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 must be submitted online. If you don’t have an ETSI Online account, you will need to request one via the same link to proceed with your application.

The person authorized to sign such legal documents on behalf of an organization. The Membership Agreement with annexed application form is sent for signature to the person you have indicated as "Legal contact".

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.

Administrations: For the purposes of the present Rules of Procedure “Administration” refers to the specific department, agency or other organization empowered by a public authority or a government to act on its behalf, and financially contributing to the ETSI budget according to the latest available figure of the GDP of their country as specified in Annex 2 of the RoP. This financially contributing organization is usually the department leading on electronic communications and digital technical standards for the government.

Other Governmental Bodies: Central government departments, local government departments, public institutions, public authorities (agencies, corporations etc.) that function separately from the department that pays the Administrations membership.

National Standards Organizations: Organizations 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. These organizations are recognized by their governments as being authorized to make those standards available to the public at the national level.

Consultancy Companies/Partnerships: Legally established entities that provide professional expertise in relation to electronics communications and related areas.

An association or organization of such Consultancy Companies/Partnerships also falls within this category.

Manufacturers: Companies developing and/or producing and/or installing and/or maintaining 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 Operators: Operators of an electronics communications network or part thereof.

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

Research Bodies: Establishment performing research related to electronics communications and related areas. A Public Research Body is a not-for-profit research organization whose majority ownership is within the public sector.

Service Providers: Companies providing service(s) on a commercial basis to third parties.

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

Universities: Institutions for higher education or postgraduate training having the legal power to award first and/or higher degrees.

An association or organization of Universities also falls within this category.

Users: Organizations 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 an extra fee for members in class of contribution 1 or 2.

Members’ contributions are calculated by class. Each class corresponds to an annual contribution/fee payable and a related voting weight.

Associations, Users not-for-profit Associations (end consumers), National Standards Organizations (NSOs), Universities, Public Research Bodies, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) and Micro-Enterprises correspond to class of contribution 1 with a flat fee.

Otherwise, the class is derived from the member company's annual ECRT or GDP for Administrations.
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.

In accordance with Article 10.3 of the Rules of Procedure, and to ensure a correct application of the appropriate contribution scheme, each Full or Associate member shall declare or confirm to the Director-General, at least once a year, its current legal and financial situation. Any change to this situation shall be declared to the Director-General without delay.

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.

Our financial system is only set to Euros. You might initiate the payment in another currency, but the conversion rate should match the amount raised in Euro.

Yes, SMEs and MEs belong to class 1 and benefit from a preferential flat fee. 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 or public group may decide to apply for an additional membership related to the same group. An additional member contributes an administrative fee (€6 300) 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.

An additional member has 0 voting weights, but it may carry the voting weight associated to the Corporate or Public Group.

Fees and member contributions are excluding tax. Whether you need to pay VAT depends on your organization's VAT registration status and location. Here's how it works:

• If the organization is registered in France, VAT with the French rate of 20% applies
• If the organization is registered in the European Union and is also registered for European VAT, no VAT applies due to the EU reverse-charge rule
• If the organization is registered in the European Union but is not registered for European VAT, the 20% VAT French rate applies unless there’s an Authorities Tax Exemption Certificate
• If the organization is registered outside the European Union, no VAT applies

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.

To resign your membership, please utilize either the online application on the Member Portal or send an email to the Membership team before  30th September. This ensures that your resignation takes effect at the end of the current calendar year.

Failure to do so will result in your membership remaining active until the end of the following year, and you will be required to pay the member financial contribution for that period.

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  

Please contact the ETSI membership team via membership@etsi.org

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 an administrative fee and can carry the vote of the primary member.

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

3GPP individual membership is subject to an extra 3GPP contribution for class 1 and class 2 members.
Where Public and Corporate Groups hold multiple 3GPP memberships, they shall make an overall contribution that exceeds 20k€ multiplied by the number of 3GPP members to be exempted from paying the 3GPP minimum contribution for each of their 3GPP individual Members.

For participation in 3GPP face-to-face meetings another fee applies, based on the selected group of attendance.

Contact: membership@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.