NBN REVUE
Every month, in French and Dutch, we offer you information and opinions on standardization activities in Belgium, Europe as well as on international level, covering a variety of industriel and economic sectors.
What is standardization ?
What is standardization used for ?
What is the legal value of a standard ?
Standardization in Belgium : a history
law of the April 3,2003 relating to standardization
Principal internal rules for the standardization committees
• 1. Identification of the needs concerning standards
• 2. Collective programming
• 3. Sectoral operator
• 4. Votes
What is standardization ?
The law of 3 April 2003 relating to standardization defines a standard as follows:
Art. 2 - 1° : Standard: a technical specification approved by a recognized organization engaged in standardization activities in view of a repeated and continuous application, the observance of which is not compulsory and which belongs to one of the categories mentioned in article 1, 4° of the European Parliament and Council directive 98/34 CE of June 22, 1998.
A standard reflects the rules of good practice in connection with a product, service or manufacturing process.
A resolution from 10 November 1999 of the Council of the European Union (EU) gives the following definition: standardization is a voluntary activity, based on consensus and realized by the interested parties and for themselves in a spirit of openness and transparency within independent and recognized standardization bodies, which leads to the adoption of standards which are on a voluntary basis.
What is the purpose of standardization ?
As an instrument of an economic policy, several missions can be distinguished within standardization :
- within the framework of the single market of the EU and the freedom of movement of goods and services, standards constitute a reference in the technical field;
- standards contribute to a rationalization of economic exchange;
- for the users, namely consumers, standards constitute guarantees and offer additional information in various fields, namely in the security field;
- for the companies, the participation in standardization makes it possible to position themselves strategically during the development of products and services as well as during the new and innovative production processes.
What is the legal value of a standard ?
The application of standards does not form in itself any legal constraint. Nevertheless it may be that a constraining regulation, for example a law or a royal decree refers to standards; in this case, they take a more constraining character, thatn they draw from the regulation which makes reference to them.
The same reasoning applies to contracts that refer to standards, taking into account article 1134 of the Civil code (“Agreements that are lawfully entered into, take the place of law for those who have made them”). If the parties expressly refer to a standard in the agreement, they cannot later neglect it under pretext that the application of a standard is voluntary.
2° A historical overview
Standardization in Belgium, a short history…
The Belgian Standards Association (Association belge de Standardisation (ABS)) was founded in 1919, under the protection of, among others, the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (previously known as Comité central industriel).
By decree law of September 20, 1945, the legislator created the Belgian Standards Institute (Belgisch Instituut voor Normalisatie/Institut belge de normalisation), as the reference organization in the field of standardization, covering every type of economic activity, with the exception of the subjects falling in the domain of the Belgian Electrotechnical Committee (BEC-CEB).
Following an audit at the end of the 1990’s, it appeared that the organization and operation of the BIN/IBN were not adapted any more to the evolutions that had taken place in the landscape of standardization. The principal evolutions were the single market and the specialization of standardization.
Since the 1980’s, the European Commission, through successive treaties and regulations has expressed its will to follow a policy aiming at carrying out freedom of movement of goods and services within the EU.
This exponential growth of the activities of the EU in connection with standardization, has gradually limited the ground of action of the involved national standardization organizations. In fact, the concept of a single European market is often not easily reconcilable with standards that are exclusively applied on the Belgian market.
One is always tempted to favour one’s own national industry. European competition law uses on this subject the concept of “having the same equivalent effect”.
A second evolution relates to the specialization of standardization. More than 350 technical committees are presently active within the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European body of standardization.
These TC’s cover a large range of subjects, from refrigerators to marble treatment, as well as services and water quality. No other public service can find all this expertise within its own ranks or recruit them. Consequently, the centre of gravity of the standardization work moved slowly towards the active experts in the various committees which exist at the Belgian level.
By way of this and other observations, the audit led to a legislative initiative: the law of April 3, 2003 relating to standardization.
The Standardization Act of April 3, 2003
The Standardization Act of April 3, 2003 falls into two components: a new approach to standardization on the one hand, and the creation of a new public service capable of implementing this new approach, the Belgian Standards Bureau (NBN), on the other hand. Both aspects are briefly treated below.
This new philosophy focuses as a starting point on the decentralization of the standardization work. This point will be further elaborated using the various stages of the procedure, as described by the law of April 3, 2003.
-1. Analysis for standards’ needs
Each year the Belgian standards body (or NBN) analyzes the technical and economic feasibility of standardization work on the basis of two relevant questions: does the introduction of a standard offer a technical and economic advantage for the sector concerned and do we have suitable knowledge to be able to contribute to the development of this standard ?
-2. Collective programming
Following a survey, the NBN establishes each year the general outline of the standardization programs. It is a choice done by the Board of directors of the NBN among all the active standardization committees. (“TC”, “ technical committees) on the level of CEN and ISO. At the Belgian level, the companies, collective centers, professional federations, trade unions and public authorities indicate their priorities as regards the follow-up of TC’s by Belgium.
