Belgium - Research and development services and related consultancy services - Technical Assistance to the Commission for the assessment of harmonised standards

This procurement ensures the continuity and strengthening of the Harmonised Standards (HAS) Consultants system, which provides the European Commission with technical and administrative assistance to perform its legal duties under Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012. HAS Consultants verify whether draft and final harmonised standards (or parts thereof) developed by CEN, CENELEC and ETSI under Commission standardisation requests comply with those requests and the relevant Union harmonisation legislation-so that the conditions for citing their references in the Official Journal of the European Union are met in accordance with Article 10(6). The need is reinforced by Court of Justice case law. The James Elliott ruling confirmed the legal effects of harmonised standards and the Commission’s duty to perform systematic controls before OJ citation, anchoring legal certainty for market actors and authorities. Building on this, the Court’s Grand Chamber judgment of 5 March 2024 in Public.Resource.Org & Right to Know v Commission (case, C-588/21 P) held that harmonised standards that generate legal effects may be subject to public access under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 due to an overriding public interest in disclosure, while not generally negating copyright protection. This heightens expectations on transparency, consistency and the auditable quality of compliance assessments underpinning OJ publication. Under the contract, the contractor will (i) recruit, coordinate and quality-control a pool of independent HAS Consultants across relevant technical domains; (ii) carry out horizontal non-technical verifications (format, scope, informative elements such as Annex Z) to enable efficient technical assessments; (iii) evaluate results and propose horizontal improvements; and (iv) deliver targeted communication and training to ESO technical bodies and Commission services to promote coherent implementation and reduce recurring non-compliances. The HAS system, introduced in 2018, has demonstrably improved the timeliness and quality of assessments and helped clear legacy backlogs, enabling more predictable OJ citations and better policy outcomes. Continuing the service from 01/08/2026 avoids a gap in the Commission’s ability to meet its obligations, supports the transparency imperative emphasised in C-588/21 P, and maintains legal certainty for manufacturers, conformity assessment bodies and market surveillance authorities. It also ensures that evolving areas (e.g. digital, green and safety-critical technologies) are covered by consistent, independent assessments aligned with the latest guidance and jurisprudence. The action directly supports the Single Market Programme by safeguarding a reliable, open and coherent standardisation framework, reducing compliance costs for economic operators, facilitating innovation and cross-border trade, and enhancing protection of consumers, workers and the environment through clear, legally robust standards.