FAQs

ELOT is the National Standardization Body of Greece, notified by the State to prepare and issue standardization documents, such as standards.

All activities and procedures established by a national standardization body of a country (such as ELOT for Greece), in order to prepare national standardization documents.

A document providing rules, guidances, or characteristics for activities or their results.

Standardization documents may be standards, technical specifications, codes of practice, rules or technical regulations, as described in details in the European Standard ELOT ΕΝ 45020.

Standard is a standardization document established by consensus and approved by a recognized body. A standard incorporates the characteristics of a product or service (e.g. quality characteristics, performance, dimensions or safety characteristics). A national standard (e.g. ELOT standard) has been prepared by consensus of all interested parties- at national level- and approved by a recognized national standardization body   (e.g. ELOT).

The production according to “effective formulas” assures easy penetration and acceptance of products in the market.

Through standardization, the customers are sure that the product of a certain product/service has been made according all the requirements that safeguard health, safety and environmental protection.

Until recently, standardization was, in principle, financed by the government. Gradually standardization financing was partly transferred to other bodies, such as professional associations and /or consumers that have benefits from standardization results.

Everybody may participate in ELOT standardization activities, but not as a person or company, but as representative of a professional, scientific and/or consumers association or as governmental representative. That means that participation in standardization activities is open to any entity representing the above mentioned stakeholders.

In order to define the standards of a certain technical field you may use the standards search machine. The search criteria may be the identification number of the standard, the title, or part of it, keywords, or the related European legislation (e.g. EU Directives).

ELOT sells all Greek standards, as well as European and international standards, i.e. standards issued by CEN, CENELEC, ISO and IEC. In addition, ELOT, as the national representative of other national standardization bodies, can also provide standards of those bodies, upon request.

ELOT is a full member and actively participates in the activities of all European and international standardization bodies, that is:

• European Committee for Standardization - CEN
• European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization - CENELEC
• International Organization for Standardization -ISO
• International Electrotechnical Commission - IEC
• European Telecommunications Standards Institute  - ETSI

National standards are applied in a country and are restricted for products and services provided within the territories of a country. European standards are adopted by the national standardization bodies of EU member countries. At the same time those bodies have to withdraw all relevant conflicting national standards.European standards and conformity to them provide a “passport” for the free circulation of products in EU. International standards are worldwide accepted standards and therefore, have wider applicability. Recently there is a tendency for European and international standards to be identical. In any case, all standards are voluntary except if legislative requirements impose their use.

ELOT standardization documents are classified according to a prefix and a unique identification number. The prefix may be:
• ΕLΟΤ, that means that the standardization document is a standard.
• ΕLΟΤ PRD, that means that the standardization document is a national specification.
• ΕLΟΤ ΕΝ, that means that the standardization document is a European  standard(EN), adopted as national.
• ΕLΟΤ ΕΝ ISO that means that the standardization document is a European  standard (EN)-identical to an international (ISO) one-, adopted as national.

The prefix is always followed by an identification number given by the standard’s originating body (ΕLΟΤ, CEN, CENELEC or ISO).

A harmonized standard is a European standard issued by the European standardization bodies CEN/CENELEC, to support “essential requirements” of EU Directives. Harmonized standards are of mandatory use within Europe.

National standardization bodies of EU members have to implement all European standards, as national. The application of those standards in EU is voluntary, except in national or European legislation turn the standards to mandatory.

ELOT standards are offered electronically, in pdf format, after a request submitted to ELOT through the electronic address < ΧΧΧΧ >

All ELOT and other standardization bodies’ standards and standardization documents, are copyright protected. So, it is not allowed to reprint or copy a part or the total of a standardization document, except if a written permission is given by the owner body. 

Standards incorporate the current attainments of Science and Technology. In order to ensure that their content is and remains current, the state of the art of standards is reviewed, examining the need for amendment or reviewing of a standard. If so, the originating technical standardization body (e.g. Technical Committee, Working Group etc) is appointed to proceed with the reviewing procedure.

No! A quick view in the list of  ELOT Committees and of CEN, CENELEC TCs, one may easily understand where ELOT performs standardization activities. In general, the fields of standardization activity of ELOT are identical to the ones of European economy.

The senior management of ELOT decides for the preparation of a national standardization document, after having taken into consideration the market and national economy needs, as well as the governmental and consumers interests.

All stakeholders participate in the preparation procedure of a standard, i.e.  representatives of consumers, industry, academic institutions and government.

The preparation of a standard requires at times expenditures of significant amounts of money. The cost of the preparation includes the acquisition of the scientific knowledge, the research, the standardization procedure itself and the internal cost of the standardization bodies. The total cost of any standard exceeds the income expected from selling copies of the standard, especially in small economies like the Greek one. As a result, either standards would be very expensive and, therefore, prohibitive to buy for small and medium enterprises, or standardization work would have shrunk. To avoid those, uncomfortable for the economies, situations, government and interested bodies finance, under compensative conditions, the standardization work provided by national standardization bodies.

All standards are of voluntary use except if national legislation imposes their application.