CCMC Editors' Blog for the Standards Drafters' Community: 2014

Monday 15 December 2014

Post 25: Differences between the principle deliverables & Introducing Matthew Tomlin

Today’s post wraps up the 3 month trial of the first CCMC Editors’ Blog. We hope that the topics covered have helped you get a better insight into the drafting rules. These rules cover the drafting not only of European Standards (EN), but also Technical Specifications (TS), Technical Reports (TR) and other deliverables. However, you may be asking yourselves, what are the main differences between these three deliverables? And which should I use? Well, below are a few explanations and tips.

This is what our rules say (extracts from the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations Part II ‘Common Rules for Standardization Work’:

In terms of drafting therefore it is important to note that Technical Reports are documents that contain informative material, such as data, testing results and surveying results.

In addition, this table, that CCMC often uses in presentations, gives an outline of the main differences between the three deliverables.

And finally, this blog has also given the possibility for you to get to know the CCMC Editors and each week they have introduced themselves. I suppose it’s my turn now!

I’m Matthew Tomlin and I’m British, 36 years old and originally from Lancashire in the northwest of England. I came to Belgium after graduating from University and I have been working here for 12 years now. I often travel back to the UK where I am very fond of looking after my family’s Shetland ponies and being out in the countryside. I also often travel to Sweden, having lived there in the past. I studied languages at University and these days I am learning Albanian, which has rather a challenging grammar!

What do I enjoy most about my job? Well, CCMC is a fantastic place to work and I like the contact with our Members and Technical Body Secretaries. Quality European Standards and a motivated, happy team are my main goals. Earlier this year we started contacting Technical Bodies planning meetings in the CCMC Meeting Centre, asking if they needed some editing support. Whilst being a small team of editors compared to the number of Technical Bodies and Working Groups, it is our aim to help at the early stages of the drafting process in order to help the overall development time and to avoid the late identification of problems in the texts of European Standards. We will continue to make contact with Technical Bodies with specific drafting issues or questions to offer this support in 2015.

I really hope that you have found this Blog informative and useful. As for the next set of Blog posts? Watch this space! All that’s left for me to say is Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Matthew (mtomlin@cencenelec.eu)

Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.

Friday 12 December 2014

Post 24: Introducing Mélanie Herfurth

Introducing…

Mélanie Herfurth – Administrator – Publications Standards – CCMC

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Mélanie Herfurth and I am Belgian. I have been working at CCMC for 7 years. I spend most of my free time studying Japanese and recently I have started practising aikido.

What are you working on right now?

I am processing the translations that we received today.

What does the translation procedure involve?

The three official languages of CEN and CENELEC are English, French and German. Most of the time, CCMC processes the English version and requests the French and German versions from the Translation Member Bodies.

Nearly all documents are sent to translation after they have been edited. The translation period usually lasts 4 weeks for publications and 8 weeks for drafts and final drafts, but translators can request an extension (up to 16 weeks) for long documents or series.

Once a translation is finished, the translator delivers it to CCMC via email for CENELEC documents and via e-Trans for CEN documents. All translations delivered by the deadline will be circulated with the reference version while translations coming in late will be circulated within a week of reception.

Mélanie Herfurth (mherfurth@cencenelec.eu)

Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.

Monday 8 December 2014

Post 23: Annexes

Use and layout of annexes in a European deliverable

Annexes are a conditional element that can be found at the end of the document before the Bibliography. They shall appear in the order in which they are cited in the text and shall be designated by a heading comprising the word “Annex” followed by a capital letter in serial order, beginning with “A”, e.g. Annex A. The annex heading will be followed by the indication “(normative)” or “(informative)”, depending on how it is cited in the text, and by the title of the annex, for example:

As mentioned in our previous posts on Figures and Tables, the numbers given to clauses, subclauses, tables, figures and formulae in an annex shall be preceded by the annex letter and a full stop, e.g. Table A.1, Figure B.1, Formula (C.1). Annexes can be divided into clauses, subclauses, paragraphs and lists and, as with clauses in the body of the text, a clause shall not be created unless there is at least one further clause in the annex (e.g. do not create a clause D.1 if there is no D.2).

