This glossary provides a list of abbreviations and definitions of the terminology you may encounter when buying, reading or researching standards. If you have any further questions or suggestions for definitions that should be added to this section, please contact us.
acceptance
process by which new work is approved
AECMA
Association Européenne des Constructeurs de Matériel Aérospatial
European Association of Aerospace Industries
NOTE The acronym is invariable.
ANEC
European Association for the coordination of consumer representation in standardization
ASB
Associated Body
ballot/vote
process of approval by committee
BEC
British Electrotechnical Committee
BS
British Standard
BSI
British Standards Institution
CD
Committee Draft
CDV
Committee Draft for Voting, in the IEC system (equivalent to the DIS in the ISO system)
CEC
Commission of the European Communities
CECC
CENELEC Electrical Components Committee
CEN
European Committee for Standardization Comité Européen de Normalisation
Europäisches Komitee für Normung
NOTE The acronym is invariable.
CEN Publication
publication resulting from the technical work of CEN and made available by CEN, i.e. European Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports, Guides and CEN Workshop Agreements.
CEN/CLC Enquiry
distribution by the CEN Management Centre of a prEN to CEN national members for public comment
NOTE Technically not a true vote.
CEN/CENELEC Workshop Agreement
CEN/CENELEC agreement, developed by a Workshop, which reflects the consensus of identified individuals and organizations responsible for its contents
CENELEC/CLC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
chairman
named leader of a committee
CMC
CEN Management Centre, the administrative offices of CEN.
committee
representatives from business, industry, government, academia, consumers and other groups, brought together for the development of standards
committee member
representative on a committee
compliance
action of a person or body in fulfilling the requirements of a standard
Confirmed
this standard has been reviewed and confirmed as being current
conflicting national standard
National standard, with the same scope as an EN (and HD for CENELEC) including requirements which conflict with the requirements of the EN (and HD for CENELEC)
conformity
fulfilment by a product, process or service of requirements in a standard
consensus
General agreement, characterized by the absence of sustained opposition to substantial issues by any important part of the concerned interests and by a process that involves seeking to take into account the views of all parties concerned and to reconcile any conflicting arguments
NOTE Consensus need not imply unanimity
Current
the document is the current one available
DD
draft for development, in the BSI system, used also for publishing ISO/IEC/CEN and CENELEC Technical Specifications as BSI documents
delegate
representative of a national standards body to a committee of an international or European standards committee
DIS
Draft International Standard, in the ISO system (equivalent to the CDV stage in IEC)
DIUS
Department for Innovation, University and Skills
DPC
draft for public comment, a national stage in the development of a standard, where wider consultation is sought within the UK
draft
a standard under development
DTI
Department of Trade and Industry - defunct. Now Department for Innovation, University and Skills
EC
European Commission
ECE
European Commission for Europe (United Nations Agency)
ECISS
European Committee for Iron and Steel Standardization
EEA
European Economic Area
EEC
European Economic Community
EFTA
European Free Trade Association
EN
Norme Européen (European Standard)
ENV
Europäische Vornorm (European Prestandard)
ES
European Specification
ETSI
European Telecommunications Standards Institute
European Directive
legislative instrument within the European Union (EU) which is binding for Member States with regards to the objective to be achieved but which leaves to the national authorities the choice of form and methods used to attain the objectives which were agreed on at EU level within their domestic legal systems
European Standard
standard adopted by CEN/CENELEC and carrying with it an obligation of implementation as an identical national standard and withdrawal of conflicting national standards
NOTE The term “harmonized standard" is a term used in the context of the New Approach directives – see clause 4.2 of the "Guide to the implementation of directives based on the New Approach and the Global Approach" edition 2000.
expert
representative of a national standards body on a working group in ISO/CEN or IEC/CLC
FDIS
Final Draft International Standard, in the ISO and IEC systems, i.e. the final voting stage
Formal Vote
circulation by the CEN Management Centre of the final text of a prEN (FprEN) in the three language versions to CEN national members for approval through weighted voting.
harmonized standard
Technical specification adopted by European Standards Organizations, developed under a mandate given by the European Commission and/or European Free Trade Association, in support of essential requirements of a New Approach Directives
NOTE: This concept is different from the concept of “harmonized standard” used by ISO/IEC and by the Low Voltage Directive.
HD
Harmonized Document (CENELEC definition)
HQ
Harmonization Questionnaire
IEC
International Electrotechnical Commission
IR
Internal Regulations (of CEN/CENELEC)
ISO
International Organization for Standardization
ITU
International Telecommunications Union
mandate
political request from the European Commission (EC) (and European Free Trade Association [EFTA]), agreed upon by the Member States (generally via a decision of the Standing Committee of the Directive 98/34), addressed to CEN, in support of an action from the EC
NOTE This can be in support of legislative work such as a directive (some directives, not all, are “New Approach” Directives), or in support of an industrial policy action from the EC.
MB
Member Body (of ISO, IEC)
MRA
Mutual Recognition Agreement
national deviation
Modification of, addition to or deletion from the content of an EN (and HD for CENELEC), made in a national standard within the same scope as the EN (and HD for CENELEC)
NOTE: It does not form part of the EN (and HD for CENELEC).
