Drafting of European Standards up to Enquiry stage

This page specifies the actions required to draft a European Standard (EN) in accordance with the existing rules and plans, and to deliver it to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre (CCMC).

1. PROCESS

1.1 The working document is drafted in one of the CENELEC official languages.

1.2 In accordance with the target date for the First Working Draft (1st WD - stage code 20.60) set in the New Work Item Proposal, the Technical Body (TB) Secretary circulates through the CENELEC Committee Internal Voting (CIV) platform at least one version of the working document to the Technical Body for comments. This Secretariat Enquiry is launched for a minimum of 4 weeks and a maximum of 3 months, depending on the subject and the discretion of the Technical Body.

1.3 In addition, the TB Secretary submits the working documents, together with the separate figure files (if any), via the Submission Interface to CCMC for registration as 1st WD in CENELEC database.

1.4 During the Secretariat Enquiry, CENELEC Members are encouraged to carefully study the texts and submit all pertinent comments via the CIV platform using the common commenting template.

1.5 Secretariat Enquiry may be repeated considering the comments received.

1.6 At any time before the initially planned target date for the submission of the draft to Enquiry (30.99), the TC leadership in cooperation with the relevant WG Convenor have at disposal the following options for changing the planning:

• To change the planning by using the ‘one change’ option, i.e. changing the target dates for Enquiry (stage code 30.99) and Formal Vote (stage code 45.99) initially provided in the NWI form, by using the ‘one change’ option. This option will enable the Technical Body to change, only once, the target dates initially planned for Enquiry and FV. This will have to be notified to CCMC (dataservice@cencenelec.eu). In case the Secretariat Enquiry must be repeated, the TB will provide the new target date also for the 1st WD (stage code 20.60). The ‘one change’ option does not require a formal TB decision but an agreement between TB leadership and the WG Convenor; the TB will be informed of the change.
  The same applies for CEN-CENELEC Joint Technical Committees (CEN-CLC/JTCs).
• To ask for a tolerance - one tolerance of 39 weeks may be requested by the TB Secretary to CCMC (dataservice@cencenelec.eu).
  For CEN-CLC/JTCs a decision is required, that shall be taken via either CIV or CIB depending on the organization holding the secretariat, i.e. respectively, a CENELEC or CEN Member.

It is recommended to take the decision a few weeks after the dispatch of the first working draft to the TC (stage code 20.60), since the possible comments received on the 1st WD may give an indication on the acceptability of the draft, thus increasing the possibility to have a successful Enquiry and skipping the FV - and in due time (e.g. 4 weeks) before the planned date for 30.99 to ensure a proper project management.

It is also recommended, for a good project management, to activate the ‘one-change option’ before considering requesting the tolerance.

1.7 The Technical Body, supported by the WG and the Editing Committee if any, finalizes the working document  in accordance with the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations – Part 3.  The Technical Body decides that the working document is ready for the CENELEC Enquiry. The Technical Body Secretary submits the document to CCMC via the Submission Interface.

See the process 'CENELEC Enquiry'.