About us

December 12, 2018 Posted by Sabine Dahmen-Lhuissier 6118 Hits

History of ETSI

ETSI was set up in 1988 by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) in response to proposals from the European Commission.

There have been many significant events and achievements since ETSI was created – and many of them have had a global impact.

The list below highlights some of the landmarks in our history.

2019: Re-election of Luis Jorge Romero as Director-General (2019 to 2024) 2019: First Releases of 5G ready for implementation 2018: Number of standards published passes 40 000 mark 2017: The Radio Equipment Directive (RED) completed its transition period supported by Harmonised Standards from ETSI 2016: oneM2M release 2 specifications published 2015: oneM2M release 1 specifications published 2013: Regulation 1025/2012 replaced Directive 98/34/EC. ETSI is officially confirmed as a European Standards Organization, ETSI can be mandated by EC to produce standards and specifications to meet policy needs, esp. legislative needs (e.g. Harmonised Standards), ICT standardization distinctly recognized, ETSI direct participation model recognized 2012: Number of standards published passes 30 000 mark 2012: ETSI launches Cloud Standards Co-ordination at request of the EC 2012: ETSI is a founding partner in the launch of the oneM2M partnership initiative for the global deployment of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications systems 2011: Election of Luis Jorge Romero as Director-General (2011 to 2016 - 1st term of 5 years & 2016 to 2019 - prolongation until next election) 2009: First LTE Release completed 2008: Number of standards produced passes 20 000 mark 2006: Introduction of Industry Specification Groups (ISGs) 2006: Election of Walter Weigel as Director-General (2006 to 2011) 2002: First releases of UMTS ready for implementation 2002: Number of standards produced passes 10 000 mark 2001: The ETSI Bake-Off service is re-branded as ETSI Plugtests^TM 2000: ETSI introduces Testing and Test Control Notation version 3 (TTCN-3), which has gone on to become a globally successful test specification language 2000: Launch of ‘eEurope’ by the European Union – ETSI participates to provide standards for ‘An Information Society for All’ 2000: Number of standards produced passes 5 000 mark 1999: The ETSI Bake-Off service (later to become Plugtests™) is created 1999: ETSI introduces paperless meetings 1999: ETSI makes all standards freely available on the web 1998: ETSI is a founding partner in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™) 1998: Directive 98/34/EC: Replaces Directive 83/189/EEC, ETSI officially recognised as a European Standards Organization 1997: Creation of the ETSI PAS process that enables an ETSI partner to submit Publicly Available Specifications for adoption by ETSI 1997: ETSI starts to create European Standards (ENs), replacing European Telecommunications Standards (ETSs) 1996: ETSI Board created to replace the Technical Assembly 1995: Number of standards produced passes 1 000 mark 1995: ETSI publishes the Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) standard for use by emergency services and others 1993: ETSI establishes its Intellectual Property Rights policy 1993: ETSI officially confirmed as a European Standards Organization under directive 83/189/EEC 1992: ETSI introduces distribution of standards documents to National Standards Organizations via satellite 1990: Global Standards Collaboration process launched, to enhance co-operation between standards organisations around the world 1990: ETSI establishes Joint Technical Committee with the European Broadcasting Union to produce broadcast-related standards (CENELEC joined in 1995) 1990: ETSI, CEN and CENELEC sign joint co-operation agreement 1990: Election of Karl-Heinz Rosenbrock as Director-General (1990 to 2006) 1989: GSM committee transferred from CEPT to ETSI 1988: First GSM specs ready for implementation July 1988: First ETSI Technical Assembly Mid-1988: Secretariat begins work May 1988: Professor Diodato Gagliardi appointed as Director-General of ETSI (1988 to 1990) April 1988: The first stone of ETSI’s new purpose-built headquarters laid March 1988: First ETSI General Assembly January 1988: Creation of ETSI 1987: GSM Memorandum of Understanding signed 1987: The Directors-General of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) take a decision in principle to found ETSI 1987: The EC publishes a Green Paper which first floated the idea of a European Telecommunications Standards Institute 1986: The European Commission (EC) leads a fact-finding mission on telecommunications to the US

ETSI worldwide

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Global Standards Collaboration (GSC)

We also collaborate at the global level. We are a founding partner of the Global Standards Collaboration (GSC) and cooperate with various global organizations including:

the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

We provide technical advice to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) through our participation in its Technical Liaison Group (TLG).

