Technologies

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

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

ALBANIA: DPS [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report AUSTRIA: Austrian Standards International (ASI) [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report AUSTRIA: Österreichischer Verband für Elektrotechnik (OVE) [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report BELGIUM: NBN | Work Programme | Annual Report BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: ISBIH [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report BULGARIA: CRC [ETSI member] | Work Programme CROATIA: HZN [ETSI Member] | Work Programme | Annual Report CYPRUS: CYS [ETSI member] | Work Programme CZECH REPUBLIC: UNMZ | Work Programme | Annual Report DENMARK: Dansk Standards [ETSI member] | Work Programme ESTONIA: CPTRA [ETSI member] | Work Programme FINLAND: TRAFICOM [ETSI member] | Work Programme FRANCE: AFNOR [ETSI member] | Work Programme GEORGIA: GeoSTM| Work Programme GERMANY: DKE [ETSI member] | Work Programme GREECE: ELOT | Work Programme HUNGARY: MSZT | Work Programme ICELAND: IST | Work Programme IRELAND: NSAI [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report ITALY: CEI [ETSI member] | Work Programme ITALY: UNI [ETSI member] | Work Programme LATVIA: Latvian Standards | Work Programme | Annual Report LITHUANIA: Lithuanian Standards Board [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report LUXEMBOURG: ILNAS [ETSI member] | Work Programme MALTA: MCCAA [ETSI member] | Work Programme MOLDOVA: ISM (Institute for Standardization of Moldova) [ETSI Observer member] | Work Programme | Annual Report MONTENEGRO: ISME | Annual Report NETHERLANDS: NEN | Work Programme | Annual Report NORTH MACEDONIA: ISRSM | Work Programme NORWAY: Norwegian Communications Authority (Nkom) [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report POLAND: PKN | Work Programme | Annual Report PORTUGAL: IPQ | Work Programme | Annual Report ROMANIA: ASRO | Work Programme | Annual Report SERBIA: ISS | Work Programme | Annual Report SLOVAKIA: Slovak Office of Standards, Metrology and Testing (UNMS SR) | Work Programme | Annual Report SLOVENIA: SIST [ETSI member] | Work Programme SPAIN: UNE [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report SWEDEN: ITS [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report SWITZERLAND: asut [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report UKRAINE: SE UkrNDNC UNITED KINGDOM: BSI [ETSI member] | Work Programme | Annual Report

 

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 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.

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.

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.

We share our technical expertise

Standards-making

We make world-class standards

Our primary task is to produce high-quality standards for information and communication technologies across all sectors of industry and society. The list of these technologies is long and wide-ranging.

We were established to make standards for Europe and we have a special role as a recognized European Standards Organization. We are also widely respected as a producer of standards for worldwide use. We work with numerous organizations at the global level. We produce different types of standards to meet the different needs of business and society.

Our standards are available for free and represent a huge library of the state of the art of ICT. We have over 12 million downloads a year. Our white papers and brochures complement our standards.

Testing and interoperability

In a world of converging yet diverse technologies, complex ICT systems must communicate and interwork on all levels – this is interoperability.

Interoperability means that users have a much greater choice of products and manufacturers can benefit from the economies of scale that a wider market brings.

Interoperability is therefore a crucial factor in the success of modern technologies, and market demand has ensured that interoperability holds a prominent position in standardization.

One of the key motives for the development of ICT standards is to facilitate interoperability between products in a multi-vendor, multi-network and multi-service environment.

Complex products and systems are often based on multiple standards from several standards-making organizations, including ETSI, or on requirements published by industrial fora. Collaboration between standards groups is therefore vital.

In addition, standards themselves need to be designed and tested to ensure that products and services complying with them do achieve interoperability.

Testing of products and systems to verify their interoperability is critical to their success – ideally this should take place throughout their development. Eliminating basic interoperability problems at an early stage helps reduce costs and to avoid dissatisfied customers.

A standardized approach to testing is essential if the results are to be trusted.

Testing our standards

We have an arsenal of tools and techniques at our disposal. Our Centre for Testing and Interoperability (CTI) provides support to our technical committees in their use.

