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May 2026
International standardization for lifts and escalators is going strong with many new standards in development and many existing standards under revision.
In an interview with LIFTjournal, Esfandiar Gharibaan, the chairman of CEN/TC 10, the European standardization committee for lifts and escalators, explains the current situation and gives an overview of on-going work.
What are the main standardization trends for lifts and escalators?
Gharibaan: The main purpose of standardization work is to provide technical specifications, in the form of international standards, that will be adopted as national standards by the countries that are members of the international standardization organizations. As a result, technical specifications are the same in all those countries.
This is what we call technical harmonization across countries and products designed based on those international standards, which also fulfil the national requirements. Therefore, technical harmonization is key to smooth trade among countries. In Europe, we are quite accustomed to this concept as all European standards, ENs, are adopted by all countries in Europe, facilitating free circulation of products across the EU and making the EU Single Market a reality.
At the European level, the objective of CEN/TC 10 is to provide Harmonized Standards (hENs) covering the Lifts Directive, the Machinery Regulation, and the EMC Directive. Use of hENs not only ensures that the technical requirements are the same across all EU Member States, but it also simplifies and reduces the burden of conformity assessment procedures for lifts and escalators; thus, they are very important and beneficial for all stakeholders.
It is important to note that under EU regulations, hEN is one way to achieve conformity with the requirements of EU regulations such as Lifts Directive. Installers and manufacturers may use other specifications subject to a specific conformity assessment procedure. However, hENs remain a reference for adequacy of those specifications in fulfilling the requirements of these EU regulations.
Technical Harmonization is now a global trend, and many countries are engaged through International Standardization Organization (ISO), to work on truly global standards that are adopted by countries around the world.
"Technical harmonization is key to smooth trade among countries."
ESFANDIAR GHARIBAAN
Another trend is the expansion of ISO standardization for lifts and escalators. Until ten years ago, European standards such as EN 81-1/2 or EN 81-20/50 were widely used outside Europe. However, the process for adopting ENs in countries outside Europe is complicated, and non-European users did not have the opportunity to directly engage in the European standardization process. Understandably, ISO standards were preferred by those countries. In addition, over the last two decades, the lift industry has been developed as a truly global supply chain. Therefore, even for the European manufacturers, ISO standards have become much more relevant and important.
To ensure continuity of use of the technical specifications of ENs around the world as the basis of technical harmonization, many of the ENs for lifts and escalators are becoming ISO standards. CEN/TC 10 and ISO/TC 178 work closely and apply the processes of the cooperation agreement between CEN and ISO organizations, known as Vienna Agreement. In this process, as the first step ISO adopts the EN as an identical ISO standard. In the second step, CEN and ISO revise the EN and ISO standards simultaneously. The result of the revision is published as ISO standard, but it is published in Europe as EN ISO. Good examples are EN 81-20 for lifts, which is becoming EN ISO 8100-1 and EN 115-1 for escalators, which is becoming EN ISO 8103-1. Many other ENs will follow the same process soon.
In addition, and in line with CEN objectives, ideally, it is preferable that any new standard be developed at the ISO level. This reduces rework and redundancy of work and speeds up the process.
Digitalization and connectivity have been rapidly implemented in our industry in less than a decade. Almost every new lift is connected or is capable of being connected to a network. Many solutions are also available to connect existing equipment. At the same time, digital services are being offered by the original manufacturers or other service providers.
"The process for adopting ENs in countries outside Europe is complicated, and non-European users did not have the opportunity to directly engage in the European standardization process." ESFANDIAR GHARIBAAN
Meanwhile, the legislation is catching up. European Machinery Regulation, Cyber Resilience Act or Data Act are only examples. Similar regulations are being introduced in other countries. The lift industry has recognized the need for standards in this field. For example, regarding cybersecurity, the first initiative was taken in 2017 and the very first ISO standard for cybersecurity for lifts and escalators, ISO 8102-20, was published in 2022.
Currently, there are several other standards published or under development. It is also important to know that there are several ISO or IEC horizontal standards, standards which cover several sectors, that may also apply to lifts and escalators. Manufacturers and service providers may need to familiarize themselves with the wider standardization activities than only the lift sector on this subject.
EN ISO standards may help European manufacturers with trade with non-EU countries. ESFANDIAR GHARIBAAN
What are the benefits of ISO standards and worldwide technical harmonization?
Gharibaan: As mentioned, worldwide technical harmonization is an important trend within our industry. ISO provides an excellent environment for bringing all stakeholders and experts together on the work to share their experience, innovations, and technical know-how, and to draft global standards that reflect the needs and requirements of all ISO members. Such wide participation also increases the likelihood of adoption of ISO standards as identical national standards around the globe. ISO standards provide a solid basis for worldwide technical harmonization.
European countries have an extensive presence in the ISO committees and working groups and they can strongly represent European needs and interests in the standardization process.