Annexes shall be listed in the table of contents followed by their indication “(normative)” or “(informative)” and title.

Annexes can be used for a variety of reasons, including to provide information on special national conditions, A-deviations and, in the case of CENELEC documents, normative references. In a revised version of a document, the list of changes from the previous version, if too extensive to include in the Foreword, can be included in an annex.

What is the difference between an informative and a normative annex?

An annex can be either informative or normative, depending on how it is referred to in the text. Normative annexes give additional provisions to those in the body of the document. It shall be made clear in the body of the text that the user is required to use this annex in order to comply with the document.

Informative annexes provide additional information that will assist in the understanding or use the document. An annex’s informative status shall be made clear by the way it is referenced in the text. It is important to note that informative annexes may contain “optional requirements” (e.g. a test method that is optional may contain requirements), but there is no need to comply with these requirements to claim compliance with the document.

Annexes for existing special national conditions

Information on special national conditions shall be given in a normative annex introduced by the following text:

Annexes for existing A-Deviations

Information on A-deviations shall be given in an informative annex, introduced by the following text:

a) If the European Standard is under an EU Directive, the introductory text shall be followed by:

b) If the European Standard is not under any EU Directive, the introductory text shall be followed by:

According to CEN-CENELEC IR Part 2:2011, E.2.3, the exact identification of the regulation of the relevant country shall be quoted (title, date and where possible the relevant clause).

For CENELEC only: European annexes on normative references

Where a European Standard is an endorsement of an International Standard, a normative annex giving a list of the normative references, together with the references of the European publications to be used instead, shall be added. The list of references shall be preceded by the following text:

For more information on annexes, see 6.3.8, 6.4.1 and Annex ZB of the InternalRegulations Part 3.

Any questions about above or any other posts? If so, please leave a comment or send us an email at production@cencenelec.eu!

Elysia Booth (ebooth@cencenelec.eu)

Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.

Thursday 4 December 2014

Post 22: Introducing Sophie Vandriessche

Introducing…

Sophie Vandriessche – Administrator – Publications Standards – CCMC

Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Sophie Vandriessche and I am originally from France. I spend my free time cooking, walking, gardening and swimming with my daughter.

I have been working as an editor in CCMC since 1996. I was the first one in CCMC to start a pilot project in 2001: homeworking. Following the good results of this experience, I have since then been working from home four days a week and homeworking has now been extended to more colleagues in CCMC, like Cynthia.

Like Cynthia, Elysia, Sarah, Mélanie and Frédéric, my main activities are editing final drafts and publications of European deliverables.

What are you working on right now?

I am currently preparing the finalization of a consolidated text.

What does that involve?

What we call a consolidated text is the update of a published standard through the preparation of an amendment to correct rather urgent technical points.

The process for the amendment at Formal Vote stage or UAP stage is exactly the same as usual (for more information, please see Sarah's blog in October).

However, the preparation of a consolidated text at publication stage is slightly different: once the vote on the Formal Vote or UAP is closed and is positive, the editor consolidates the original standard with the amendment text (including earlier published amendments and corrigenda) and incorporates the editorial corrections resulting from the voting comments.

All modifications included into the original EN are identified in the consolidated text with a tagging system.

Afterwards, the usual procedure for a "classical" publication applies: the consolidated text, together with an instruction sheet prepared by the editor and detailing the modifications brought into the original EN, is sent to the TC Secretary for a 3-week proofing period during which the TC Secretary has to approve the document and/or make any comments for improvement.

Once the TC Secretary has given his final approval, the finalized text is sent to DIN and AFNOR translators for a 4-week translation period, after which the standard will be published.

If you have any questions about above, do not hesitate to send me a message!

Sophie Vandriessche (svandriessche@cencenelec.eu)

Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.

Monday 1 December 2014

Post 21: We need your feedback!

Hello!

We are fast approaching the end of the year, and there are only a couple of weeks left until our last CCMC Blog post is up on 15^th December.

