The Third session of the Expert Council of the Croatian Standards Institute (HZN) was held on 21 November 2024, having filled the seats of the conference hall at Hotel International Zagreb. The meeting gathered representatives of companies and academia, as well as HZN employees, who discussed important topics related to standardization and its role in the sustainable development of Croatia.

An open door to standardization for the future

HZN, an independent and non-profit public institution and the national standardization body of the Republic of Croatia, continues its key mission of representing Croatia in international and European standardization as a member of recognized standardization organizations ISO, IEC, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI. With more than 1700 experts working in 170 technical committees, HZN plays an important role in the development of standards that are the basis for safety, quality and sustainability in different industries. HZN has 48 employees and a membership of 265 organizations and 1154 experts involved in the work of 70 technical committees (HZN/TO), 20 subcommittees and 4 working groups.

The number of users and views of the Repository of Croatian Standards tool (HRN4You) is continuously increasing. As on 20 November 2024 the Repository had 12,552 users, 7.65% more than at the end of 2023. In 2023, a total of 9,206 standards were downloaded and there were 76,025 views, in comparison to 9,082 downloads and 76,043 views by November 2024. This increase testifies to the importance of the Repository tool for access to standards.

By the end of 2023, 1,398 new standards documents had been published, 1,466 had been subject to public enquiry and 1,056 documents withdrawn. 55 documents had been translated into Croatian and five original Croatian standards published in the English language.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of systematic testing and certification of Ex equipment and protective systems in Croatia, the International IECEx conference was held in Podstrana near Split from 14 to 15 March 2024. The conference, organized by UN, IEC and IECEX, gathered around 300 experts from 43 countries around the world. After the conference from 18 to 29 March 2024 meetings of the working groups, project teams and maintenance teams of the IEC Technical Committee 31 (IEC TC 31) took place. It is an interdisciplinary committee dealing with equipment for explosive atmospheres, the secretariat of which has been held by Croatia since 1981.

In 2024, a comprehensive project of translating the second generation of Eurocodes began, covering a total of 8,248 pages. New technical committees have been established, including HZN/TO 584 dealing with sustainable cities and communities, as a response to the growing need for standards to enable a more sustainable development of infrastructure and urban spaces, in line with the EU’s targets for 2030 and green transition. HZN continuously cooperates with educational and scientific institutions in Croatia that use standards in their study programmes or work. HZN plans to celebrate its 20th anniversary, as well as to host the 59th meeting of the European Forum for Standards Distribution (EFSD).

HZN in the service of sustainability and competitiveness of Croatia

The HZN Expert Council reiterated the importance of standardization as the basis for the development of safe, competitive and sustainable solutions in all industrial sectors. By its core activities and cooperation with educational institutions, HZN continues to support young experts, encouraging them to contribute to global standardization processes in their work.

The Expert Council took note of the news that Mirjana Fijolić, Head of HZN’s PR Department, had been appointed as an expert in Workstream 1 of the High-Level Forum on European Standardisation (HLFS). In his closing speech Goran Romek, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Croatia and Chairman of HZN’s Administrative Board, emphasized the importance of further development of standardization in Croatia and particularly the cooperation with industry and educational institutions.

HZN presented Certificates of Appreciation to long-standing members of technical committees and subcommittees

At the end of the session Certificates of Appreciation were presented for an outstanding contribution to Croatian standardization system. 12 members of HZN’s technical committees (HZN/TO) were selected on the proposal of HZN/TO secretaries for their years-long dedication and contribution to national standardization in the fields of construction, health, environment, medical equipment, general electrical engineering and power engineering, electronics and other areas of standardization.

Two members of technical committees received Certificates of Appreciation from DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung for their work on Eurocodes.

By: Mirjana Fijolić

Photo: Boris Opašić

Translation: Tatjana Majić