Use of ISO standards around the world, i.e. technical harmonization, creates economies of scale, which reduce costs for all stakeholders. It makes the supply chain more resilient by creating flexibility of supply points. For example, if due to natural disasters or geopolitical situations, one supply location is affected, the needed components may be acquired from another location as the components fulfill the ISO standards.
EN ISO standards may help European manufacturers with trade with non-EU countries. The EU regulatory model, EU New Approach, has opened the EU market as compliance with the EU harmonized standards, hENs, which provides a presumption of conformity to the EU regulations. A non-EU manufacturer may even deviate from hENs and have other solutions. But for an EU manufacturer, especially Small or Medium Sized Enterprise (SME), who is planning to export to non-EU countries, may have difficulties in understanding the technical requirements outside the EU. Knowing that other countries are also using the same ISO standard as EN ISO, helps improve understanding of the requirements in the destination country.
You mentioned moving towards ISO, how will this affect the current European standards for lifts?
Gharibaan: CEN/TC 10 and ISO/TC 178 have extensive work programs covering all aspects of the lifts and escalators as shown in figures 1 and 2 below.
About digitalization, what is the standardization work related to this topic?
Gharibaan: As mentioned, for the new standards, the preference is to develop them at the ISO level and in ISO/TC 178. This is certainly the case with standards related to digitalization. Therefore, unless there is a specific need for a European standard, currently CEN/TC 10 has no work item in this field, and all experts and efforts are concentrated on ISO work.
"I encourage all experts to take a more active role in the standardization work." ESFANDIAR GHARIBAAN
The current work program includes:
• ISO 8102-20:2022; Cybersecurity for lifts and escalators, which was published in 2022 and is currently under revision to fully cover Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) and Machinery Regulation (MR) requirements in Europe.
• ISO/TS 8102-21:2026; On-site and off-site software update, which was published in 2026.
• ISO/TS 8100-10: 2025; Building Information Modeling (BIM), which was published in 2025
• ISO/TS 8100-11; Interoperability between lift and other systems is currently under development
While digitalization is an evolving field, if the need for other standards arises, new work items will be initiated.
What is your advice to our readers?
Gharibaan: Standards have an impact on the products and services of every company. Standards are also made with direct contributions and input from the experts of the industry and stakeholders. Participation could be at different levels, for example, joining the international working groups as a representative of their national standardization body.
But the most convenient way is to join the national standardization body in one's own country. This gives an opportunity to receive detailed information during drafting the standards, as well as receiving draft standards for commenting. Such participation provides early information and facilitates the timely implementation of the standards when published. I encourage all experts to take a more active role in the standardization work.
There are several projects that gradually move ENs to ISO and then to EN ISO level. Therefore, ENs are becoming a basis for truly global ISO standards for lifts and escalators.
1) COMPLETED PROJECTS
ISO standards adopted by CEN:
EN ISO 14798 (Risk Assessment Methodology)
EN ISO 25745-1/2/3 (Energy Efficiency Measurement and Classification)
CEN standards adopted by ISO:
EN 81-20 ----> ISO 8100-1 (General Safety for Lifts)
EN 81-50 ----> ISO 8100-2 (General Safety for Lifts, Testing and Verification)
EN 81-70 ----> ISO 8100-7 (Accessibility to Lifts)
EN 115-1 ----> ISO 8103-1 (General Safety for Escalators)
2) ONGOING PROJECTS OF REVISING EN AND ISO STANDARDS TO BECOME EN ISO
EN 81-20 + ISO 8100-1 ----> EN ISO 8100-1 (General Safety for Lifts)
EN 81-50 + ISO 8100-2 ----> EN ISO 8100-2 (General Safety for Lifts, Testing and Verification)
EN 81-70 + ISO 8100-7 ----> EN ISO 8100-7 (Accessibility to Lifts)
EN 115-1 + ISO 8103-1 ----> EN ISO 8103-1 (General Safety for Escalators)
EN 12015 + ISO 8102-1 ----> EN ISO 8102-1 (EMC, Emission)
EN 12016 + ISO 8102-2 ----> EN ISO 8102-2 (EMC, Immunity)
3) PROJECTS UNDER DISCUSSION
EN 81-28 ----> EN ISO 8100-6 (Remote alarm)
EN 81-44 ----> EN ISO 810x-x (Lifts in wind turbines)
EN 81-58 ----> EN ISO 3008-2 (Fire test of landing doors)
EN 81-72 ----> EN SO 8100-4 (Firefighting lifts)
EN 81-77 ----> EN ISO 810x-x (Lifts subject to seismic conditions)
EN 81-76 ----> EN ISO 8101-1 (Evacuation of buildings using lifts)
EN 81-80 ----> EN ISO 8104-1 (Improvement of Safety of Existing Lifts)
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