CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation, develops voluntary technical standards which promote free trade, the safety of workers and consumers, interoperability of networks, environmental protection, exploitation of research and development programs, and public procurement. The CEN Members are the national standardisation bodies (NSBs) of the 27 European Union member states along with Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. CEN is among 3 to have been formally recognised by the European Commission as the European Standardisation Organisations (ESOs). CEN has a cooperation agreement with the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO). Due to the global nature of the market for medical devices and in-vitro medical devices, many standards are being developed jointly with the relevant technical committee (TC) in ISO.