Vienna Agreement

Resume
Identification
Vienna Agreement
Homepage
See information at ISO homepage www.iso.org/va
Purpose
Regulates the cooperation between:

CEN - European Committee for Standardization and
ISO - International Standards Organisation.

Signed
1991
Rationale and objectives
Essentially:

the agreement recognises the primacy of international standards (stipulated notably in the WTO Code of Conduct
the agreement also recognises that particular needs (of the Single European Market for example) might require the development of standards for which a need has not been recognized at the international level.
The prioritization of ISO work is also such that in some instances CEN needs to undertake work which is urgent in the European context, but less so in the international one.

Leader
The agreement sets out two essential modes for collaborative development of standards:

the mode under ISO lead and
the mode under CEN lead,

in which documents developed within one body are notified for the simultaneous approval by the other.
Benefits
The benefits expected from the use of this agreement in accordance with the "implementation guidelines" include:

increasing transparency of work ongoing in CEN to ISO members, and their possibility to influence the content of CEN standards;
avoidance of duplication of work and structures, thus allowing expertise to be focused and used in an efficient way to the benefit of international standardization;
increasing the speed of elaboration, availability and maintenance of standards through a need to establish consensus only once.

Versions

Signed in 1991
Codified version’ approved in 2001
Guidelines (5th edition) made available in May 2004

Identification
The CEN standards which were adopted from ISO are called EN-ISO xxxx.

Resume
Identification	Vienna Agreement
Homepage	See information at ISO homepage www.iso.org/va
Purpose	Regulates the cooperation between: CEN - European Committee for Standardization and ISO - International Standards Organisation.
Signed	1991
Rationale and objectives	Essentially: the agreement recognises the primacy of international standards (stipulated notably in the WTO Code of Conduct the agreement also recognises that particular needs (of the Single European Market for example) might require the development of standards for which a need has not been recognized at the international level. The prioritization of ISO work is also such that in some instances CEN needs to undertake work which is urgent in the European context, but less so in the international one.
Leader	The agreement sets out two essential modes for collaborative development of standards: the mode under ISO lead and the mode under CEN lead, in which documents developed within one body are notified for the simultaneous approval by the other.
Benefits	The benefits expected from the use of this agreement in accordance with the "implementation guidelines" include: increasing transparency of work ongoing in CEN to ISO members, and their possibility to influence the content of CEN standards; avoidance of duplication of work and structures, thus allowing expertise to be focused and used in an efficient way to the benefit of international standardization; increasing the speed of elaboration, availability and maintenance of standards through a need to establish consensus only once.
Versions	Signed in 1991 Codified version’ approved in 2001 Guidelines (5th edition) made available in May 2004
Identification	The CEN standards which were adopted from ISO are called EN-ISO xxxx.