GSC promotes global standards collaboration in areas of common interest by:

enhancing cooperation facilitating the exchange of information on standards development building synergies reducing duplication Membership

The following organizations collaborate in the GSC:

ARIB – Association of Radio Industries and Business – Japan ATIS – Alliance for Telecommunications Industry – USA CCSA – China Communications Standards Association – China ETSI – European Telecommunications Standards Institute – Europe IEC – International Electrotechnical Commission IEEE-SA – IEEE Standards Association ISO – International Organization for Standardization ITU – International Telecommunication Union TTC – Telecommunication Technology Committee – Japan TIA – Telecommunications Industry Association – USA TSDSI – Telecommunications Standards Development Society – India TTA – Telecommunication Technology Association – Korea

ETSI in China - SESEC

Major economic, political and social changes around the world are shaping new markets. This creates new opportunities for trade and investment for Europe.

The three European Standards Organizations (ESOs: CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) have therefore appointed a Seconded European Standardization Expert in China (SESEC).

This project was created in 2006 and is co-financed by the European Commission, the European Free Trade Association and the ESOs.

The overall objective of the project is to represent the interests of the European standardization community in China. SESEC aims to increase cooperation between Europe and China in standardization-related matters. The project focuses mainly on standardization developments in China at the provincial level.

Specific objectives include:

Promoting European and international standards in China Improving contacts with different levels of Chinese administration, industry and standardization bodies Improving the visibility and understanding of the European standardization system in China Gathering regulatory and standardization intelligence

The current Expert, Dr Betty Xu, is based in Beijing.

For more information about the project, please see the SESEC website or contact our External Relations Officer.

ETSI in India - SESEI

India is another major economic interest for shaping new markets and creating new opportunities for trade and investment for Europe.

The three European Standards Organizations (ESOs: CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) have therefore appointed a Seconded European Standardization Expert in India (SESEI).

This project was launched in 2013 and is co-financed by the European Commission, the European Free Trade Association and the ESOs.

The SESEI project promotes EU-India cooperation on standards and related policies and regulation. The objective is to:

enhance the visibility of European standardization activities increase cooperation between Indian and European standardization bodies support European companies facing standardization-related issues which hamper market access to India

The current expert, Dinesh Chand Sharma, is based in the European Business and Technology Centre in New Delhi. He acts as a bridge-builder between the European and Indian standardization communities.

We assisted with the establishment of the new Indian Telecom Standards Development Organization, the Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI).

For more information about the project, please see the SESEI website or contact our External Relations Officer.

Our partnerships

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We have many relationships with diverse organizations around the globe.

National Standards Organizations

ETSI works closely with the National Standards Organizations (NSO). All of them have a key role to play in our standards-making process and in other areas of our work.

NSOs' details and standardization activities

In the approval of European Standards (ENs), the NSOs have the exclusive responsibility for:

carrying out the Public Enquiry (consultation with national industry) submission of the national position (the ‘vote’) on the standard ensuring the transposition of ENs into national standards ensuring withdrawal of any conflicting national standard Valuable liaison opportunities NSOs play an active role in other standardization bodies which may impact on our work. NSOs are connected at a local level to industry in sectors beyond Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This is increasingly important to us as our standardization activities broaden to include the integration of ICT into other sectors. NSOs have good contacts with small- and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises, which can often be the home of technological innovation. NSOs can therefore act as an interface to potential new areas for standardization at an early stage in the development of the technology.

Working in partnership

Experience has shown us that working with others is the best way to:

align our standards with those produced by others avoid the duplication of effort ensure our work is widely accepted and implemented

We have built up a portfolio of partnership agreements with international and regional Standards Development Organizations and fora and consortia around the world.

