European Standard

European Standards[1][2][3] (EN) are technical standards that have been ratified by one of the three European standards organizations: European Committee for Standardization (CEN), European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), or European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). All ENs are designed and created by all interested parties through a transparent, open, and consensual process.

Overview

European Standards are a key component of the Single European Market. They are crucial in facilitating trade and have high visibility among manufacturers inside and outside the European territory. A standard represents a model specification, a technical solution against which a market can trade.

European Standards must be transposed into a national standard in all member countries. This guarantees that a manufacturer has easier access to the market of all these European countries when applying European Standards. Member countries must also withdraw any conflicting national standard: the EN supersedes over any national standard.

Numbering and naming

In principle, number assignment starts with EN 1 (Flued oil stoves with vaporizing burners). The following predefined number ranges are an exception.[4]

Number range! Comment
EN 1 to EN 99Original work of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN)
EN 1000 to EN 1999Original work of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN)
EN 2000 to EN 6999Standards prepared by the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD STAN)
EN 10000 to EN 10999Number range to reserve
EN 20000 to EN 29999Obsolete numbering for standards adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted standards. ISO NNNN" became "EN 2NNNN", e.g. ISO 2338 = EN 22338 (currently: EN ISO 2338)
EN 40000 to EN 49999Refer to IT standards and were developed by CEN or CENELEC.
EN 50000 to EN 59999CENELEC standards
EN 60000 to EN 69999CENELEC standards based on International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards, with or without amendments
EN 100000 to EN 299999CENELEC Electronic Components Committee (CECC) documents for quality evaluation for electronic components
EN 300000 to EN 399999Standards of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)

Since standards are updated as needed (they are reviewed for currency approximately every five years), it is useful 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.

When an EN is adopted by a national standards body into the national body of standards, it is given the status of a national standard (e.g. German Institute for Standardisation (DIN), Austrian Standards International (ÖNORM), Austrian Standards International (SN)). The name is then prefixed by the country-specific abbreviation (e.g. ÖNORM EN ...), and the number of the European standard is usually adopted, e.g. DIN EN ISO 2338:1998 or ÖNORM EN ISO 9001:2000.

See also

References
  1. European standards explanation at CENELEC
  2. European standards explanation at CEN
  3. European standards explanation at European Commission
  4. Wolfgang Niedziella: Wie funktioniert Normung?"' VDE, Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-8007-3006-5. (German)
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