Standards and EU Exit

• The role of National Standards Body in 2021 and beyond
• CEN and CENELEC membership
• CEN and CENELEC voting procedure
• Other standards organisations
• Related information
• Product Regulation – UKCA and designated standards
• Standards and trade
• Contact us

As part of its role as National Standards Body, BSI develops policy positions to reflect the views and interests of its stakeholders, including government.

This leads BSI to seek wherever possible to develop international standards first, maximizing the UK stakeholders’ significant influence on market access conditions globally.

European regional standards are developed where there are no international standards or where there are specific interests in the region that could not be addressed globally.

International and European standards are adopted for the whole of the UK as British Standards, alongside a diminishing proportion of national-only standards that meet purely local needs. These national standards are often developed as precursors to international work and are transferred into international processes in due course.

BSI will continue to promote and enable UK stakeholder leadership in the development of international and European regional standards and optimize the participation of UK stakeholders.

BSI works closely with government departments to support them in their standards needs and advise them how standards can support public policy, including regulation.

In addition to our regular engagement, BSI advises government on standards in trade negotiations. Scott Steedman, BSI’s Director-General, Standards, sits on the Strategic Trade Advisory Group, the International Trade Department’s stakeholder forum on trade as the representative for standards and consumer protection. BSI also takes part in the DIT Technical Barriers to Trade Thematic Working Group. More information on our trade policy activity can be found here.

In June 2021, the CEN and CENELEC General Assemblies overwhelmingly agreed to revise the membership arrangements in their Statutes and Internal Regulations. The changes come after a careful review by the CEN and CENELEC members of their governance provisions. This review considered the impact of the changed political situation in Europe following the UK exit from the EU, gaps and inconsistencies in CEN and CENELEC governance and changes in Belgian law relating to membership associations.

The General Assemblies agreed to create three categories of full membership in each of the two associations: one for states that are members of the European Economic Area; one for states that are members of EFTA, but not EEA, or are accession countries; and one for states, such as the UK, that have an agreement with the EU and can demonstrate either convergent or compatible market regulation in relevant areas.

This decision safeguards the principle of international standards providing seamless market access across the UK and 33 European countries, reinforces the role of the European regional standardization system as part of the international standards system and strengthens the international cooperation underpinning the goals of the CEN and CENELEC Strategy 2030.

Putting these new categories of membership in place provides confidence for UK stakeholders participating in the shaping of European standards, a crucial part of UK influence in the international standards landscape. It also provides stability for business and industry to trade in a settled system compatible with the UK’s global trading ambitions and a strong foundation for the projection of UK policy and business interests globally.

The new membership provisions in the Statutes and Internal Regulations will maintain the way that UK expert stakeholders from all communities engage with CEN and CENELEC through BSI, retaining all the rights of participation, leadership and voting in standards developing committees as now.

BSI will undergo an assessment against the new category of membership in the third quarter of 2021. This will build on the regular membership assessment process that has been running within CEN and CENELEC for several years. The results of the assessment will be used by the General Assemblies to confirm BSI’s status against the criteria for the new membership category in November. BSI will then transfer to the new category of full membership from 1 January 2022.

BSI will continue to adopt and update European standards (ENs) into the UK national collection. UK adoptions of ENs are identical in technical content to the European standards published by all other CEN and CENELEC members.

BSI will keep stakeholders updated on these developments.

BSI is classed as a non-EEA member of CEN and CENELEC, which affects a few specific voting situations. In the types of vote listed in subclause 6.1.4 of CEN/CENELEC internal regulations part 2 (e.g. new or amended European standards), weighted voting is applied. In the first stage, votes from all members are counted and the proposal is adopted if the weighted voting criteria are met. There are no changes to the UK in this stage; our weighting remains the same.

However, if the proposal is not adopted in the first stage the votes of only the EEA countries are counted separately. In this situation, the UK’s vote is not counted.

Therefore, if the proposal passes stage 1, all members are obliged to implement it, including BSI. If the proposal fails stage 1 but passes stage 2, all EEA members are obliged to implement it, along with any non-EEA members that voted positively. This means that if BSI voted negatively, and BSI’s vote were not counted toward the final approval of the proposal, it would not be obliged to implement the decision. If BSI voted positively, we would be obliged to implement the decision. If the proposal fails stage 2, there is no further action.

BSI’s membership of ETSI continues and is not undergoing a statute review as membership arrangements were unaffected by the UK’s exit from the EU. BSI’s voting on ETSI ENs has also moved to the non-EEA category.

BSI’s membership of the international standards organisations ISO and IEC is unaffected by the UK’s exit from the EU. BSI does not manage UK activity with ITU, which is the responsibility of UK government.

Product regulation in the UK: UKCA marking and designated standards

Regulations apply for the UK market that update EU CE marking and similar legislation, including general product safety regulation.

The new product regulations split the UK territory into two parts: Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland. The approach to trade within the UK and devolution is set out in the UK Internal Market Act.

Standards and trade 

For questions related to how standards and/or and the National Standards Body is affected by the UK’s new regulatory regime please contact us here.

For questions linked to certification issues (i.e CE or UKCA marking) please visit this page for more information .