La Commission soutient en revanche que les directives relatives aux marchés publics font obligation de se référer aux normes européennes lorsqu'elles existent, afin d'assurer que les spécifications techniques soient établies sur la base de normes communes, transparentes et accessibles au public (dans toutes les langues).
The Commission, on the other hand, maintains that the public procurement Directives require reference to European standards where they exist, so as to ensure that technical specifications are defined by reference to standards which are common, transparent and publicly available (in all languages).