To this effect, Member States can rely on technical solutions and standards, which shall be provided mainly through European and/or international standardisation organisations and/or associations, in order to ensure interoperability and continuity of the service EU-wide while also taking full account of data protection requirements.

= the relationship between European and international standardisation and its relevance to the access of European enterprises to the markets of third countries ; = whether, and under what conditions, in cases where harmonised standards are not yet available, while recognising that harmonised standards are the best guarantee of the essential health and safety requirements, alternatives might provide a degree of assurance of conformity to such essential requirements until harmonised standards are adopted ; = the special role of the public authorities, including the Commission, at the different stages of the standardisation process unde ...[+++]r the New Approach and, in this context, improvements to the mandating of the European Standards organisations to produce the necessary harmonised standards, including the review of mandates and work programmes with particular reference to the priorities to be given to work items; = whilst recognising that the search for consensus must remain the guiding principle, consideration of the scope for voting within the European Standards organisations at an earlier stage in the development of harmonised standards in support of the New Approach, where all the necessary technical elements are present but a final consensus is proving difficult to establish and is delaying the production of a standard; = the use of new technology by the European Standards organisations to provide greater and more immediate transparency on the progress being made in the preparation of harmonised standards; = the role of pre-standardisation research as a means of improving the quality of standards and the efficiency of the process.

In this context, a number of European scientific and technological cooperation organisations have been set up in an intergovernmental framework: the ESF (European Science Foundation), the ESA European Space Agency, COST (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research), EUREKA (Extra-EU research programme), etc.

This conference, which is under the patronage of Professor Ruberti, Member of the European Commission responsible for research, education and training policies, is organised by Confindustria and the Italian trade union confederations (CGIL, CISL, UIL), and with the support of the Task Force for Human Resources of the European Commission, the FORCE Technical Assistance Unit and ISFOL (Istituto per lo Sviluppo della Formazione Profes ...[+++]sionale dei Lavoratori).

Since its inauguration, some 35,000 meetings have been organised between 10,400 companies - not only from the European Community but also from EFTA countries, Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean rim.

The results speak for themselves: since Europartenariat's inauguration, some 44,700 meetings have been organised between almost 13,000 companies - not only from the European Community but also from EFTA countries, Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean rim.