European standardization policy

Abstract

■ A workshop on Information and Communication Technology Standardization Policy was held by the European Commission in November 1994. The European Union has a policy requiring European and international standards in public procurements. There is growing realization in the Commission that many formal standards are not successful in the marketplace, and that de facto standards from consortia often provide a cheaper alternative for open systems. The workshop resulted in a series of recommendations that can be expected to lead to changes in European policy on standardization over the next year. There were many parallels between the workshop and the U.S. Federal Internetworking Requirements Panel (FIRP), which in 1994 recommended changes to U.S. Government Open System Interconnection Profile (GOSIP) policy. he workshop was motivated primarily by recommendations made to the European Council in June of 1994 on “Europe and the Global Information Society.” The recommendations are contained in the “Bangemann Report,” which was prepared by a group of prominent persons and chaired by Commissioner Martin Bangemann [Bangemann 1994]. The report sets out a vision for Europe in the Global Information Infrastructure, and in many ways is analogous to the Clinton/Gore February 1993 paper on technology for America’s economic growth [Clinton and Gore 1993] and the National Information Infrastructure (NII) Agenda for Action of September 1993 [IITF 1993]. The report, which does not favor more public money, urges the European Union to put its faith in market mechanisms, to deregulate, and to encourage a competitive market for information services. It also proposes an action plan involving ten key applications. The report makes some critical observations concerning standards: “Standards institutes have an honorable record in producing European standards, but the standardization process as it stands today raises a number of concerns about fitness for purpose, lack of interoperability, and priority setting that is not sufficiently market driven.” In line with its overall vision and on the basis of its assessment of the current organization and output, “the Bangemann Group recommends a review of the European standardization process in order to increase its speed and responsiveness to markets.”