The IEC shuts the door to environmental organisations (again!)
In another act that confirms its currently non-transparent and non-inclusive nature, a Technical Committee (TC) within the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) rejected our application to participate in its standard development process.
For the second time within five years, ECOS submitted a liaison application to join a subcommittee of IEC TC 61 “Safety of household and similar electrical appliances”. The Committee is responsible for the development of standards which currently block the uptake of climate-friendly alternatives to fluorinated gases, thus also hampering the smooth implementation of climate policies such the EU F-Gas Regulation. The participation of environmental groups is therefore of utmost importance to ensure standards that fairly support important EU and international policy goals.
After a first rejection in 2014, and a long period of 6 months to process each request, the ECOS application to join the Committee was now once again rejected.
ECOS deeply regrets not only the negative result, which deprives the TC of civil society representation, but also the fact that the voting process was not transparent and lacked the necessary justification. Even more disappointing is the fact that only one national standardisation body supported our application.