Validation of our standards – We include validation activities in our standards-making process. We take account of feedback from validation and testing activities and from routine usage. We use this feedback to update and improve our standards on an ongoing basis. Our Plugtests™ events are one way of validating our standards. They also give developers from different companies the chance to get together to test their implementations and ensure product interoperability. Test specifications – Standardized conformance or interoperability test specifications are an integral part of our strategy for ensuring interoperability. Specialized tools and languages – As natural languages (English, in the case of our publications) can fall short. We need other ways to describe complex interactions. So, where appropriate, we also use modelling techniques, tools and specialized specification and testing languages.

Further information on interoperability and testing

A brochure ' An Introduction to achieving technical excellence' A guide to ' Interoperability Best Practices'

Our Centre for Testing and Interoperability

Our Centre for Testing and Interoperability (CTI) assists our technical committees, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™) and the oneM2M Partnership Project. It provides hands-on support on the application of testing and validation techniques in standards-making.

The CTI has extensive expertise in:

best practices in interoperability, testing and protocol specification validation of standards conformance testing interoperability testing organization of interoperability events (Plugtests^TM) organization of events relevant for standards and technology development such as Proofs of Concept (PoC), Hackathons, Developer events and others.

Our brochure ' An Introduction to achieving technical excellence', introduces the CTI and its work.

Developing test specifications

The CTI’s important task is the planning and development of conformance and interoperability test specifications. Many of these are used in external certification schemes. Examples include those of the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and the DECT^TM Forum.

To ensure the quality of the tests, we validate them in various ways:

in-house in collaboration with commercial test laboratories and recognized test tool suppliers among the ETSI membership

Plugtests 

See our upcoming interoperability events in the calendar.

The first ETSI Plugtests^TM event took place in 1999. Since then, Plugtests have proved a valuable tool in the development of global standards. They serve two main purposes:

They provide essential feedback to our technical committees to help us improve our standards and to accelerate the standards-making process They give engineers a chance to get together to test the interoperability of their implementations – potentially reducing a product’s time-to-market

The benefits of such events include:

improving the interoperability of products and services supporting the deployment of new technologies enabling networking between partners, competitors and other experts validating our standards

Specialist & Testing Task Forces

Specialist Task Forces (STFs) and Testing Task Forces (TTFs) are teams of highly skilled experts, brought together to perform specific technical work. They operate under the direction of one of our technical committees.

They enable us to accelerate the standardization process in areas of strategic importance and in response to urgent market needs. Check out how to join one of our task forces.

Supporting research and innovation

Early standardization in the development of a technology or a product can be crucial to its market success. In this way we can identify new areas for standardization at an early stage and can ensure that standards are in place when they are needed.

For more information please refer to our Research section.

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.

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.

The General Assembly

The General Assembly (GA) is the highest decision-making body in ETSI and is responsible for:

Determining our overall policy and strategy Agreeing budgets Dealing with membership issues Appointing the members of the ETSI Board Appointing the ETSI Director-General Appointing the Finance Committee members Endorsing external agreements Approving changes to our Statutes and Rules of Procedure

Routine business and specific activities – including day-to-day management of our technical work – is delegated to the ETSI Board.

The ETSI Directives provide full details about the role and responsibilities of the GA.

Membership and meetings

All members of ETSI are members of the GA and are invited to attend the meetings. Representatives of the European Commission (EC) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) may attend as counsellors. They offer valuable advice but have no right to vote.

GA officials   Bettina Funk
Chair General Assembly
ITS Magnus Madfors
Vice Chair 
General Assembly
Ericsson LM Massimo Vanetti
Vice Chair 
General Assembly
SBS aisbl

The ETSI Board

The ETSI Board is the executive arm of the General Assembly (GA). The GA has delegated various day-to-day management tasks to the Board including:

Overseeing our Work Programme Approving Terms of Reference (ToRs) for our technical committees, ETSI projects and Coordination groups Endorsing the appointment of technical committee chairs Approving resources and ToRs for Specialist or Testing Task Forces Advising the GA on budget and finance issues

The ETSI Directives provide full details about the role and responsibilities of the Board.

