NEK (Norsk Elektroteknisk Komite) is the official standards body for the electro-technical area in Norway and is the Norwegian National Committee of the IEC and the Member Body of IEC’s international conformity assessment systems IECEE and IECEx.
NEK was established already in 1912 and is organized as an independent association with 13 relevant organizations as members, representing different stakeholder interests in Norway, including the governmental safety authority.
Nemko is one of the active members, being a major user of the technical standards and having a tradition for wide involvement in the standardization activities, both nationally and internationally.
Both the use and involvement are naturally related to Nemko’s testing and certification services, including those within the international IECEEE/CB scheme, in which Nemko is one of the major players.
The new chairman of NEK's board is Nemko’s Håkon Rem, who currently works as Vice President of Sales & Marketing in Nemko AS. He has extensive experience in the electrical engineering industry, and as a member of NEK’s general assembly for several years, he has attained good insight into the activities and has taken part in establishing the guidelines for NEK's progress and success in recent years.
As the NEK chairman, he now also has the position as President of the Norwegian National IEC Committee.
(Before him, Mr. Tore Tomter from Siemens Norway held this position for 6 years, following the editor of this newsletter, who served for 14 years).
NEK has currently a staff of 20, managing nearly 100 national standardization committees with nearly 900 experts as members.
Over the years there has been a strongly growing interest in taking part in the standardization work. This is surely linked to the growing general awareness of the importance of electrotechnology as driven by the electrification of our society. Businesses and institutions within this sector have increasingly seen the value of taking part, both for keeping informed about forefront developments and for a possibility to influence standardization, as well as the importance of standards for the facilitation of trade.
Standardization within the electrotechnical sector no longer only concerns safety, functionality, and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), but also the increased importance of environmental and climatic sustainability.
Further to active participation in the technical standardization committees, NEK representatives have been elected for terms in the high-level managerial Boards of the IEC, i.e. the IEC Board (IB) and Conformity Assessment Board (CAB). Likewise in the European standard organization CENELEC in which NEK is also the Norwegian National Committee.
For further information, please contact Hakon.Rem@nemko.com
(The article is based on NEK announcement and edited by T.Sollie)