BSI’s membership of ISO and IEC is unaffected by Brexit. As far as continued membership of the European Standards Organizations CEN and CENELEC is concerned, a transition period for the statutes will open on the date of Brexit, regardless of the political outcome of the Brexit process and even in a no deal scenario, until the end of 2020. A working group which includes BSI is currently reviewing the CEN and CENELEC statutes to identify necessary changes to reflect the UK’s changed political relationship with the EU and to ensure that BSI can continue its membership of both organizations on a permanent basis.
Through BSI’s membership of these organizations both at international and European level, UK experts representing over ten thousand UK industry, consumer, academic and government experts will continue to influence standards used worldwide including those that are used to support regulatory requirements.
The Government has announced it is only attending EU meetings in which the UK has significant national interest ahead of the 31 October departure date. This decision by government does not affect committee meetings of CEN and CENELEC or BSI staff liaison with the organizations. BSI stakeholders will continue, without risk of challenge, as chairs, convenors, committee members and policy experts both before and after the UK leaves the European Union and irrespective of the political outcome of the Brexit process.
