ETSI Deliverables

Work in ETSI is done on the basis of ETSI work items, approved by the Technical Body and adopted by the ETSI membership. A work item results in one deliverable (sometimes more than one), which can be a European Standard or a Technical Specification, an ETSI Guide or a Technical Report. ETSI has a suite of specifications, standards and reports that fulfil the various needs of the market:

ETSI EN (European Standard) - adopted by ETSI National Standards Organizations (NSOs) (except those elaborated in response to a Standardisation Request (SReq)).
ETSI European standardisation deliverables – adopted by ETSI National Standardisation Bodies (NSBs)
ETSI TS (ETSI Technical Specification) and ETSI TR (ETSI Technical Report) - adopted by the responsible Technical Group (except those elaborated in response to a Standardisation Request (SReq)).
ETSI ES (ETSI Standard) and ETSI EG (ETSI Guide) - adopted by ETSI Members (except those elaborated in response to a Standardisation Request (SReq)).
ETSI SR (ETSI Special Report) - adopted by the ETSI responsible Technical Group (except those elaborated in response to a Standardisation Request (SReq)).
ETSI GS (ETSI Group Specification) and GR (ETSI Group Report) - adopted the responsible Industry Specification Group.

NOTE: The skeletons of each specification are available here.

This suite of deliverables fulfils the needs for:

deliverable intended to meet needs specific to Europe and requiring transposition into national standards - ETSI EN
deliverable intended to meet needs specific to the Europe Economic Area (EEA), required under a Standardisation Request (SReq) from the European Commission (EC)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – ETSI EN and European standardisation deliverable.
deliverable providing technical requirements or explanatory material or both – ETSI GS
deliverable containing only informative elements – ETSI GR
high quality specifications delivered early to the market - ETSI TS.
high quality standards supported by the whole ETSI global membership - ETSI ES.
deliverable containing explanatory material – ETSI TR.
information document used for various purposes, including giving public availability to information not produced within a Technical Group – ETSI SR
document elaborated by ETSI partners and adopted by ETSI, to become an ETSI Technical Specification (TS) or an ETSI Technical Report (TR) - Publicly Available Specification (PAS).

NOTE: For more information, please read about PASs in our Partnerships section.

The numbering convention used by ETSI to link related documents at these various "levels" simplifies their market application.

Process

The Standards Making Process (SMP) is the process applied for the Technical Organization's production of standards and deliverables and the Secretariat's involvement in and interaction with the Technical Organization, the ETSI members and the ETSI National Standards Organizations. The general conditions for the SMP are defined by the ETSI Directives, in particular the Technical Working Procedures. The Secretariat's tasks and activities in SMP are primarily defined in the Quality Management System (QMS) documentation of ETSI Operations (OPS) Division.

Process overview

[process - a structured, measured set of activities designed to produce a specified output] The objective of the ETSI Standards Making Process (SMP) is to convert market needs for standardization in the ICT area into ETSI deliverables (specifications, standards, norms, guides, reports) used in the market place. The input to the process is an existing (as yet known or unknown) market need for standardization. The output is the broad application of the produced deliverables in the market place. The SMP consists of five main elements, sub-processes, with their own distinct objectives, inputs and outputs. Each sub-process is defined to the level of which operational tasks are performed, and where in the ETSI organization they are performed. The whole ETSI organization is in one way or the other involved in either operation of the SMP or in direct or indirect support of it. The main technical activities are performed in the Technical Groups of the Technical Organization. The main direct support to those activities is provided by ETSI Operations (OPS) and ETSI Standardization Service (STS) Divisions of the ETSI Secretariat. The operation of the SMP in the Technical Organization is governed by the ETSI Directives, in particular the Technical Working Procedures, and the ETSI Drafting Rules. The processes, tasks and procedures of the ETSI Secretariat are governed by the Secretariat's Quality Management System documentation, notably that of ETSI Operations (OPS) and ETSI Standardization Service (STS) Divisions.

Inception

[inception - an act, process, or instance of beginning (as of an institution, organization, or concept)] The times when initiatives to standardization were taken only when products and services were already available are since long gone. This is particularly the case for telecommunications where standardization precedes or goes hand in hand with the design and development processes. The input to this sub-process is "what's going on in the marketplace", with "marketplace" having a broad interpretation, including development in the research and academic circles. The output is a new standardization area, given to an existing or a new Technical Group. The formal output is the Terms of Reference (ToR) and/or a Project Requirements Definition (PRD) document, approved by the ETSI Board or, in the case of an ETSI Partnership Project with an external organization, approved by the ETSI General Assembly.

