{"id":1027,"date":"2016-10-21T17:21:41","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T17:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/cwst\/?p=1027"},"modified":"2018-11-06T12:09:46","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T12:09:46","slug":"cen-voting-maths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/cwst\/cen-voting-maths\/","title":{"rendered":"CEN voting maths (& Brexit again)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer, the CEN general assembly changed its voting system by adopting criteria inspired by the qualified majority voting rules under\u00a0Lisbon Treaty<\/a> of the European Union (EU). \u00a0We will get on to the maths soon, but first – what does CEN do?<\/p>\n

CEN (Sunday name: the European Committee for Standardization<\/a>) is an association that brings together the National Standardization Bodies of (currently) 33 European countries. \u00a0It is a private non-profit organisation – outside the European Union, but with a mission to support the economy of Europe in international trading. \u00a0CEN has been around since 1961, but the history of systematic standardization across Europe can be traced at least as far back to the 18th century and the development of the metric system – with the telegraph system and time keeping being notable steps along the way to where we are now.<\/p>\n

CEN\u00a0is one of three\u00a0European Standardization Organizations (others are CENELEC -est. 1973 and ETSI – est. 1988) that are\u00a0officially recognized by the European Union and by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as being responsible for developing and defining voluntary standards at European level. CEN standardization activities cover a wide range of sectors – notably (for our interests) construction, materials, machinery, consumer products, packaging and the environment.<\/p>\n

Standardization is a key instrument for facilitating cross-border trade as it tackles numerous “non-tariff” or “technical” barriers to trade that, in practice, actually make the biggest difference to the operation of international markets. \u00a0This was important to trade even in the ancient world and our interconnected modern world is utterly reliant on it. \u00a0In particular, the European Standards (ENs) developed by CEN are a key tool for\u00a0the operation of the European Single Market (European Economic Area, EEA) because they set out a common framework that everyone can work within. \u00a0Since they are useful, European Standards\u00a0are also used\u00a0outside the EEA – and indeed CEN standardization work is very influential at\u00a0the International Organization for Standardization<\/a> (ISO – est. 1947) level.<\/p>\n

The members of CEN<\/a> are the National Standardization Bodies of the countries that are\u00a0member states of the European Union (EU) and other countries that are part of the European Single Market. \u00a0The National Standardization Body of the UK is the British Standards Institute<\/a>\u00a0(BSI – est. 1901). \u00a0There are also affiliate members of CEN<\/a>, which can also be involved in the technical work, but are not involved in the voting.<\/p>\n

It is these National Standardization Bodies\u00a0that, collectively,\u00a0develop and define European Standards in response to the\u00a0needs of businesses, consumers and other users of standards. \u00a0This is achieved through a large number of CEN Technical Committees<\/a>, sub committees and working groups formed of experts that are nominated by the\u00a0National Standardization Bodies, which themselves have internal committees that discuss the work at national level.<\/p>\n

Some of the\u00a0European Standards are created\u00a0in response to specific requests (“standardization requests<\/a>“, formally “standardization mandates”) issued by the European Commission<\/a>\u00a0(the executive of the EU). \u00a0The “harmonized standards” (such as EN 14081 for structural timber) enable\u00a0businesses to ensure that their products and services comply with “essential requirements” set out in European legislation. \u00a0While technically voluntary, these standards are, in practice, the normal way to comply with the laws that are not voluntary for trade within, or into, the European Single Market.<\/p>\n

Also, although technically voluntary, certain ENs are also effectively made compulsory by the effect of national legislation, contractual requirements, insurance terms and industry codes of practice.<\/p>\n

Each National Standardization Body member of\u00a0CEN is obliged to adopt each approved European Standard as a national standard in their country. They also have to withdraw any existing national standard that conflicts. This way, the same\u00a0European Standard becomes the national standard in all 33 countries covered by CEN Members.<\/p>\n

Approval of a European Standard depends on votes, which are cast by the\u00a0National Standardization Bodies on behalf of the country they represent. \u00a0Voting rules are a tricky balancing act between efficient decision making and reaching of agreement, and equality and fairness for individual countries. \u00a0It is the mathematics of this voting process that has changed. \u00a0The new rules are:<\/p>\n

Only votes that are cast are taken into account – abstentions are not counted (but many countries will vote positive by default if there is no opinion actively raised within the country)<\/p>\n