We’ve had well over 3000 hits so far and top hit countries are United Kingdom, United States, Germany then France, closely followed by Austria, Sweden, Poland, Italy then Switzerland.

It’s nice to know where our audience is!

So we’d like to say a massive THANK YOU! DANKESCHÖN! MERCI! TACK! DZIĘKI! and GRAZIE! to you all for taking a moment to look at our posts.

However, before we reach the end of the trial we would like to ask you already to send us your feedback.

· How useful have you found our posts?

· Did we explain well the chosen topics?

· Did our posts meet your expectations?

· Have you managed to apply what you learnt from our blog to the drafting of a standard? If so, what?

· Has any of this improved your understanding of the drafting rules and the CCMC Editors’ tasks?

· Was there an area or topic that you would have liked us to cover?

We firmly believe that all feedback has a positive effect, especially the negative feedback!

We hope that you can spend a brief moment to get in touch with us, either by posting a comment in reply to this post (click on the “No comments” link below) or by sending us an email to production@cencenelec.eu.

Thank you very much, enjoy the final posts!

Matthew Tomlin

Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.

Monday 24 November 2014

Post 20: CEN-CENELEC Guide 17 "Guidance document for standard writers taking into account SME needs"

CEN-CENELEC Guide 17 provides advice and recommendations on standardization principles and policies and offers guidance to standards writers.

Guide 17 contains tips, guidelines and examples for standards writers outlining how they can ensure that the standards they develop are relevant to micro, small and medium sized enterprises who, whilst not always involved in the writing of standards, wish to use them. It is important that where direct participation of SMEs is not possible in the development process of a standard, this does not become a barrier for the SME to use the standard.

The Guide also encourages standards writers to think further about a whole range of issues, including those outlined below.

When preparing New Work Items, check the market relevance of the proposed standard and know who your stakeholders are.

v Before proposing a new work item, the proposer should assess the need for the European Standard.

v A wide consultation of all possible stakeholders should take place in order to assess their needs or interest in a proposed standard.

v Do SMEs have particular needs in the development and drafting process?

When preparing the standard, think about any costs for implementing the standard which may result in it not being cost-effective e.g.

v Consequences of changes in technology.

v Will costs for buying new equipment, training, testing and hiring consultants put extra constraints on SMEs?

v Consider the availability of elements required such as technology, testing equipment, testing laboratories, IPR etc.

There are several things standard writers can do to help SMEs when writing standards:

v Add examples and explanations.

v Explain why the standard is necessary, why it is created or revised.

v Specify the type of business covered by the standard, outline the range of products or services to which the standard is applicable.

v Do not cover issues outside the scope of the standard.

Tips for the structure and presentation of the content of the standard:

v Keep your standard short and if needed divide it into parts.

v Make it clear and easy to read for those that did not participate in the writing process. Something as simple as a clear layout may do wonders for the reader.

v Include charts, graphics, drawings.

v Give examples, either in the main text or in an annex.

v Use simple language (this is also the case for translations of standards), avoid abbreviations or explain them. If you have to use difficult or complicated words then define them.

v If you refer to normative documents, make sure they are publicly available.

Don't forget when reviewing standards:

v If a standard is revised, indicate significant technical changes in the Foreword and give the reason for revision.

v Where a European Standard introduces a completely new requirement or call for best practice, think about extending the date of withdrawal. It may be necessary for the SME to buy new equipment, to train staff etc.

v If an area of standardization is particularly complex (e.g. because of legislation), then standard writers can consider the creation of an additional guidance document e.g. an implementation manual.

How can you measure whether your standard is in line with Guide 17?

At the end of the Guide, there is a checklist so that standards writers can check whether they have considered the needs of SMEs during the drafting of a new or revised standard.

And for International Standards?

ISO adapted CEN-CENELEC Guide 17 in April 2013 and it is currently submitted to the ISO-IEC voting procedure to become ISO-IEC Guide 17, with a deadline of January 2015.

The Guides can be freely downloaded from:

http://www.cencenelec.eu/sme/smenews/Pages/guide17.aspx (available in 27 languages!)
http://www.iso.org/iso/PUB100342.pdf

Any questions? Please drop us a comment by clicking on the button below!

