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BREXIT: CEN and CENELEC agree Transition Period extension for UK member BSI
On 1 February 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union (EU), 10 months after the initially expected date of 29 March 2019. The EU and the UK Government have agreed on a Transition Period to prepare for the UK’s exit of the EU, until the 31st December 2020
To ensure the continued stability of the European standardization system and to give confidence to European business and consumers, Members of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) have agreed, at their online General Assemblies on 18 June 2020, to extend the current Transition Period for their UK Member, BSI (British Standards Institution), until 31 December 2021.
During the Transition Period, BSI will continue to have full Member’s rights and obligations as a non-EEA country.
CEN and CENELEC will gather, in coordination with BSI, more information on the trade negotiations between the EU and the UK, and on market access and related standardization issues for European stakeholders. These elements will help CEN and CENELEC, including BSI, to define the membership status of BSI and the membership criteria for CEN and CENELEC after 2021.
BSI (a GGF member) has welcomed the decision by the CEN and CENELEC General Assemblies and has expressed its commitment to cooperate with the other CEN and CENELEC members in this process.
Ben Wallace, GGF Senior Technical Officer commented:
“The agreed extension is positive for the GGF and its members as it will give us more time to prepare. All other CEN and CENELEC membership rights and responsibilities remain unchanged during the extended transition period. We understand that BSI is confident its membership (of CEN and CENELEC) will continue beyond the 31st December 2021. The GGF is will continue to work with the other CEN and CENELEC members to ensure the best outcome for the UK.”
Please see breakdown below showing why the extension benefits the GGF and its Members in line with the current rules for the UK through the transition period.
As of the 1st July 2020, the UK is classified as a non-EEA country in the CEN and CENELEC
Internal Regulations, Part 2.
In practical terms, this only affects a few specific voting situations.
In the types of vote listed in sub clause 6.1.4 (e.g. adoption of a new work item)
Weighted voting is applied. The pass criteria are given in sub clause 6.2, and there is a two-step system:
− Step 1: Votes from all members are counted and the proposal is adopted if the weighted voting criteria are met. There are no changes to the UK in this step; our weighting remains the same.
− Step 2: If the proposal is not adopted in step 1, the votes of only the EEA countries are counted separately. In this situation, the UK’s vote would not be counted.
The implications of the outcomes are given in sub clause 6.3:
− If the proposal passes step 1, all members are obliged to implement it, including the UK.
− If the proposal fails step 1 but passes step 2, all EEA members are obliged to implement it, along with any non-EEA countries that voted positively. This means that if the UK voted negatively, the UK would not be obliged to implement the decision. If the UK voted positively, we would be obliged to implement the decision.
− If the proposal fails step 2, there is no further action.
For further information on the GGF and its work with standards committees please email technical@ggf.org.uk
