European Committee for Standardization

The European Committee for Standardization, or CEN (from Comit‚ Europeen de
Normalisation), is an association of the national standards organizations
of 18 countries of the European Economic Communities (EEC) and of the
European Free Trade Association (EFTA). CEN membership is open to the
national standards organization of any European country which is, or is
capable of becoming, a member of the EEC or EFTA. CEN develops voluntary
standards in building, machine tools, information technology, and in all
sectors excluding the electrical ones covered by CENELEC. CEN is involved
in accreditation of laboratories and certification bodies as well as
quality assurance.