1957 10 10 At the joint meeting of leaders of standardization organizations of the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) held in Paris in October, the French Association for Standardization ([AFNOR] proposed the establishment of the European Organization for Standardization and entrusted a special group to draft its constitution and rules of procedure.

On March 23rd, the inaugural meeting of CEN was held in Paris. L3 countries including France, Britain, Italy and Germany are founding members.

1971changed its name when the Articles of Association were revised in June.

1975 CEN headquarters moved from Paris to Brussels, Belgium.

Up to 20 10, CEN has published 1090 documENts, including EN standard (EN), en pre-standard (ENVs), technical specification (TSs), technical report (TRs), CEN report (CRs), CEN manual (CGs) and CEN working group agreement (CWAs).