automatically ratified one month after a positive result of the vote.
In theory, requests for new standards can be made by anyone, anywhere. Once an application has been formally submitted, it goes through the various procedures and is referred to the most appropriate committee for consideration. This is where a decision is made as to whether a standard should and could be developed. European standards are also developed with the aim of facilitating the implementation of European legislation in policy areas such as the internal market.
takeover
After ratification, a European standard must be adopted unchanged as a national standard by the national standardization organizations. Conflicting national standards are to be withdrawn in order to avoid double standardization.
The CEN / CENELEC internal regulations stipulate the conditions under which a European standard is to be given the status of a national standard without any change. Every accepted European standard is published in Germany with a national foreword as a DIN-EN standard . The national foreword serves the standard user as an additional source of information on the respective standard and is created by the responsible German mirror committee. It contains, for example, information on significant technical changes compared to a previous standard and the national mirror committee. However, it must not contain any additional specifications on the subject of standardization.
In Austria the adopted EN standards are published as ÖNORM EN , in Switzerland as SN EN .