Our work with partners can range from an informal exchange of information, to development of joint specifications and full cooperation. We have developed different partnership models to meet the different needs of our committees and our partners.

Types of partnership

ETSI has three different types of partnership agreement.

Letter of Intent (LoI)

The LoI is a first step towards formalizing contacts with a new partner. It is used to exchange promotional/operational information and identify common roadmaps.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

The MoU enables technical collaboration on identified common areas of mutual interest. Observers attend each other's meetings in view of exchanging information. Unlike the LoI, the partner to an MoU needs to be a legal entity.

Cooperation Agreement (CA)

The CA provides different ways of achieving specific technical needs.

For a Cooperation Agreement to be possible:

the partner must be a legal entity its IPR policy must be compatible with ETSI's IPR policy.

The Cooperation Agreement can be extended with:

a Working Supplement (to produce joint deliverables or follow joint working procedures) a Materials Supplement (to incorporate text and graphics from one party’s published document into another party’s document) a PAS Supplement (to adopt the partner’s Publicly Available Specifications as ETSI Technical Reports (TRs) or ETSI Technical Specifications (TSs))

For further details please contact our External Relations Officer.

Publicly Available Specifications (PAS)

The ETSI PAS process enables an ETSI partner to submit one or more of its Publicly Available Specifications for adoption by ETSI. It will then become an ETSI Technical Specification (TS) or ETSI Technical Report (TR).

Why use the ETSI PAS process?

A Publicly Available Specification published as an ETSI Technical Specification will benefit from:

ETSI's recognition as a European Standards Organization our international reputation as a provider of standards for global use increased visibility among ETSI's members

Submitting a PAS to be published as a TS can be a first step towards it becoming a European Standard. ETSI's standards and specifications can be referred to in European public procurement contracts.

Who can submit a specification?

Any Standards Development Organization, forum or consortium can submit a Publicly Available Specification to ETSI, provided that:

it is a legal entity it has an IPR policy compatible with ETSI's it has signed a Cooperation Agreement How to submit a specification The PAS submitter should contact ETSI's External Relations Officer The organization submitting the PAS must have a Cooperation Agreement (CA) signed with ETSI. Otherwise, it must negotiate one with the help of ETSI's External Relations Officer The partner and ETSI agree to a PAS Supplement to the Cooperation Agreement. This contains the provisions for submission, adoption and maintenance of the PAS An ETSI Technical Committee or an ETSI Project is identified to be the host of the PAS work item The ETSI Technical Committee or ETSI Project reviews and approves the PAS as a Technical Specification or Technical Report following the normal ETSI procedures. A PAS is adopted as a whole

You can download a PAS Process Guide describing how to use the PAS process and its benefits. A brochure on how to bring your PAS into ETSI is also available.

For further details please contact our External Relations Officer.

List of partnership agreements

We have built up a portfolio of partnership agreements with international and regional Standards Development Organizations and fora and consortia around the world. You can consult our database of partnership agreements on the ETSI Member Portal.

ETSI in Europe

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The role we have in Europe

ETSI plays a key role in supporting regulation and legislation with technical standards and specifications. To do this we co-operate with other organizations including:

the European Commission (EC) the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) Supporting European regulation & legislation

We are recognized by the European Union (EU) as one of the three official European Standards Organizations (ESO) under Regulation 1025/2012. Our work supports the policies of the EU and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In particular we produce standards to support European regulation and legislation. These are defined in Regulations, Directives and Decisions developed by the EU.

Specifically, we produce Harmonised Standards (European Standards (ENs) with a special status). By adhering to these standards, manufacturers and service providers can claim ‘presumption of conformity’ with the essential requirements of a directive (by self-declaration). This saves them from having to go through costly type approval processes in different member states. Manufacturers can also then use the well-recognized CE marking for their products. This helps ensure the free movement of goods within the Single European Market. It also enables enterprises in the EU to be more competitive.

