ANEC, the European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation (known informally as 'the European consumer voice in standardisation'), is an organisation promoting and defending consumer interests in the process of standardization, and in related fields such as conformity assessment (e.g.certification), market surveillance and enforcement. ANEC also aims to influence legislation that makes reference to standards or standardization. In November 2008, ANEC adopted the strapline 'Raising Standards for Consumers' as part of an initiative to improve the visibility of the association.
ANEC provides technical expertise and advice drawn from a network of consumer representatives across Europe. The organisation's experts contribute directly to the work of more than 155 technical committees and working groups of the European Standards Organisations, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI and international standards organisations, ISO and IEC.
History
ANEC was set up in 1995 as an international non-profit association under Belgian law. Its principal motivation was to ensure organised consumer participation in the development of European Standards intended to support European legislation introduced under the New Approach to Technical Harmonization and Standardization. However, its competence also extends to other European Standards developed by the European Standards Organisations as well as to other standards that may impact directly or indirectly on the European consumer (for example, certain standards of W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium).
ANEC represents consumer organisations mainly from the European Union Member States and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. The organisation's General Assembly is composed of one national member per country, nominated jointly by the national consumer organisations in that country. Its Working Groups bring together volunteer experts from the countries of its members who define the consensual positions on behalf of the consumer interest in fields related presently to eight areas of priority (Accessibility, Child Safety, Digital Society, Domestic Appliances, Energy, Services, Sustainability, and Traffic & Mobility). These areas of priority respond to the needs voiced through the General Assembly by the national consumer organisations. ANEC reimburses the travel, accommodation and subsistence costs of its volunteers.
ANEC is funded by the European Union (95%) and EFTA (5%) under Regulation (EU) 1025/2012, while the time of the representatives of the national consumer organisations and experts is accepted by the EU and EFTA as a "contribution in kind". In 2016, the ANEC budget was 1.40 million euros. The ANEC Secretariat calculated the "contribution in kind" in 2007 to be worth 260.000 euros. The "contribution in kind" was estimated to be at least 350.000 euros in 2013., and calculated to be a little over 390.000 euros in 2014.
The ANEC Secretariat is based in Brussels. The Secretariat team is responsible for leading the political activities of the association. ANEC has signed the European Union's Transparency Register (with identification number 507800799-30) and accepted its Code of Conduct.
On 19 June 2015, Arnold Pindar (United Kingdom) was re-elected ANEC President for the term 2015-2017. The Secretary-General is Stephen Russell.