The process itself consists, in broad terms, of:

identifying needs for standardization in the subject areas defined by the ETSI Statutes and Rules of Procedure.
defining the suitable organization for such standardization within ETSI.

There are various actors in this process

experts in the Technical Bodies, Special Committees and ISGs.
ETSI Members.
supported by OPS Technical Officers and staff from Innovation.

Conception

[conception - the capacity, function, or process of forming ideas or abstractions or of grasping the meaning of symbols representing such ideas or abstractions; an idea or general notion; the originating of something (as an idea or plan) in the mind]. The creation of a new standardization area or ISG is manifested by the establishment of the new Technical Group or the amendment of the Terms of Reference of the Project Requirements Definition of an existing. The identification, definition, approval and adoption of work items are the main elements of the conception phase (even if work items may have been envisaged already during the inception process). The input is identified standardization needs in the area. These work items may either be entirely new, leading to new deliverables, or a new version of an existing deliverable ("maintenance work item"). The output is a work item, adopted by the ETSI Membership for ETSI deliverables created on proposal for Full or Associate members. A proposal for a work item may come from inside or outside the Technical Group. The Technical Group may approve the work item, if at least four ETSI Members volunteer to support the work (except those in response to a Standardisation Request (WISR)). The adoption is formally done by the ETSI Membership, except those in response to a Standardisation Request (WISR). The existence of new work items is made known via the ETSI Web site and Members who disagree with the item may within a 30-day period oppose its adoption into the ETSI Work Programme. ETSI may elaborate European Standards and European standardisation deliverables in response to Standardisation Requests to support the European legislation or policies, in accordance with the amended Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012. As per Article 20.4 of the Rules of procedure, it is the responsibility of the National Standardisation Bodies (NSB) to adopt a new WISR created by the responsible Technical Group in response to a Standardisation Request (SReq). For full details see clauses 1.6.3 (Adoption of a Work Item) and 1.7 (Decision-making in a Technical Group of the Technical Working Procedures.

Drafting

[drafting - to make a preliminary or tentative version, sketch, or outline (as of a literary composition or other document)]. A work item in the ETSI Work Programme is intended to lead to one (or more) ETSI deliverable(s). A Technical Group is free to organize its work in any way it wishes, within the rules of the Technical Working Procedures, including create Working Groups to which the tasks of drafting parts of the Technical Group's work programme are given. The drafting usually takes place in a small team (Rapporteur group) led by a Rapporteur. The work is largely done by "correspondence", i.e. by exchange of documents via the ETSI DocBox server and LISTSERV email exploder facilities. When the draft by the Rapporteur group is considered ready, the draft deliverable is handed over to the Working Group (when it exists) for approval. The formal approval for further processing or, in the case of ETSI Technical Specifications or ETSI Technical Reports, approval and adoption can only be done by the Technical Group, either at a meeting or by correspondence. Some drafting activities for a Technical Group are performed by Specialist Task Forces (STF)/Testing Task Forces (TTF) located at the ETSI Secretariat. The adaptation of specifications from external bodies (Publicly Available Specifications (PAS)) to the ETSI deliverable structure follows the same rules, but will normally be performed by the PAS provider, as defined in the Guidelines for adoption of Publicly Available Specifications.

Adoption

[adoption - the act or process of adopting someone or something, such as: the act or process of giving official acceptance or approval to something] While the drafting process is, in principle, the same for all ETSI deliverables, the process elements of the adoption process depend on the type of deliverable being processed.

ETSI Group Specification, ETSI Group Report, ETSI Special Report, ETSI Technical Specification and ETSI Technical Report

For ETSI Group Specification (GS), ETSI Group Report (GR), ETSI Special Report (SR), ETSI Technical Specification (TS) and ETSI Technical Report (TR) elaborated on proposal from Full and Associate members, the Technical Group draft approval and adoption take place at the same time (one combined decision). The Publication process element consists of publishing in PDF format and archiving. The published deliverable will then be made available for distribution via the ETSI Web server.