Leading European industry organisations, including BusinessEurope and EuroChambre, have expressed strong reservations about the European Commission's proposal to introduce common specifications (common specifications) in the standardisation system.

While sharing the objective of speeding up and modernising the standardisation process, the paper emphasises that the creation of common specifications risks creating a parallel structure, weakening the public-private partnership that has been the foundation of the open, inclusive and industry-led European standardisation system for years.

European companies point to the risk of fragmentation of the internal market, loss of competitiveness and distancing from international references (ISO, IEC, ITU), with possible effects of technical barriers to trade and inconsistencies with the EU's commitments under the WTO and major trade agreements.

The document therefore calls on the Commission to reconsider its current approach and focus its efforts on improving and accelerating the existing European standardisation system, including through a review of the HAS evaluation process, in order to strengthen the competitiveness and global leadership of European industry.