Membership FAQs

BECOMING A MEMBER

For enquiries related to becoming an ETSI member, please contact our Director for Membership Development.

EXISTING MEMBERSHIP

For enquiries related to an existing ETSI membership, please contact the ETSI membership team by e-mail, phone or fax:

membership@etsi.org
Tel: +33 (0)4 92 94 42 69
Fax: +33 (0)4 93 65 47 16 (mark for the attention of Membership)

You can apply online  and then follow the instructions

The application shall be submitted online

We request that a signed and scanned copy is sent by email, this will accelerate the process. 

In all cases, the signed (or e-signed) original is required and shall be sent by terrestrial post to ETSI Membership, 650 Route des Lucioles, 06921 Sophia Antipolis cedex.

The person authorized to sign such legal documents on behalf of an organization.

The person authorized to sign such legal documents on behalf of an organization.The signature on the application engages a member to comply with the ETSI Directives and the decisions of the General Assembly and to pay the yearly contribution. Therefore, the person who signs should be authorized within the organization to ensure that this engagement is respected. e.g. the head of division or head of section depending on how authority is delegated within your organization.

Membership of ETSI is approved by obtaining consensus among the ETSI Full and Associate members via an online poll organized four times per year, subject to the payment of the member contribution or observer fee prior to the poll submission and calculated on a pro-rata basis - depending on when the application is registered by the ETSI Secretariat (see our contributions page). 

The different membership categories of ETSI are described in the ETSI Rules of Procedure, Annex 1, contained in the ETSI Directives.

Administration: An Administration is defined as the part of the public administration responsible for electronics communications and related areas in a country.

Other Governmental Body: An Other Governmental Body is defined as any other governmental organization or agency not covered by the Administration category above.

National Standards Organization: A National Standards Organization is a standards organization whose function is to carry out at national level the activities related to standstill, public enquiry, establishment of the national position for the vote on draft European Standards as well as the transposition and withdrawal of national standards; and which is normally recognized by its Government as being authorized to make them available to the public at the national level.

Consultancy Company/Partnership: A Consultancy Company/Partnership is defined as any legally-established consultancy company/partnership concerned with telecommunications and related areas.

Manufacturer: A Manufacturer is defined as a company having a substantial capacity to develop and/or produce and/or install and/or maintain products to be used in, or directly or indirectly connected to, an electronics communications network.

An association or organization of such Manufacturers also falls within this category.

Network Operator: A Network Operator is defined as an operator of an electronics communications network or part thereof.

An association or organization of such Network Operators also falls within this category.

Research Body: A Research Body is defined as any legally established research body concerned with electronics communications and related areas. A Public Research Body is a not-for-profit research organization whose main stakeholders are in the Public sector.

Service Provider: A Service Provider is defined as a company or organization, making use of an electronics communications network or part thereof to provide a service or services on a commercial basis to third parties.
An association or organization of such Service Providers also falls within this category.

University: Any not-for-profit institution for higher education or postgraduate training having the legal power to award first and/or higher degrees.

User: A User is an organization making use of services in the field of electronics communications and related areas, whose main interest in electronics communications standards is in that capacity.

An association or organization of such Users also falls within this category.

The financial contribution of an ETSI member is not based on your participation in specific technical work, when you become a member you have access to all ETSI technical resources and work. Only the participation in 3GPP is subject to a minimum of 3 units of contribution except SMEs, Micro-Enterprises, users, universities, and public research bodies; these are subject to a minimum of 2 units.

Members’ contributions are calculated by class. The class is derived from the member company's annual ECRT. Each class corresponds to a number of units of contribution. This number determines the financial contribution payable. It also determines the voting weight of a member in ETSI.  The contribution is based on your organization's annual Electronic Communications Related Turnover (ECRT) (or the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country for administrations responsible for electronics communications and related areas of their country). For a detailed breakdown of the classes of contribution, see the contributions page.

