European Defence Standards Reference System (EDSTAR) concept

Source EU Defence Agency

The concept of the European Defence Standards Reference System (EDSTAR) goes back to an initiative of the European Commission.

On 8th November 2000, the European Commission organized a conference in Brussels on the topic of "European Defence Procurement in the 21st Century - Improving Efficiency and Enhancing Competitiveness -The Role of Standardization". One significant outcome of this conference was the idea to develop a web-based "European Handbook for Defence Procurement” (EHDP). Consequently the European Commission suggested the establishment of a CEN-Workshop to develop the EHDP.

In the first phase from 30th May 2002 to 1st of March 2006, the CEN/Workshop 10 that was established achieved the following:

The compilation of an Initial Handbook (about 10.000 Defence Standards & STANAG identified);

    The identification of a 1st set of 8 relevant Technical Domains;

    A review of standards related to the Technical Domains 01 - 08 and the formulation of "Best Practice Recommendations" by Expert Groups (EG) 01 – 08 responsible for the corresponding Technical Domain;

    A web-based "European Handbook for Defence Procurement” (EHDP) available online.

CEN/Workshop 10 continued working in the second phase from 23rd February 2007 to October 2008 extending and updating the EHDP on following points:

    The identification of a 2nd set of 8 further relevant Technical Domains;

    A review of standards related to Technical Domains 09 - 16 and the formulation of "Best Practice Recommendations" by Expert Groups (EG) 09 – 16 responsible for the corresponding Technical Domain;

    The integration of the Best Practice Recommendations for Technical Domains 09 –16 into the EHDP;

    The integration of the Results of CEN Workshop "Network Enabled Abilities" CWA 15537 into the EHDP.

In the final third phase from 1st January 2010 to 30th of June 2011 the CEN Workshop 10 resulted in the following:

    A review of a set of 3 further relevant Technical Domains and the formulation of "Best Practice Recommendations" by Expert Groups 17 – 19;

    An update of the bibliographical data of the Best Practice Standards selected during Phase I (EG 01 – 08);

    The application of the selection criteria and methodology of the “framework - guidance on selection of standards” on the results of WS 10 Phase I (EG 01 – 08);

    Proposals for improvement of the user-friendliness of the EHDP Website;

    The drafting of a concept for the long-term maintenance of the EHDP.

The Steering Board in National Armaments Directors’ formation tasked the EDA, through the Materiel Standardization Group (MSG), to manage the updating and maintenance of the EHDP following the completion of the third phase of development in 2011. The MSG decided to rename the EHDP to EDSTAR after the handover of EHDP from the European Commission.

The European Commission handed over the EHDP to EDA at the EDA Standardization Day in Budapest in June 2011.