On 19 March 2026, the European Commission published its 2026 Annual Union Work Programme for European Standardisation (C/2026/1695), the key policy instrument through which the EU identifies its strategic standardisation priorities and issues formal requests to European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs) — CEN, CENELEC, and ETSI.
The Work Programme is adopted every year under Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 on European standardisation. It sets out the specific European standards and standardisation deliverables the Commission intends to request from the ESOs, together with the objectives and policies those standards are expected to support.
This year's programme is directly aligned with the EU's Competitiveness Compass (COM(2025) 30), the strategic framework guiding the Commission's industrial and innovation priorities for this mandate. It is also complementary to the 2026 Rolling Plan for ICT Standardisation, which INSTAR covered in a recent news piece. Together, the two documents form the cornerstone of Europe's standardisation agenda for 2026.
Structure and Scope
The 2026 Work Programme covers 43 standardisation actions organised around four strategic priorities drawn from the Competitiveness Compass:
- Closing the innovation gap
- Implementing the joint roadmap for decarbonisation and competitiveness
- Reducing dependencies and increasing security
- Making the most of the Single Market
This structure represents a deliberate shift from the previous year's thematic categories — resilience, digital transition, green transition, Single Market, international dimension — to a more explicitly competitiveness-oriented framing, reflecting the Commission's current political priorities.
The Work Programme is cumulative in nature: it complements the 2025 programme and does not repeat actions already in progress. New actions address gaps and new policy requirements that have emerged over the past year.
The Five Policy Priorities
Since the publication of the EU Standardisation Strategy in 2022, the Commission identifies a subset of actions as policy priorities — areas that are considered particularly critical and that deserve accelerated attention, including fast-track deliverables. For 2026, five priority clusters have been identified:
Standards for the European AI Ecosystem and the Data Economy
Actions 1, 3, 4, and 6 — covering artificial intelligence, interoperability for data processing services, quality data for AI and innovation, and the EU Digital Identity Wallet — are grouped as a cluster of interconnected priorities. This reflects the maturation of the EU's AI and data regulatory framework, with the AI Act now in its implementation phase and the Data Act beginning to generate concrete standardisation needs. Specific new work in this area includes standards for the energy and resource efficiency of AI systems (complementing the existing Mandate M/613), and pre-normative work on data labelling, synthetic data, content authenticity, and provenance in support of the European Data Union Strategy.
Quantum Technologies and Post-Quantum Cryptography
Action 2 addresses both the development of quantum technology standards and the validation and transposition of post-quantum cryptography (PQC) protocols across the EU. The action builds on Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/1101 on the coordinated transition to PQC and the new Quantum Europe Strategy (COM/2025/363). Work will focus on technical profiles for PQC schemes, evaluation criteria, implementation guidance, and key management — coordinated with the Cyber Resilience Act to ensure coherence.
A Competitive and Sustainable European Construction Market
Actions 32, 33, and 42 — covering digital building logbooks, construction products, and precast concrete products respectively — form a priority cluster linked to the European strategy for housing construction (COM(2025) 991). This marks a notable expansion of the Work Programme's scope beyond ICT and digital, signalling that standardisation is increasingly central to the Commission's industrial policy ambitions in traditional sectors as well.
EU Security
Actions 5, 25, and 26 — on cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements, critical communication networks for public security and safety, and dual-use standards for civil-military mapping — constitute the security priority cluster. Action 5 is particularly significant: it complements the existing Mandate M/606 under the Cyber Resilience Act by extending harmonised cybersecurity standards to sectors not covered by the Act's Annexes III and IV, including rail, machinery, lifts, agricultural machinery, AI systems, and solar inverters.
The Green Transition and Ecodesign of Sustainable Products
A broad cluster of actions (10 through 18, plus 23) address the green transition, covering microplastics, ecodesign and energy labelling for a range of product categories (space heaters, air conditioners, water heaters, industrial fans, power transformers, tumble dryers, external power supplies), compostable packaging, and sustainable bio-based products. These actions primarily implement the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and reflect the Commission's continued commitment to product-level decarbonisation.
Other Notable Actions
Beyond the five priority clusters, several additional actions deserve attention:
Machine-readable expression of consent choices (Action 7)— Linked to the Digital Omnibus (COM(2025) 837), this action calls for harmonised European standards for how consent is expressed and communicated in machine-readable formats, with direct relevance for GDPR implementation and the digital services landscape.
Small and advanced modular reactors (Action 8) — Standards for the technology and safety of small and advanced modular reactors make their first appearance in the Work Programme, reflecting the EU's renewed interest in nuclear energy as part of its low-carbon energy mix.
Hydrogen transport and storage (Action 22) — Building on previous work, this action supports the EU's hydrogen strategy and clean industrial transition.
Recycling of critical raw materials from permanent magnets (Action 24) — Directly linked to the Critical Raw Materials Act, this action supports the EU's strategic autonomy in materials supply chains for clean energy and digital technologies.
Design of unmanned aircraft for low-risk operations (Action 27) — Reflecting the rapidly evolving drone sector, this action addresses safety and operational standards for UAS in low-risk categories.
Customer data in the financial sector (Action 28) — Linked to the Open Finance framework, this action calls for standards supporting data sharing and interoperability in financial services.
What This Means for the Standardisation Ecosystem
The 2026 Work Programme sends several clear signals to the broader standardisation community.
ICT remains central, but the scope is widening. While digital and ICT-related actions continue to dominate — covering AI, quantum, cybersecurity, data, and digital identity — the explicit inclusion of construction, energy infrastructure, and materials standards as policy priorities shows that the EU is extending its standardisation ambitions well beyond the digital sphere.
The Competitiveness Compass is reshaping the frame. The shift to a Competitiveness Compass-aligned structure is more than cosmetic. It signals that standardisation is now firmly positioned as an instrument of industrial policy and economic strategy, not just a technical activity. Standards are expected to contribute directly to closing the innovation gap, reducing strategic dependencies, and deepening the Single Market.
Coherence and speed matter. The identification of fast-track deliverables and the emphasis on coordination between different mandates (e.g., aligning Action 2 on PQC with the Cyber Resilience Act, or Action 5 with M/606) reflects a growing awareness that the EU's regulatory productivity requires a more agile and joined-up standardisation system.
The international dimension is implicit but present. Unlike previous years, the 2026 programme does not include a dedicated section on the international dimension. However, many actions — particularly on AI, quantum, cybersecurity, and data — have inherently global implications. The standards developed in response to these mandates will shape not only the EU's internal market but also its position in international standard-setting forums such as ISO, IEC, ITU, and ETSI.
INSTAR's Perspective
INSTAR's work sits at the intersection of several priority areas identified in the 2026 Work Programme. Our European Task Forces on AI, Cybersecurity/eID, Quantum Technologies, Data Technologies, and Cloud/Edge/IoT are directly engaged in the areas that the Commission has now flagged as policy priorities — including the AI ecosystem, post-quantum cryptography, EU Digital Identity, cybersecurity for digital products, and data interoperability.
The international dimension of standardisation — the core focus of INSTAR — will be essential to ensuring that the standards developed in response to these mandates achieve global coherence and reflect European values. As the EU accelerates its standardisation agenda across AI, quantum, and cybersecurity, aligning with partners in Japan, South Korea, the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Taiwan becomes all the more important.
We will continue to track the development of mandates and deliverables under the 2026 Work Programme and to bring an international perspective to the standardisation priorities that matter most for European competitiveness.
*Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
