Events

CEN and CENELEC welcome ISS as full member

The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) have both decided to grant full membership status to the Institute of Standardization for Serbia (ISS), the National Standardization Body (NSB) of Serbia. ISS membership will take effect on 1 January 2017, and represents an important step towards the full participation of Serbia in the European Single Market.

The application of ISS to become a full member of CEN and CENELEC was formally accepted by the General Assemblies of both organisations, which met in Brussels on 23 November. This was preceded by more than 15 years of close cooperation between ISS and the CEN and CENELEC communities. ISS has been an Affiliate of CEN since January 2005, and of CENELEC since 2009, a status that has fostered greater technical alignment between Serbia, and the EU and EFTA. Technical Assistance projects on ‘Quality Infrastructure in the Western Balkans’ under CEN leadership, the first one of which started in 2004, have accompanied further the strengthening of the Serbian quality infrastructure.

ISS membership to CEN and CENELEC comes in direct support of the negotiations for Serbia’s accession to the EU. The Republic of Serbia applied for EU membership in 2009 and was granted candidate country status for EU membership in March 2012. The 1st Intergovernmental Conference on 21 January 2014 signalled the formal start of Serbia's accession negotiations.