ECRT is your Electronic Communications Related Turnover. A member organization's ECRT is defined as the worldwide turnover generated by all the member's products and services related to Article 2 'Purpose' and Article 3 'Scope of activities' of the ETSI Statutes. ECRT is your Electronic Communications Related Turnover. A member organization's ECRT is defined as the worldwide turnover generated by all the member's products and services related to Article 2 'Purpose' and Article 3 'Scope of activities' of the ETSI Statutes. The ECRT for an organization must be updated on a yearly basis.

When considering what ECRT to declare, members should take into consideration the entire turnover related to electronic communications related products, components and services, regardless of technology or standard used (e.g. WiFi and Bluetooth technologies are included). It includes sales of communications equipment, and sales of communications-related services or systems (network management, communications intelligence). Or alternatively sales to communication service providers. Gross turnover or revenue, and not net income, should be considered. When considering what ECRT to declare, members should take into consideration the entire turnover related to electronic communications related products, components and services, regardless of technology or standard used (e.g. WiFi and Bluetooth technologies are included). It includes sales of communications equipment, and sales of communications-related services or systems (network management, communications intelligence). Or alternatively sales to communication service providers. Gross turnover or revenue, and not net income, should be considered.

The Rules of Procedure, Annex 2, clause 6f) state that where a Member company is part of a corporate group, the ECRT is based upon the worldwide turnover generated by the entire corporate group's products and services related to electronic communications, not simply that of the Member company.

Where more than one company from a corporate group is an ETSI Member, the sum of ECRTs declared by these companies shall be equal to or greater than the ECRT calculated on the basis of the entire corporate group.

If your organization's ECRT cannot be determined from publicly available information, you will need to agree an appropriate class of contribution with the Director General.

For an Administration responsible for electronics communications and related areas of their country, the class of contribution is determined according to the latest published or available figure of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of its country. Reference World Bank.

Governmental organizations shall declare the latest GDP figures of their country and update that figure on a yearly basis. Governmental organizations shall declare the latest GDP figures of their country and update that figure on a yearly basis.

The member contribution payable for governmental organizations is available on the contributions page.

The amount due for a given year is based on your organization's status as on the 30th September of the prior year. The Secretariat will remind you during the summer months to declare your ECRT or GDP before the 30th September.

Applicants for membership are requested to make their payment on receipt of a pro-forma invoice. The payment must be received by ETSI prior to the submission of the application to the member online poll. If the payment is not received within 90 days of the application the said application will be suspended.

The member contribution is aligned to the calendar year. The invoice is sent in December year N-1 and is due on 1st January Year N. There is a 5% penalty for contributions and fees paid after 30 April. Fill information on the payment of member contributions and fees is available in Article 10 of the ETSI Rules of Procedure.The member contribution is aligned to the calendar year. The invoice is sent in December year N-1 and is due on 1st January Year N. There is a 5% penalty for contributions and fees paid after 30 April. Fill information on the payment of member contributions and fees is available in Article 10 of the ETSI Rules of Procedure.

It shall be noted that Membership will be tacitly renewed unless it is withdrawn before 30th September of the current year by the member organization (see Rules of Procedure, Article 1, clause 1.4.1 for full details).

No, it is prorated as follows:No, it is prorated as follows:

• when you apply between 1 December and 1 March and are approved at the first member online poll of the year, you are invoiced 100% of the annual member contribution or Observer fee;
• when you apply between 1 March and 1 June and are approved at the second member online poll of the year, you are invoiced 75% of the annual member contribution or Observer fee;
• when you apply between 1 June and 1 September and are approved at the third member online poll of the calendar year, you are invoiced 50% of the annual member contribution or Observer fee;
• when you apply between 1 September and 1 December and are approved at the fourth member online poll of the calendar year, you are invoiced 25% of the annual member contribution or Observer fee.

The ETSI accounts are maintained in Euros, therefore payment in euro is preferable, other currencies may be authorized upon special request.

Yes, SMEs and MEs belong to class 1 and benefit from a preferential flat rate. See the contributions table on the contributions page.

Yes, universities and public research bodies belong to class 1 and benefit from a preferential flat rate. See table in the contribution page.

Yes, associations and not-for-profit user associations belong to class 1 and benefit from a preferential flat rate. See the table on the contributions page.