National Mirror Committee
national mirror structure to the European/international technical committees, ensuring the formulation of coherent national positions
National Standards Body
Standards body recognized at national level that is eligible to be the national member of the corresponding international and regional (European) standards organizations
NC
National Committee (IEC and CENELEC usage)
New Approach Directive
directive that has been put into force since May 1985 by the Council of the European Communities which define “legislative harmonization in those sectors where barriers to trade are created by justified divergent national regulations concerning the health and safety of citizens and consumer and environmental protection, will be confined to laying down the 'essential requirements', conformity with which will entitle a product to free movement within the Community”
normative document
document that provides rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results NOTE 1 The term "normative document" is a generic term that covers such documents as standards, technical specifications, codes of practice and regulations.
NOTE 2 A "document" is to be understood as any medium with information recorded on or in it.
NOTE 3 The terms for different kinds of normative documents are defined considering the document and its content as a single entity.
normative reference
document to which reference is made in the standard in such a way as to make it indispensable for the application of the standard.
NP
New work item Proposal
O
Observer (member)
Obsolescent
Indicating by amendment that the standard is not recommended for use for new equipment, but needs to be retained to provide for the servicing of equipment that is expected to have a long working life, or due to legislative issues.
Official Journal of the European Union
official publication of the Institutions of the European Union, which is published daily
Order Voucher
contract between CEN and the European Commission (EC)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Secretariat for the delivery of some services; these services can be reports, standards, organization of a workshop, and so on
NOTE Generally, it is accompanied by a financial support from the EC/EFTA Secretariat to the CEN Management Centre and other parties in the CEN System.
P
Participating (member)
PAG
Programming Advisory Group
Panel
subordinate group of a BSI Technical Committee or Subcommittee, responsible for drafting documents, broadly equivalent to an international or European Working Group
parallel voting
procedure under the Vienna Agreement for draft standards developed with either CEN- or ISO-lead which permits approval of the draft standards by both organizations within the same time period
NOTE Parallel approval is considered to take place at two stages: although no vote is taken within CEN at the Enquiry stage, the CEN Enquiry equates to the ISO/DIS vote; the CEN Formal vote equates to the ISO/FDIS vote.
Partially replaced
this standard has been partially replaced by one or more other standards
PC
Programming Committee
PD
published document, in the BSI system
PNE
Présentation de Normes Européennes (Presentation of European Standards)
PQ
Primary Questionnaire
prEN
project Norme Européenne (draft European Standard)
private circulation
status of all documents circulated to BSI committees, apart from DPCs
programme of work
detailed list of all subjects (work items) to be developed within the scope of a Technical Committee (TC), forming a group of interrelated standards projects which together achieve a common purpose in support of the strategic aims of a TC
Proposed for confirmation
this standard is being reviewed and it has been proposed that it is confirmed as current standard
Proposed for obsolescence
this standard is being reviewed and it has been proposed that it is made obsolescent
Proposed for withdrawal
this standard is being reviewed and it has been proposed that it is withdrawn
PWI
Potential new Work Item
Revised
this standard has been revised
SC
Subcommittee
subordinate committee of a Technical Committee
secretary
committee officer responsible for registering document progress, circulating meeting reports (minutes) and records of committee decisions (e.g. resolutions)
standard
document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context
standardization
the process of formulating, issuing and implementing standards
standstill
obligation accepted by the national members of CEN/CENELEC not to take any action, either during the preparation of an EN (and HD for CENELEC) or after its approval, which could prejudice the harmonization intended and, in particular, not to publish a new or revised national standard which is not completely in line with an existing EN (and HD for CENELEC)
Superseded
this standard has been replaced by one or more other standards
TC
Technical Committee
group of technical experts that leads on a particular area of standards making
TR
Technical Report
document published by ISO, IEC CEN or CENELEC containing informative material not suitable to be published as a European Standard or a Technical Specification. Usually implemented by BSI as a Published Document (PD)
NOTE A TR may include, for example, data obtained from a survey carried out among the national members, data on work in other organizations, or data on the "state-of-the-art" in relation to national standards on a particular subject.
TS
Technical Specification
document published by ISO, IEC, CEN or CENELEC for which there is the future possibility of agreement on a European Standard, but for which at present the required support for approval as a European Standard cannot be obtained, there is doubt on whether consensus has been achieved, the subject matter is still under technical development, or there is another reason precluding immediate publication as a European Standard; usually implemented by BSI as a draft for development (DD)
NOTE A Technical Specification is not allowed to conflict with an existing European Standard.
UAP
Unique Acceptance Procedure
procedure applied to any type of document, whatever its origin, in order to achieve rapid approval of a European Standard, for which there is an expectation to be acceptable at European level with no, or only minor, change.
UQ
Updating Questionnaire
user
someone who makes use of standards
Vienna Agreement
agreement on exchange of technical information between the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and CEN approved by the CEN Administrative Board on 27 June 1991 in Vienna
weighted voting
voting system applied for the approval of European Standards, which consists in according specific weightings to votes cast by CEN members
NOTE For NSBs of EU countries the weighting of votes is the same as stipulated in Article 148 of the Treaty of Rome; for other NSBs the weighting is calculated on the basis of population and Gross Domestic Product.
WG
Working Group
group of experts appointed by an international or European technical committee or subcommittee, responsible for drafting documents British Standards training Legal issues in standardization The New Approach to technical
harmonization and standardization
WI
Work Item
Withdrawn
document is no longer current, but has been withdrawn
Work in hand
there is work being undertaken on this standard and there may be a related draft for public comment available