Next week there will be a special post about feedback on the blog.

Ingrid Soetaert,
Programme Manager
Innovation

(isoetaert@cencenelec.eu)

Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.

Thursday 20 November 2014

Post 19: Introducing Anne Clausse

Introducing…

Anne Clausse – Officer – Publications Standards – CCMC

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hello, my name is Anne Clausse, I'm from Belgium and I have been working as an editor in CCMC since 1998. Before that, I worked as assistant for consultants involved in European legislation about chemicals (a broad subject !).

My main activities in CCMC are editing drafts, preparing draft & final draft parallel ISO ballots in line with the Vienna Agreement, processing voting reports, preparing CENELEC publications in parallel with IEC and CEN publications in parallel with ISO, and handling late translations for CEN and CENELEC. I also help Olivier to handle Consultants’ assessments and mission requests.

I spend my free time reading novels, walking and visiting exhibitions, my favourite ones being about impressionist painters.

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I am preparing a correction notice to a published European Standard where a mistake has been spotted.

What are the possibilities to correct standards?

When the publication is still under the translation procedure, an editor introduces the needed correction(s) in the standard and prepares a comments sheet listing the change(s) brought to the document. The revised text and the comments sheet are made available to translators via the eTrans system for CEN documents, and by email for CENELEC documents.

If a mistake is spotted in a published standard within 1 month of it being published, then the revised text can be circulated together with a Correction Notice. This Correction Notice contains the identification of the document, the language version(s) concerned and a description of the change(s) brought. The revised publication and the Correction Notice are distributed in the CEN system via the Weekly Output and on eTrans or, for CENELEC documents, uploaded on the FTP server together with an email notification.

If a mistake is spotted in a published standard published over 1 month ago then the correction is handled by CCMC issuing a Corrigendum. A Corrigendum is a separate document that contains a description of the mistake and how it should be corrected.

It is important to note that Corrigenda are not issued to correct errors that can be assumed to have no consequences in the application of the publication, for example minor printing errors. Corrigenda correct mistakes which could lead to incorrect or unsafe application of the publication. Corrigenda are not issued to update information that has become outdated since publication.

Suspected technical errors shall be brought to the attention of the secretariat of the technical committee concerned. After confirmation by the secretariat and chair, in consultation with the WG convenor and, if necessary, with the responsible technical body, the secretariat shall submit to CCMC a proposal for correction, with an explanation of the need to do so.

In general, a corrigendum will not be issued for a European Standard that is older than 3 years.

Did you know?

CCMC log the origins of corrigenda with the aim to identify potential preventative measures to avoid mistakes reoccurring in the future.

Anne Clausse (aclausse@cencenelec.eu)

Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.

Monday 17 November 2014

Post 18: Hanging paragraphs, clause numbering and lists

a) Hanging paragraphs

When a paragraph is mentioned under a clause or a subclause without having a numbered heading in the line above, while the paragraphs after have a numbered heading, this is what we call a hanging paragraph.

According to the InternalRegulations Part 3, the drafters of European deliverables need to avoid the use of "hanging paragraphs" since reference to them is ambiguous.

EXAMPLE:

In the following example, the hanging paragraphs indicated cannot be uniquely identified as being in "Clause 5" since strictly speaking the paragraphs in 5.1 and 5.2 are also in Clause 5. To avoid this problem it is necessary to identify the hanging paragraphs as subclause "5.1 General" (or other suitable title) and to renumber the existing 5.1 and 5.2 accordingly (as shown), to move the hanging paragraphs elsewhere, or to delete them.

When drafting a standard it is very important that you don't let any hanging paragraphs find their way into the text. When we correct these during our editing, we also have to update any cross references within the text and these kind of updates are fraught with risks, especially in texts with many cross references.

However, there are instances where a hanging paragraph is allowed! These are explained below:

1) "Terms and definitions"

The introductory text under the clause "Terms and definitions" is not considered to be a hanging paragraph, as described in 5.2.4 of (InternalRegulations Part 3), as the terms and definitions are a definitions list and not a series of subclauses.