Cases are usually very different and for that reason you are invited to contact the membership team at membership@etsi.org

A member organization from a corporate group may decide to apply for an additional membership related to the same group. An additional member contributes one financial unit (6k€) considering that the “primary” member of the group already pays the member contribution based on the corporate group’s declared ECRT or GDP. There is no limit to the number of additional memberships within a corporate group or for an administration.

Fees and member contributions are excluding tax. VAT will be added to an invoice according to the following principles:

• If the organization is VAT registered in Europe outside France, VAT shall not be added to the invoice.
• If the organization has its fiscal status either in Europe outside France but is not VAT registered, or has its fiscal status in France, VAT at the current French rate of 20% is applied to the invoice.
• If the organization does not have its fiscal status in Europe, VAT shall not be added to the invoice.
• If the organization is registered in Europe but is not liable to VAT, a certificate from the Tax Authorities of the member country shall be provided to ETSI, otherwise VAT shall be applied to the invoice.

Yes. It is mandatory that each user of the organization has his own personal account. We will provide as many user accounts as required in order to follow all the areas of work you have an interest in.

Yes. People will need to register their attendance under your organization’s name subject to the approval of the member organization’s official contact.

Special provisions are applicable for Associations that shall be represented in ETSI by their employees and elected officials. In addition, a maximum of one nominated technical expert, per meeting, shall be allowed to attend and participate in meetings and shall come from a Member of the said Association, unless explicitly authorized by the Director-General on a case-by-case basis.

This expert shall be officially nominated in writing by the said Association before the meeting begins. All employees, elected officials and/or nominated technical expert of an Association attending ETSI meetings shall only represent that Association’s views.

Yes, this should be provided to the Membership team.

No, your attendance at the General Assembly meeting is not mandatory but you may benefit from attending as it gives you the opportunity to express your interests and needs, participate in the management of the Institute and network with other members.

No. You will not be asked to make a presentation about your organization.

As soon as your application is validated by ETSI Director-General, you may attend meetings of technical committees, ISGs, working groups etc. You can only exercise your voting rights or hold official positions when your membership is effective (after formal approval at the quarterly online poll or at the GA).

Each user should send a request to ETSI via our User Account Application Form

To change your personal information, you can use the online form.

Only official contacts can submit a request to update his/her organization’s details.

Membership of ETSI will be tacitly renewed unless it is withdrawn by a member organization before the 30th September.

You need to give notice online via the online application on the Member Portal or by email to the Membership care team before 30th September in order for the resignation to take effect at the end of the ongoing financial year, otherwise, it will take effect at the end of the following year and the member financial contribution will have to be paid.

ETSI's mentorship programme provides support when getting started within the ETSI community. Your organisation will be contacted upon obtention of the applicant ETSI member status. Should you need assistance getting started within ETSI, please contact: claire.desclercs@etsi.org  

Official or financial contacts can provide the financial information via the online application on the Member Portal.

All Member contributions and Observer fees will be based on the declared position of the Member/Observer, as at the 30th September of the prior year.

You can decide to have either a group membership composed of a primary member who pays the member contribution based on the global entity ECRT and additional membership(s) who pay one unit each

or

separate (individual) memberships where the global member contribution (based on the group’s ECRT) is spread between members of the corporate group.

In both cases, the ECRT is based upon the worldwide turnover generated by the entire corporate group's products and services related to electronic communications, not simply that of the Member company. See the ETSI ECRT Definition.

Participation in oneM2M is included in the contribution for full and associate ETSI members and just needs to be requested.

Contact: oneM2M@etsi.org

The minimum number of units of contribution to participate in the work of 3GPP^TM is 3, except for class 1 members (SMEs, Micro-Enterprises, users, universities, public research bodies) for whom 2 units of contribution is the minimum. However, these minimum contribution levels need not apply where an organization with more than one membership of ETSI makes an overall contribution that exceeds 20k€ multiplied by the number of 3GPP memberships.

Contact: 3GPPMembership@etsi.org

Information on ISGs is available on this webpage or via our COMMITTEES page. 

Contact: ISGsupport@etsi.org

Contact our Director for Membership Development.

Contact our membership administration & care team.