4. Relations with ISO

CEN was not conceived as a competitor organization to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) , but rather as a complementary body responding to the specific needs of European industry and society. The weight of the European economy can, however, give certain European standards a worldwide audience. The need to formalize relations between CEN and ISO was therefore felt very early on, in the late 1980s. This was the result both of pressure from other countries worried about the emergence of European standardization, and from European manufacturers reluctant to participate in similar work at European and international level. ISO and CEN therefore signed an agreement...