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Decree No. 2021-1473 of 10 November 2021 modernises and simplifies the French standardisation system to make it more effective. Resulting from a broad public consultation, it aims to:
- improve the terms of access to standards made exceptionally mandatory by giving the right to download and print them free of charge (subject to certain intellectual property rights) on the AFNOR website, with free consultation of these standards already in force since 2009;
- abolish the systematic consultation of the interministerial delegate for standards, an agent of the General Directorate for Enterprises (DGE), during the standards approval phase (more than 2,000 approvals per year), which will make it possible to speed up and streamline the publication of standards; the delegate nevertheless retains the power to oppose the approval of a standard if necessary;
- strengthen the role of certain AFNOR bodies, such as the standardisation coordination and steering committee, by specifying that it is responsible for defining the strategic guidelines for standardisation in France;
- extend by one year the maximum duration (4 years instead of 3) of the approval of sectoral standards offices in order to reduce their administrative burden.
The new decree modifies the decree of 16 June 2009 which entrusted AFNOR and sectoral standards offices with the coordination of standardisation work, under the supervision of an interministerial standards delegate.
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