We have many relationships with diverse organizations around the globe.

National Standards Organizations 

In close collaboration with its National Standards Organizations (NSOs), ETSI develops European Standards to advance the construction of telecommunications, broadcasting and other electronic communications networks and services.

All NSOs have a crucial role in this process, contributing to the establishment of a pan-European market for goods and services, thereby strengthening our continent’s economic position in the world.

The ETSI decision-making body, known as the National Standards Organizations Group - NSOG, consists of NSOs from CEPT countries that have signed the ETSI-NSO Agreement.

NSOs' details and standardization activities

 

In response to the Regulation (EU) N° 2022/2480, an ETSI decision-making body was established in 2023, comprised of National Standardisation Bodies (NSBs).

An NSB is a National Standards Organization (NSO) from the European Economic Area (EEA) listed by the European Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52023XC0704(01)), in accordance with Article 27 of the amended Regulation (EU) N° 1025/2012.

The NSBs play a pivotal role in the support of the European Single market, by taking the exclusive responsibility for:

  • accepting EC Standardisation Requests (SReq),
  • adopting, changing or stopping related ETSI work items, and
  • adopting or withdrawing the related European Standards and European standardisation deliverables.

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 pdfdownload a PAS Process Guide describing how to use the PAS process and its benefits. A pdfbrochure 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.