This exercise took place for the first time during the summer of 2006. More than 50 organizations of the private and public sector participated in the survey. According to their answers, the Board of directors of the NBN fixed the general outline of the standardization programs.
-3. Sectoral operator
From the moment the Board of directors of the NBN has made a decision on the TC’s to be followed at the Belgian level, each of them is allocated a sectoral operator. It is an important innovation compared to the past. From now on, the follow-up of standardization work will be done in a decentralized way. The follow-up will be entrusted to the interested parties themselves, as they have the necessary know-how in their specific sector; the position of sectoral operator is however not open to everyone, see Royal Decree of 21/10/2004.
The sectoral operator acts as convener for the activities of the commission which intervenes like a Belgian mirror commission for its CEN or ISO counterpart; the composition of the Belgian mirror commission must be transparent and no financial threshold can be imposed; the NBN provides the working documents, supervises the deadlines and checks the progress from the point of view of general interest.
-4. Votes
At certain times, it is necessary to vote at the CEN and/or the ISO. For this purpose, the sectoral operator must obtain a consensus within the mirror commission which it manages; this consensus is then communicated at international level by the NBN.
Through the foundation of the NBN, the organization of standardization in Belgium was adapted to correspond to this new approach.
Contrary to its predecessor, the IBN, the NBN is not a non-profit organization of public law or a semi-public organization of type ‘B’. It is in fact a semi-public organization of type ‘C’. This means that the NBN has a greater degree of autonomy in its operations. This autonomy is expressed inter alia by a business accounting and the fact that the NBN can recruit its staff following an employment contract, like in the private sector.
It is also important to note the formal wish expressed by the legislator that standardization does not only take into account the industrial interests, but also other interests, such as the environment and the protection of consumers. The composition of the Board of directors reflects this wish. All the Royal Decrees.
The Standardization Act of April 3, 2003.
The Standardization Act of April 3, 2003 falls into two components: a new approach to standardization on the one hand, and the creation of a new public service capable of implementing this new approach, the Belgian Standards Bureau (NBN), on the other hand. Both elements are briefly treated below.
This new philosophy focuses as a starting point on the decentralization of the standardization work. This point will be further elaborated using the various stages of the procedure, as described by the law of April 3, 2003.
-1. Analysis for standards’ needs
Each year the Belgian standards body (or NBN) analyzes the technical and economic feasibility of standardization work on the basis of two relevant questions: does the introduction of a standard offer a technical and economic advantage for the sector concerned and do we have suitable knowledge to be able to contribute to the development of this standard ?
-2. Collective programming
Following a survey, the NBN establishes each year the general outline of the standardization programs. It is a choice done by the Board of directors of the NBN among all the active standardization committees. (“TC”, “ technical committees) on the level of CEN and ISO. At the Belgian level, the companies, collective centers, professional federations, trade unions and public authorities indicate their priorities as regards the follow-up of TC’s by Belgium.
This exercise took place for the first time during the summer of 2006. More than 50 organizations of the private and public sector participated in the survey. According to their answers, the Board of directors of the NBN fixed the general outline of the standardization programs.
-3. Sectoral operator
From the moment the Board of directors of the NBN has made a decision on the TC’s to be followed at the Belgian level, each of them is allocated a sectoral operator. It is an important innovation compared to the past. From now on, the follow-up of standardization work will be done in a decentralized way. The follow-up will be entrusted to the interested parties themselves, as they have the necessary know-how in their specific sector; the position of sectoral operator is however not open to everyone, see Royal Decree of 21/10/2004.
The sectoral operator acts as convener for the activities of the commission which intervenes like a Belgian mirror commission for its CEN or ISO counterpart; the composition of the Belgian mirror commission must be transparent and no financial threshold can be imposed; the NBN provides the working documents, supervises the deadlines and checks the progress from the point of view of general interest.
-4. Votes
At certain times, it is necessary to vote at the CEN and/or the ISO. For this purpose, the sectoral operator must obtain a consensus within the mirror commission which it manages; this consensus is then communicated at international level by the NBN.
Through the foundation of the NBN, the organization of standardization in Belgium was adapted to correspond to this new approach.
Contrary to its predecessor, the IBN, the NBN is not a non-profit organization of public law or a semi-public organization of type ‘B’. It is in fact a semi-public organization of type ‘C’. This means that the NBN has a greater degree of autonomy in its operations. This autonomy is expressed inter alia by a business accounting and the fact that the NBN can recruit its staff following an employment contract, like in the private sector.
It is also important to note the formal wish expressed by the legislator that standardization does not only take into account the industrial interests, but also other interests, such as the environment and the protection of consumers. The composition of the Board of directors reflects this wish. All the Royal Decrees.