Standardization for EU competitiveness

Beginning of 2019 we have commissioned a report Calling the Shots: Standardization for EU Competitiveness in a Digital Era that calls on the EU to retake the global leadership in digital standard setting.

The report was drawn up by an independent panel of experts brought together by Kreab and led by Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden. The panel gathered insights and experience from industry, politics and academia.

It is important that EU lawmakers put standardization at the centre of EU digital and industrial strategy. The release of the report is timed to coincide with the new five-year mandates of the European Commission and the European Parliament. It is designed to provide policy makers with essential information as they develop a new industrial strategy for the EU.

The report reflects neither the official policy of ETSI, nor its governing bodies and members. It represents a realization by ETSI that the questions addressed in the report need to be considered as a matter of political priority, at a time of leadership transition in the European institutions.

Please see the report Calling the shots.

The release of the Bildt report “Calling the shots” drew strong interest from the standardization community, and it was agreed to launch a Task Force to operationalize the recommendations of the report. The Task Force was hosted by ETSI and was open to all members and non-members interested in working collaboratively on turning the recommendations into concrete measures and actions. The Task Force worked at speed to deliver its proposals and credit for this should go to all participants, including CEN and CENELEC and their members who were, as ETSI, very keen to contribute to the debate on standardization for the digital era.

Please see the report of the task force.

Cooperation between the European Standards Organizations

We work in close cooperation with CEN and CENELEC, the other two European Standards Organizations (ESOs). Our work particularly focuses on matters that are the subject of an EC standardization request. Although the three ESOs deal with different sectors, we have common interests. Information Technology and telecommunications are converging. We need to coordinate our policies and our work programmes to avoid overlapping activities and to increase efficiency.

ETSI, CEN and CENELEC have had a joint cooperation agreement in place since 1990. This enables us to create joint technical committees to produce joint standards. These standards are then published by all three bodies.

We manage our coordination in the ‘Joint Presidents’ Group’. This is a forum for top-level agreements between the ESOs on matters of common policy.

Informal exchanges also take place between our technical committees through common members and experts. There are joint groups to coordinate activities.

In addition, the ESOs have Seconded European Standardization Experts working in India (the SESEI project) and China (the SESEC project). The aim is to promote cooperation with these countries on standards, related policies and regulation.

In December 2022, the three ESOs jointly with the EC and EFTA published the outcome of a joint Task Force. This TF was created to work together on short, medium and long term solutions to address strategic and operational matters that enables the European standardization system to deliver a green, digital and resilient Single Market.

Read the flyer here

Work with our National Standards Organizations

We work closely with the National Standards Organizations (NSOs) in the European countries.

In particular, all our ENs become the national standards of the different EU/EFTA member states. The NSOs are responsible for organizing the Public Enquiry in their respective country as part of the EN approval process. They also submit the national position (the ‘vote’) on the standard.

Our operations

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Our technical work

The standards-making process

Our standards-making process has been refined over many years. One of the main aims of standardization is to enable interoperability in a multi-vendor, multi-network, multi-service environment. Our standards are therefore designed for interoperability from the very beginning. Testing is a key part of the standardization process. As a result, our standards are consistently of a very high quality and are adopted all over the world.

Approval processes vary according to the type of standard.

We have adopted an ‘open’ approach. This applies both to the way we create our standards and the way our members contribute.

We operate by direct participation – our members are not represented by a national delegation or other body. As such, our members (companies or organizations) choose for themselves what contributions and proposals to make. We work by consensus – any member may voice an opinion. Large and small member companies work side by side, in partnership, to achieve the best possible standards.

Our technical groups

Our standardization work is carried out in different technical groups:

Technical Committee (TC) ETSI Project (EP) ETSI Partnership Project (EPP) Industry Specification Group (ISG) Software Development Groups (SDG) Special Committee (SC) Specialist Task Force (STF) Technical Committees (TC)

Our technical committees each address various standardization activities in a specific technology area.

Our committees are coordinated by our Operational Coordination Group (OCG), which includes the chairs of all our technical committees. Ultimately the committees are accountable to the ETSI Board and the General Assembly.

