Harmonisation of technical standards
Today, almost 350 industry consortia are working on informal ICT standards. Different technical standards applied and used for different research projects by companies may well result into confusion and inconsistency. Reckless implementation of new standards and unawareness may also face the risk of duplication and fragmentation. CEN tackles the problem by initiating the cluster for e-commerce (C-ECOM) project. This novel project aims at bringing IST projects that are in need of e-commerce standards under the same umbrella. CEN identifies those projects that express an interest in the work of C-ECOM and advises them of the standards' process. In return, the interested parties inform CEN of their standards activities in their respective sectors. Because it is not always easy to fast-track their standards' activities, CEN/ISSS Open Environment provides an open platform for exchanging ideas and results and keeps the constituent projects informed. As a result, R&D projects save time from dealing with various standardisation bodies. Therefore, the C-ECOM project examines the approved projects and seeks participation to the open platform from significant proportion of the contacted projects. In turn, the projects participating in the cluster submit to the platform contributions, such as guidelines, codes of conduct or technical specifications. The E-COM encourages them to supply the platform with either material relating to their existing work or newly developed material. According to CEN, the key to a healthy standardisation process is harmonisation. Harmonising different technical specifications actually helps eliminate trade barriers, promotes security, permits exchanging of products, systems and services and enhances common technical understanding. CEN/ISSS bridges the gap between formal and informal standardisation and combines the traditional standardisation environment with a fast, market-driven approach. Until now, the C-ECOM has successfully worked with six project clusters and is further committed to offer clients the chance to find solutions in an environment best suited to their needs.