EXAMPLE:

3 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in IEC 60050-161 and the following apply.

3.1

building penetration loss

ability of buildings, in which networks for distribution of television and sound are located, to attenuate the influence of electromagnetic fields from outside the buildings or to suppress the radiation of electromagnetic fields from inside the buildings

2) "Reagents"

Under the clause "Reagents", the introductory text explaining the general provisions is not a hanging paragraph since the list detailing the reagents and/or materials is not a series of subclauses but a list.

Each reagent and/or material entry shall be numbered for purposes of cross-referencing, even if there is only one.

EXAMPLE:

3 Reagents

Use only reagents of recognized analytical grade and only distilled water or water of equivalent purity.

3.1 Cleaning medium, for example methanol or water containing a few drops of liquid detergent.

3) "Apparatus"

Under the clause "Apparatus", the paragraph introducing the list of the apparatus used in the document is not a hanging paragraph.

The rules for the structure, numbering and presentation of the "Apparatus" clause are identical to those for the "Reagents and/or materials" clause.

b) Clause numbering

The clauses in a European deliverable need to be numbered with Arabic numerals followed by a title. The numbering begins with 1 for the "Scope" clause and is continuous up to but excluding any annexes. The clause is put on a line separate from the text that follows it.

In case of a need for subdivision, a primary numbered subclause with Arabic numerals is used (e.g. 5.1, 5.2, etc.), which may itself be divided into secondary subclauses (e.g. 5.1.1, 5.1.2, etc.), and this process of subdivision may continue up to the fifth level (e.g. 5.1.1.1.1.1, 5.1.1.1.1.2, etc.). See below:

Subclauses should preferably be given a title, which is placed immediately after its number, on a line separate from the text that follows it. Within a clause or subclause, the use of titles is uniform for subclauses at the same level, e.g.: if 10.1 has a title, 10.2 shall also have a title.

There is no need to create a subclause unless there is at least one further subclause at the same level. For example, text in Clause 10 shall not be designated subclause "10.1" unless there is also a subclause "10.2".

c) Lists

Lists occurring in the European deliverable need to be introduced by a sentence as shown in Example 1):

EXAMPLE 1:

The following basic principles shall apply to the drafting of definitions.

a) The definition shall have the same grammatical form as the term:

1) to define a verb, a verbal phrase shall be used;

2) to define a singular noun, the singular shall be used.

b) The preferred structure of a definition is a basic part stating the class to which the concept belongs, and another part enumerating the characteristics that distinguish the concept from other members of the class.

Or by a complete grammatical proposition followed by a colon (see Example 2):

EXAMPLE 2:

No switch is required for any of the following categories of apparatus:

— apparatus having a power consumption not exceeding 10 W under normal operating conditions;

— apparatus having a power consumption not exceeding 50 W, measured 2 min after the application of any of the fault conditions;

— apparatus intended for continuous operation.

Or by the first part of a proposition without a colon (see Example 3), completed by the items in the list:

EXAMPLE 3:

Vibrations in the apparatus may be caused by

— unbalance in the rotating elements,

— slight deformations in the frame, and

— aerodynamic loads.

To ease identification, each item in a list needs to be preceded by a dash, a bullet or a lower case letter followed by a parenthesis. If it is necessary to further subdivide an item in the latter type of list, the Arabic numerals followed by a parenthesis need to be used, as mentioned in Example 1.

It may be preferable not to continue a sentence after the end of the type of list given in Example 3. Key terms or phrases may be composed in distinctive type to call attention to the subject matter dealt with in the various list items (see Example 1). Such terms or phrases shall not be listed in the table of contents; if it is necessary that they be included in the table of contents, they shall not be presented as list items but as subclause titles.

Any questions? Any related difficulty? Please drop us a comment by clicking on the button below!

Next week we're covering CEN-CENELEC Guide 17.

Hayat Amrani Jai (hamrani@cencenelec.eu)

Please note that the CCMC posted information is drawn from a variety of sources already publicly available on the CEN and CENELEC websites.