European Telecommunications Standards Institute

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is a non-profit organization based out of the Sophia Antipolis Technical Park, Nice, France. It was founded in 1988 to standardize information and communications technologies across Europe. Officially recognized by the European Union as a European Standards Organization, it is the epicenter for promoting globally applicable standards for telecommunications, broadcasting and medical electronics.

ETSI has more than 700 member organizations from 62 countries around the world. ETSI specializes in standardizing global Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as fixed, mobile, radio, converged, broadcast and internet technologies. ETSI has successfully standardized the Low Power Radio, Short Range Device, GSM cell phone system and the TETRA professional mobile radio system. It has provided inspiration in the creation of 3GPP and also has partnered with 3GPP.

Vision and Mission

ETSI envisions being the leading organization in the standardization of ICT, including telecommunications, which will meet the European as well as global need for standardizations. The mission includes providing world class standards for systems and services of ICT and telecommunications by providing state of the art methodologies and processes for its functioning. ETSI distributes an annual business plan to all its employees at the general assembly to revise these statements. The business plan includes ETSI’s mission and vision, strategic areas, strategic activities and technical topics and secretariat operations review.

Structure

ETSI has the following structure, which enables it to function it in the most effective way:

• General Assembly: The highest authority in ETSI, holding the decision-making power.
• Board of Executives: The executive branch of General Assembly, which assists in decision-making.
• Technical Bodies: Including Technical Committees, Special Committees, Projects and Partnership Projects, which look after all the technical aspects of the ETSI and also assist in the important decisions.
• Secretariat: The role of the secretariat is to provide support for all bodies of the Organization.

ETSI focuses on playing a central role in ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market by producing standards that are relevant at the global level. With two decades of service efficiently producing Harmonized European Standards (ENs), it continues to create a platform for European enterprises to become more competitive in the global markets. This efficiency is strongly supported by the above structure of ETSI members.

Strategic areas

1. Global standards provider: To provide standards through production of technical specifications, ETSI deliverables and reports for global applications and simultaneously favoring the international collaboration.
2. European Standards Organization: To provide ITC standards for the European region, as well as to provide ETSI European Standards in support of EU and EFTA initiatives and regulations.
3. Service Providing Organization: To provide services such as Fora hosting, interoperability tests and development of protocol and testing specifications to support ETSI members and other organizations producing ICT standards.

ICANN and ETSI

ETSI supports the ICANN TLG (Technical Liaison Group), which helps the ICANN Board to use the appropriate technical advice on certain specific issues relevant to ICANN’s activities. ETSI has two representatives in the ICANN TLG. These members are:

• Fernando Soriano - ETSI Board Member.
• Bernardo Correia – ETSI External Relations Officer.