Engineering Consultancy Services
Archived message of the Austrian Standards Institute
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The new CEN/TC 395 "Engineering consultancy services" develops European Standards that aim at ensuring fair competition in this sector within the EU.
Vienna (AS prm, 2009-05-25)
By and large, the European internal market has become a reality and is a matter of course in many fields today. Nevertheless, there is still much potential for development, especially in the service sector. To make it easier for engineers to offer their consultancy services also abroad, appropriate European Standards are being prepared.
For that purpose, the European Committee for Standardization CEN set up CEN/TC 395 "Engineering consultancy services".The task of this Technical Committee (TC), whose secretariat is held by the French standards association AFNOR, is to develop standards for services provided by engineers in the fields of construction and industry.
- Credit: ASI prm
These European standardisation efforts are based on a study carried out by AFNOR in co-operation with the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) and the French Syntec-Ingénierie in 2007/2008. Experts and representative organisations from a total of 20 European countries participated in this study.
The main results of the study show that harmonised standards can provide benefits in the following fields:
- Prevention of misunderstandings when co-operating with foreign clients;
- Improvement of quality and higher safety for final consumers and clients;
- Facilitation of cross-border activities and transfer of human resources;
- Better visibility of the services’ added value;
- Harmonization of working conditions within the Union;
- Clearly defined duties and responsibilities of the project partners involved.
Easier market access
All in all, the European Standards currently developed by CEN/TC 395 are to contribute to eliminating access barriers existing in the EU member states and, as a result, will facilitate market entry.
As stated in the feasibility study, the aim primarily is to create "a ‘level playing field" in which businesses can compete openly and fairly and in which clients and consumers enjoy increased choice, quality and protection.
Moreover, the standards to be drawn up will make a major contribution to the implementation of the European Services Directive and to the development of the internal market in this sector.
Active contributions
To create European Standards meeting the needs of all the parties involved, active participation is required. This offers concrete opportunities for shaping the contents of European Standards in a dialogue with the representatives of the other member states.
If you are interested in contributing to this work, please contact:
Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Karl Grün
Director Standards Development
Austrian Standards Institute
Heinestrasse 38, 1020 Vienna, Austria
E-mail: karl.gruen(at)as-institute.at
