As every year, the European Commission services and the Multi Stakeholder Platform (MSP) reviewed and updated all chapters of the Rolling Plan to make sure they continue to relate to the European Standardisation Strategy, support EU strategic objectives, and associate EU strategic objectives with global ICT standardisation activities. As a result, the 2025 edition includes a number of substantial revisions:
- A new chapter on Media (3.2.8) based on the European Media Freedom Act.
- Chapters on Data Economy (3.0.1) and Data Interoperability (3.1.3) were extensively revised and aligned with progress on the EU data strategy.
- Chapter on Electronic Identification and trust services including e-signatures (3.1.5) has been extensively revised in line with the new eIDAS Regulation.
- Other chapters under substantial revisions were: Cybersecurity / Network and Information Security (3.0.2), Web 4.0, Virtual Worlds (3.3.7), e-Procurement (3.3.1) and e-Invoicing (3.3.2).What are the trends?
The Rolling Plan reflects this policy by introducing a chapter Foundational Drivers in 2022 which has three fundamental topics: Cybersecurity, Privacy and Data Economy.The focus on societal values is also visible in the introduction of the topic Safety, transparency, due process online, standards for ensuring a safe online environment and the respect of fundamental rights online.
As part of the effort to support the Green Deal, the Rolling Plan includes chapters on standardisation for ICT environmental impact and Circular economy and sustainability.
Standards for Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been an important topic in the Rolling Plan for more than 5 years and has been instrumental in the publication of the Standardisation Request by the European Commission issued in support of the AI Act.
An area receiving increasing attention is Accessibility, critical to allow equal distribution of the benefits of technological advancement in society. The European Accessibility Act (EAA; Directive (EU) 2019/882) requires a high level of accessibility to be ensured in a very large range of ICT related products and services. Dedicated standardisation is getting under way and is referenced in chapter 3.1.8.
The Rolling Plan also keeps in line with technological advances and as from 2021, it includes Cloud Computing, Edge Computing and Intelligent Transport Systems.
In the years to come the Rolling Plan may include standardisation actions on Data Governance Act, Data Act, Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act, Cyber Resilience Act and Digital Europe Act and new technologies such as Quantum Technologies, 6G and Digital Twins will receive more attention in future editions.