DIN opens Brussels office
DIN, the German Institute for Standardization, opened its Brussels office on Avenue Michel Ange 68 during a summer reception on 11 July 2011. According to Dr. Bahke, DIN Director, "Being the largest standards organization in Europe, DIN is fulfilling its responsibility by establishing its presence in Brussels as a contact partner for European policy makers". Over the past few years representatives from the European Commission and members of the European Parliament have increasingly sought DIN's expert opinion in all matters concerning standardization. German industry has also demanded that its interests be well represented in European standardization policy.
German industry and other German stakeholders from areas such as consumer protection, occupational health and safety, environmental protection, and research are actively involved in the development of European Standards. DIN leads 30 percent of all European standards projects and is thus the most active European standards organization; it is also responsible for the management of 20 % of all ISO projects. "Standardization is the representation of interests", says Dr. Bahke, "but it is also a means of economic assistance. The content that German experts bring to European Standards becomes available as a source of knowledge for everyone within the European Internal Market." Through their efforts at European level the German stakeholders have been able to implement about 150,000 national standards in 18,000 European Standards.
On behalf of the German interest groups, DIN is taking part in current discussions on the further development of European standardization by focusing on the principles of the extremely successful European standardization system, namely its voluntary nature, market relevance, decentralized organization, and the involvement of the private sector. The Commission has recently published a proposal for a regulation on the future of European Standardization.
DIN works closely with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) in all strategic and policy matters in standardization; CEN is the umbrella organization for the 31 national standards organizations.