Board members

The Board comprises elected, and ex-officio non-voting, members. The ETSI Director-General is an ex-officio non-voting member.

The Chair of the General Assembly, the ETSI Counsellors, and the Finance Committee Chair shall have the right to participate in Board meetings, without the right to vote.

Board officials Dr. Markus Mueck
Chair Board
Intel Deutschland GmbH Nick Sampson
Vice Chair Board
Orange Dr. Colin Willcock
Vice Chair Board
Nokia Dr. Thomas Zielke
Vice Chair Board
BMWK

The Secretariat

The Secretariat is headed by the Director-General and five Chief Executive Officers. About 120 multi-national staff comprising high level experts and engineers from different nationalities provide technical, administrative and logistical support for all our activities.

We are based at the Sophia Antipolis technology park in the south of France. The teams work in a purpose-built main headquarters building and the adjacent Einstein Building.

  Jan Ellsberger
DG
ETSI  Issam Toufik
CTO 
Operations Cécile Vasseur
CFO
Finance & Administration Vincent Depagne
CIO
IT & Connectivity Anthony Brand
CMO
Marketing Ultan Mulligan
CSO
Standardization Services

For contacts in the Secretariat please refer to our Contact us page.

The work of the Secretariat We support individual committees and projects Our Centre for Testing and Interoperability provides support and assistance to the technical committees. It ensures standards are well-written, complete, clear, unambiguous and well structured Our team of editing specialists assists with the processing, approval and publication of the standards drafted by our committees. The team also runs editHelp!, a dedicated service with practical aids for drafting standards We provide communication services to ensure information on ETSI’s work is available and known We host meetings of ETSI committees in the Secretariat We organize workshops and events We have relationships with external organizations such as the European Commission and other standardization organizations We also manage financial aspects, the IT services, legal services and our human resources

About ETSI

ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) provides members with an open, inclusive and collaborative environment. This environment supports the timely development, ratification and testing of globally applicable standards for ICT-enabled systems, applications and services.

We are at the forefront of emerging technologies across all sectors of industry and society that make use of ICT. Our 850+ member organizations are drawn from over 60 countries and five continents.

As well as enhancing reputation, the many benefits of membership include:

access to the most up-to-date information on global ICT standards direct participation in standards development competitive advantage through early standard adoption opportunities to network with industry leaders

We operate on a not-for-profit basis and are one of only three bodies officially recognized by the EU as a European Standards Organization.

Our Corporate Brochure and other brochures are available via the Media Library.

A European Standards Organization

ETSI is a European Standards Organization (ESO). We are the recognized regional standards body dealing with telecommunications, broadcasting and other electronic communications networks and services.

We have a special role in Europe. This includes supporting European regulations and legislation through the creation of Harmonised European Standards. Only standards developed by the three ESOs (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) are recognized as European Standards (ENs).

Our global impact 

We were initially founded to serve European needs, but we have a global perspective. Our standards are now used the world over. 

We collaborate and work in partnership with different types of organizations around the world. This makes us well placed to support our members who operate in an increasingly international and competitive environment.

In addition, we are a partner in the international Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP^TM). Through this project, we are helping to develop 4G and 5G mobile communications. We also work with partners around the globe in the oneM2M partnership project to develop standards for machine-to-machine communications.

Funding ETSI

ETSI is registered as an association under French law. This means that we are a not-for-profit organization.

Our funding comes from various sources including: Annual membership contributions – providing most of our income. Contributions are calculated according to the size of the member company or organization. Reduced contributions are charged for user associations, academic and research bodies and small businesses. European Union– the European Commission (EC) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) issue standardization requests – and provide funding – for us to develop specific standards, particularly Harmonised Standards, or for other related work. This is often in support of European legislation. They also provide general funding in support of our activities as a European Standards Organization (ESO). Together, this funding amounts to 15%–20% of our budget. Income from ‘commercial’ activities – including sales of standards, fees for events (such as interoperability testing events) and services to outside organizations. Contributions from partner organizations – e.g. services performed on behalf of collaborative activities, such as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™). Expenditure includes: The provision of technical, project management and administrative support to our technical committees and other standards-related activities. This includes the operating costs of the ETSI Secretariat. Specialist Task Forces Interoperability testing events, workshops, etc. Special projects, typically in support of EC/EFTA research and development programmes. Financial management

The ETSI Directives provide guidelines for the administration of our finances. This is overseen by a Finance Committee appointed by our General Assembly. The Director General is responsible for the day-to-day implementation and management of our finances.