Our members decide what work we do and we make it as easy as possible to start a new activity. Each committee establishes and maintains a work programme, which is made up of individual items of work. Collectively, the work programmes of all our committees constitute the ETSI Work Programme. Each ‘Work Item’ describes a specific standardization task and results in a single standard, report or other document. We produce different types of standards to meet industry needs. ETSI Projects (EP)

Our ETSI Projects are similar to technical committees but are established to meet specific market sector needs. They are not centred on a basic technology. ETSI Projects last for as long as the market requirements exist.

ETSI Partnership Projects (EPP)

Our EPPs are established when there is a need to cooperate with other organizations to achieve a standardization goal. There are currently two partnership projects: the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™) and oneM2M.

Industry Specification Groups (ISG)

Industry Specification Groups operate alongside our traditional standards-making committees in a specific technology area. They are designed to be quick and easy to set up. They provide an effective alternative to the creation of industry fora.

ISGs have considerable autonomy:

membership of an ISG may consist of both ETSI members and non-members (subject to certain conditions) they have their own voting rules they decide their own work programme they produce Group Specifications (GSs) or Group Reports (GRs) to be published by ETSI they draft and approve these specifications themselves Software Development Groups (SDG)

ETSI’s Software Development Groups combine the best of ETSI’s standardization support with the tools and processes required for successful collaborative software development.

Developing software alongside standards can provide the following benefits:

Earlier validation of standards Accelerated standardization process through faster and regular feedback Improved quality of standards Increased adoption of standards through availability of software and tools

All ETSI Software Development Groups (SDGs) feature a basic governance model derived from ETSI’s experience in open, transparent standards development, made flexible to cater for SDGs of all sizes. Each group maintains its own detailed working procedures and release management processes. Each ETSI SDG can choose a software license which is best suited to their needs, including Open Source licenses.

On an operational level, ETSI provides the required IT support and industry-standard tools. An ETSI-hosted Gitlab environment is available, together with a website, wiki, e-mail lists, conf-call and discussion channels for each group. Read more.

Special Committees (SC)

Our SCs address several activities related to standardization in a specific area. SCs handle coordination, the gathering of requirements and very specific support activities rather than drafting standards and specifications.

Task Forces

Our Specialist Task Forces (STFs) and Testing Task Forces (TTFs) are teams of highly skilled experts. They are brought together to perform specific technical work under the direction of one of our technical committees. This committee is responsible for approving the standards produced by the STF/TTF.

The task forces enable us to accelerate the standardization process in areas of strategic importance and in response to urgent market needs.

Management and oversight

The General Assembly is the highest decision-making authority in ETSI. The ETSI Board is the executive arm of the General Assembly and oversees our technical work.

Our Secretariat provides support to our members and the various committees that manage our work.

Our committee page provides an overview of our committees.

The ETSI Directives lay down how the different types of committee should operate.

The ETSI Directives

The ETSI Directives provide our framework and guidelines. They include information ranging from our legal status and purpose to detailed working procedures and the responsibilities of our various committees.

The ETSI Directives contain the following:

Statutes – the official description of ETSI, its purpose, legal status and overall structure Rules of Procedure – a top-level description of the administration and operation of ETSI Guidelines for the implementation of Annex 2 of the Rules of Procedure Guide on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR Guide) – assistance in applying the ETSI IPR Policy Guidelines for antitrust compliance (Antitrust Guidelines) Board Working Procedures Powers and Functions delegated to the Board Financial Regulations Terms of Reference of the Finance Committee (FC) Terms of Reference of the Operational Coordination Group (OCG) Rights and obligations for ETSI courtesy title holders, ETSI fellows and retired friends of ETSI Technical Working Procedures – a detailed and very practical complement to the Rules of Procedure, addressing virtually all aspects of our work Information Policy ETSI Drafting Rules – a detailed and very practical set of rules for drafting our standards and other documents History of the ETSI Directives

You can download the latest version of the ETSI Directives from our Member Portal.

About

Our history