COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPER IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying document to the Proposal for a Regulation on European Standardisation – SEC(2011) 671 final (1.6.2011)

2.4. The cost of European standardisation

The cost of the creation of standards within the ESOs was approximately 3,000 million euro in 2009. The approximate cost of creating one standard is estimated at approximately €1,000,000. This includes the costs of experts, the organisation of meetings, travel etc.

The ESOs point out that this cost is financed primarily by industry (93-95%) followed by national governments (around 3-5%) and the European Commission/EFTA contribution (around 2%).The fact that industry bears most of the cost of the system, together with the voluntary character of standards, reflects its high interest in standards and implies that the benefits outweigh the cost. Therefore, for society as a whole, the cost of creating standards is minimal compared to the benefit for the economy, even erring on the side of caution regarding the data.

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