Call for proposals to the organisations representing SMEs and societal stakeholders in standardisation activities

The Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European standardisation, adopted on 25 October 2012 (the Regulation) emphasises the importance of the participation of all relevant interested parties including SMEs and societal and social stakeholders in the  European standardisation process.

Standards are important tools for the competitiveness of undertakings and especially SMEs, whose   participation in the standardisation process is important for technological progress in the Union.

Furthermore, standards can have a broad impact on society, in particular on the safety and well-being of citizens, the efficiency of networks, the environment, workers’ safety and working conditions, accessibility and other public policy fields. However,  standards are written by technical experts who represent the  fields of activity of the companies which these experts work for. It is therefore important for the EU to facilitate and support the participation of experts representing background and interests of SMEs and societal  and  social  stakeholders in the standardisation process, especially in the European context where European standards play a very important role in supporting EU legislations and EU policies.  

Historically, the participation of SMEs and societal and social stakeholders had been supported by different EU programmes. The Regulation has put the inclusiveness of the European standardisation process as a priority and unified the legal basis for the role, the establishment and the financing of European stakeholder’s organisations in standardisation.

The following beneficiaries are identified for funding under this invitation to submit a proposal:

• Small Business Standards (SBS)
• The European  Association  for  the  Co-ordination  of  Consumer  Representation  in Standardisation (ANEC)
• The European Environmental Organisation for Standardisation (ECOS)
• The European Trade Union Confederation (CES ETUC)

The grants will be awarded under the following topics:

• Topic 1. SMP-STAND-2022-3-AG-IBA-SBS-Support to organisations representing SME interest in standardisation activities
• Topic 2. SMP-STAND-2022-3-OG-IBA-ANEC -Support to organisations representing consumer’s interest in standardisation activities
• Topic 3. SMP-STAND-2022-3-OG-IBA-ECOS -Support to organisations representing environmental interest in standardisation activities
• Topic 4. SMP-STAND-2022-3-OG-IBA-ETUC -Support to organisations representing social interest in standardisation activities

The annual invitation to submit proposals launched on 30 June 2022, is the first call to be managed in eGrants, following the successful on-boarding of the programme.