Financial statements

Financial statements are provided to our members at each meeting of the General Assembly. Summary statements are included in our Annual Report.

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.

Below some landmarks in our history.

2023 Software Development Group OpenCAPIF announced Industry Standards Group on Securing AI becomes Technical Committee World's first Protection Profile for Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) 23rd Global Standards Collaboration meeting hosted by ETSI in London Summit on Sustainability: ICT Standards for a Greener World Announcement of Software Development Groups ENISA/CEN/CENELEC/ETSI Cybersecurity Standardization Conference supporting EU legislative framework, Brussels 2022

New Industry Specification Group on Terahertz (ISG THz) New open-source group TeraFlowSDN New edition of ETSI education programme material First O-RAN specification adopted by ETSI through the PAS process

2021

New Industry Specification Group on Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) ETSI DECT-2020 NR approved by ITU-R as first non-cellular 5G technology "Designing Tomorrow's World" - new ETSI strategy announced Launch of MEC sandbox for edge app developers First report on securing Artificial Intelligence New Industry Specification Group on IPv6 Enhanced Innovation (IPE)

2020

Standard for ‘digital evidence bag’ used in legal proceedings First White Paper on ICT standards to mitigate pandemic First Virtual ETSI Security Week attracts more than 4,200 online views from participants in over 50 countries DECT-2020 New Radio interface published Standards for NG112 and Advanced Mobile Location Launch of Europe for Privacy Preserving Pandemic Protection ISG (Industry Specification Group) New Industry Specification Group on 5th Generation Fixed Network New Industry Specification Group on Non-IP Networking

2019

Re-election of Luis Jorge Romero as Director-General (2019 to 2024) First Releases of 5G ready for implementation First consumer IoT cybersecurity standard released Multi-Access Edge Computing Phase 2 specifications released First live synchronized music performance enabled by Open Source MANO OneM2M wins Top IoT Standards Body of the Year New Industry Specification Group (ISG) launched on European Common information sharing environment service and Data Model New Industry Specification Group (ISG) launched on Securing Artificial Intelligence

2017 to 2018

2018: Number of standards published passes 40 000 mark 2018: Release of standard on Pan-European Mobile Emergency 2018: Celebration of ETSI’s 30th anniversary 2018: Launch of ETSI Brand Strategy and the new tagline “The Standards People” 2018: Launch of Zero touch network Service Management ISG (Industry Specification Group) 2017: The Radio Equipment Directive (RED) completed its transition period supported by Harmonised Standards from ETSI

2015 to 2016

2016: Contract of Luis Jorge Romero as Director-General was extended to 2019 (until new election in 2019) 2016: oneM2M release 2 specifications published 2015: oneM2M release 1 specifications published

2011 to 2013

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)

2006 to 2009

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)

2001 to 2002

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 PlugtestsTM

2000

ETSI introduces Testing and Test Control Notation version 3 (TTCN-3), which has gone on to become a globally successful test specification language Launch of ‘eEurope’ by the European Union – ETSI participates to provide standards for ‘An Information Society for All’ Number of standards produced passes 5 000 mark

1999

The ETSI Bake-Off service (later to become Plugtests™) is created ETSI introduces paperless meetings ETSI makes all standards freely available on the web

1996 to 1998

1998: ETSI is a founding partner in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™) 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

1992 to 1995

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 1994: Directive 94/10/EC (amending 83/189/EC), ETSI officially recognized as a European Standards Organization 1993: ETSI establishes its Intellectual Property Rights policy 1992: 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

1989 to 1990

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

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

1986 to 1987

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