ICT standards development and use across the EU are market-led and voluntary, and an essential requirement for the digital TV sector. EU policy in this area should aim to promote competitiveness and standards use in the public interest, while also encouraging innovation, industry collaboration and competition in the market place.

At EU level ICT standardisation policy is currently undergoing a revision process with the objective to better respond to the expectations of the ICT industry and, at the same time, to societal needs.

The legal basis for European standardisation, including in the ICT domain, is Directive 98/34/EC on competitiveness, innovation and eEurope which also supports Directive 2002/21/EC on electronic communications networks and services (Digital TV). The study on specific policy needs for ICT standardisation presented in May 2007, and the open event of 12 February 2008 set the frame for the revision of the ICT standardisation policy.

In recent years the European Commission has also been exploring how to address the ICT standardisation through a series of initiatives including:

The Commission is undertaking a review of the standardisation process, and will be publishing a major policy review at the end of 2009 that will act as an overall framework with guiding principles of which openness and transparency will be the main issues. This is likely to be followed with legislative measures in 2010. A multi-stakeholder expert group will also be setup to advise the Commission.