CEN Workshop Agreement

This page describes the elements and actions required to develop and produce a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA). It applies to all parties interested in developing a CWA (proposers), the CEN National Members and the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre (CCMC).

 1 PROCESS

1.1 A party interested in developing a CWA submits a request to a CEN Member or to CCMC.

1.2 With the assistance of the CEN-CENELEC (national) Member or the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre (CCMC), the proposer of a CWA shall prepare:

• a draft Project Plan;
• a self-assessment (see CEN-CENELEC Guide 29, Annex A);
• an analysis of the degree of interest in the subject in different European countries and amongst different stakeholders.

These documents are then transmitted by the CEN-CENELEC (national) member to CCMC for further handling.

NOTE: The Project Plan must clearly identify how many CWAs the Workshop (WS) intends to develop.

1.3 The draft Project Plan and the self-assessment are submitted to the CEN Technical Board for:

1.3.1 Decision if the CWA:  

• defines requirements related to safety matters;
• defines requirements related to management system aspects;
• falls within the scope of one or more CEN Technical Committee (TC) which are opposed to the WS being launched.
  Technical Committees shall be consulted prior to the submission of the draft Project Proposal to the Technical Board.

1.3.2 Information: In all other cases.

1.4 CCMC announces the proposal for a new CEN/WS on the CEN Website (or on the CEN-CENELEC Portal in case of joint CEN-CENELEC WS) for at least 30 days.
The information posted on the website will include:

• the WS draft Project Plan;
• initial information on the kick-off meeting (including agenda, venue, participation);
• the WS Secretariat (and the proposed WS Chairperson - if known);
• how to submit comments to the draft Project Plan.

If a CEN National Member expresses any opposition to the proposal at this stage of the process, CCMC deals with the situation through management by exception.
Any comments submitted during this period shall be considered with the WS Secretariat and WS Proposer and in any case during the kick-off meeting at the latest.

1.5 The kick-off meeting:

• approves the proposed Project Plan by common agreement;
• appoints the Chairperson of the CEN/WS.

1.6 The formal launch of the Workshop happens at the kick-off meeting subject to sufficient support for the Workshop Project Plan. Should no agreement be reached, the organization of a new meeting will be considered with the proposers.

Participation to the kick-off meeting does not automatically ensure registration to the WS. After the kick-off meeting the participants wishing to continue contributing to the development of the draft CWAs will be requested to officially register to the WS by mean of signing a specific registration form.

1.7 The WS participants draft the CWA(s) according to the specifications laid down in the Project Plan. The draft CWA is made available for comments to the registered CEN/WS participants.

To ensure transparency the documents of the WS should be uploaded on an electronic platform.

If the CWA is in the same domain as an existing CEN/CENELEC technical body, the draft CWA shall be sent to that technical body for comments at the same time as it is sent to the Workshop participants.

If foreseen in the Project Plan, and in any case if the draft CWA covers safety aspects, an open commenting phase (minimum 60 days) is launched.

CCMC will make the draft CWA available for external comments on the CEN (CENELEC) website.

CCMC will also notify the CEN/CENELEC (national) Members 

In case of an open commenting phase, the WS Secretariat ensures the creation of a comments resolution report that compiles all the received comments. The comments are considered by the WS participants.

1.8 The Chairperson decides when agreement is reached amongst the registered WS participants on the final text of the CWA.

1.9 The WS Secretariat submits the approved CWA to CCMC. CCMC ensures that:

• the cover page and foreword are available and in line with clause 4.8 of the CEN/CENELEC Guide 29,
• a reference number is allocated to the CWA and added before circulating the published CWA to the CEN National Members for announcement.

1.10 A CWA is valid for 3 years, after which the former Workshop Secretariat shall consult the former Workshop participants and the relevant CEN/CENELEC technical bodies to determine whether the CWA shall be:

• confirmed for another 3 years,
• revised,
• transformed into another deliverable, or
• withdrawn.

The former Workshop Secretariat shall inform CCMC of the decision.

CWAs maximum lifetime is 6 years. After 6 years from initial publication, the CWA shall be submitted to the CEN/CENELEC BT(s) for decision regarding its transformation into another deliverable or its withdrawal.

1.11 The CEN WS either:

• continues with the rest of its programme as specified in the accepted Project Plan, or
• reconsiders its Project Plan and may decide to start additional work (in this case a new/revised Project Plan and self-assessment need to be developed as described in 1.3) or
• disbands itself.