Standards Development

Scope

This Technical Specification provides guidance in the form of detailed technical rules based on the basic principles, both for the overarching standard and for each standard within the set of EPB-standards.

These detailed technical rules give practical rules on the following subjects for EPB-standards:

— the standardization process, including collaborations and consultations;

— the application range of the standards;

— common general organization of each standard and the national implementation;

— the overarching structure for the energy performance assessment;

— common model(s) and editorial rules for each standard;

— common quality aspects for each standard.

Purpose

CEN/TS 16629:2014, Energy Performance of Buildings - Detailed Technical Rules for the set of EPB standards and it’s sister document CEN/TS 16628:2014, Energy Performance of Buildings - Basic Principles for the set of EPB standards, provide the basic principles and detailed technical rules to be followed in drafting EPB-standards.

Since their publication, these two documents have proven to be crucial for achieving the necessary overall consistency of the set of EPB standards,

(a) in terms of the effectiveness, quality and transparency of the process and the cooperation of all groups and persons involved, and

(b) in terms of quality assurance of the EPB standards and TRs and their interactions, by providing clear common rules on the structure (including templates), terminology, approach and input/output relations in all EPB-standards.

These two documents are vital documents for the set of EPB standards and technical reports. In these rules and specifications requirements from competent national legal authorities of EU and EFTA Member States were taken into account.

Together with the EPB overarching standard, EN ISO 52000-1, CEN/TS 16628 and CEN/TS 16629 are referenced in the definition of an "EPB standard".

A revision is required, in order to have up to date versions of these Basic Principles and Detailed Technical Rules documents for the set of EPB standards, to safeguard the overall quality and consistency in maintaining and further maintenance and development of the set of EPB standards.

More in detail:

1) During the preparation of the set of EPB standards extensive experience was gained and discussions were held within CEN, ISO and with EU member states and the European Commission, which led to adaptations in the process and structure (including the templates) that have not yet been incorporated in the two TSs.

2) About 50 EPB standards and about 40 accompanying EPB technical reports were already published in 2017 and a few were added at later date. Already 17 of these standards and 8 of these technical reports were prepared as EN ISO documents in collaboration with ISO under the Vienna Agreement.

As a result of the implementation at national levels, we face already, and we can expect a further need for corrections, amendments, new project proposals, etc.

Already a few additional EPB standards are currently under development.

Several currently “CEN only” EPB standards and TRs are currently being upgraded to become

CEN ISO documents at short notice and others are expected to follow later. For all these new developments up-to-date quality documents are needed.

3) The increased cooperation with ISO on the set of EPB standards and the future potential for further cooperation requires careful review of the description of the process and the quality procedures

Although these TSs are European documents, these documents have also relevance for the ISO subset of EPB standards, more in particular the EN ISO 52000 family that is the result of cooperation between CEN and ISO.

The ISO Joint Advisory Group (JAG) of ISO/TC 205 and ISO/TC 163 on the ISO 52000 family and the ISO Joint Working Group (JWG) of ISO/TC 163 and ISO/TC 205 on the set of EPB standards using the holistic approach, both agreed that CEN would take the initiative in the updating of these TSs.

The ISO JAG chair recently agreed with the ISO Central Secretariat about which changes are necessary in the common template for all EPB standards to stay in line with the (current) ISO rules.

4) The proposal for revision is in line with the result of the periodic review in 2017 : CEN/TS 16628: CEN TC 371/N0540; CEN/TS 16629: CEN TC 371/N0541: confirmation with comments