The Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification (AENOR, ) is an entity dedicated to the development of

Standardization Standardization (American English) or standardisation (British English) is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organiza ...

and

Certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

in all

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

industrial and service sectors.

Description

Aenor is a private, independent, non-profit-making (although they charge to access their standards) Spanish institution which contributes through standardization and certification to improve technology produced by companies. It was created by order of the Ministry of Industry and Energy on 26 February 1986, in accordance with the Royal Decree 1614/1985 and was recognized as a

standardization organization A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization (SDO), or standards setting organization (SSO) is an organization whose primary function is developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpr ...

and as an entity of certification by Royal decree 2200/1995, following the law 21/1992 of industry.

Functions

The functions of AENOR are: #

: AENOR is the organization legally responsible of development and diffusion of technical standards in Spain. #

: AENOR certificates are one of the most valued in the international ambit, since it has emitted certificates in over 60 countries. Therefore, AENOR is situated between the ten most important certificatory in the world. # Publishment Activity: It offers a wide catalog of technical books, ebooks and magazines among others. # Software Design: AENOR designed Ceertol, which is family of computing solutions for the management of systems. # Training in different areas: ::*

Quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach plac ...

::* Food quality and security ::* Environmental Management ::* Social responsibility and sustainable development ::* Energy and climate change ::* Security and health at work ::* Information technology ::* Human resources and training. #

Information services: they provide general information about the following issues: ::* UNE (Spanish: Una Norma Española; English: one spanish standard) standards and others national, european and international regulations documents. ::* Systems, processes, applicable standards and AENOR certification marks, for products, services, quality systems, prevention of occupational risks, among others. ::* Spanish legislation related to standardization activities. ::* Commercial information on the different publications and services of AENOR. ::* Information on current certifications.

History

Coinciding with the incorporation of Spain to the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

, in 1986 AENOR was constituted. Until that date, standardization work was the responsibility of the Institute for Rationalization and Standardization (IRANOR).

First steps in standardization

In the first year 24 technical standards committees were created. A year later, AENOR assumed the representation of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

before the European organizations (

CENELEC CENELEC (; ) is responsible for European standardization in the area of electrical engineering. Together with ETSI (telecommunications) and CEN (other technical areas), it forms the European system for technical standardization. Standards harmon ...

ETSI The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is an independent, not-for-profit, standardization organization operating in the field of Information and communications technology, information and communications. ETSI supports the de ...

) and international (

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

IEC The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; ) is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. IEC standards cover a vast range of ...

). Nowadays, AENOR has more than 200 technical standards committees involving nearly 6,000 experts in the field.

Milestones

Members

Any entity that has interest in the develop of the standardization or certification can be member of AENOR, because of its associative character. Today, It has more than 800 members, among them are the main business associations, some of the first Spanish companies and a good representation of Public Administrations.Members (Spanish)
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Governing bodies

# All Governing Bodies are called and chaired by the President. # The General Assembly is the supreme body in which all members participate. Its function is to elect the Board of Directors, which is responsible for the representation and management of the Association. # The Board of Directors consists of a maximum of 70 members representing the different classes of members and the interested parties, who then elect the Permanent Commission. # The Standing Committee is composed of 10 members and is responsible for supervising and controlling the guidelines established by the Board of Directors.

Participation in international and regional standardization bodies

AENOR is a Spanish member of the following international standardization organizations: * International Organization for Standardization (ISO); * International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Likewise, at European level, AENOR is a Spanish member of the following recognized standardization organizations: * European Committee for Standardization (CEN); * European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC). AENOR is the official Spanish national standardization organization according to (ETSI).

References

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Standards organisations in Spain