Liaison Organization Application to CEN/CENELEC JTC 21

Box Commons is a 501(c)(6) mutual benefit nonprofit corporation incorporated in Wyoming, United States. Our mission is the development, maintenance, and administration of technology-agnostic credentialing standards for AI systems — specifically, standards that certify observable behaviors and measurable outcomes rather than mandating specific technologies or architectures.

We operate a three-chamber governance structure modeled on the Forest Stewardship Council: Industry, Civil Society, and Academic/Research chambers hold equal voting weight. No single stakeholder category can dominate the standards process. Our certification model accredits third-party certifiers and maintains standards — we do not certify AI systems directly, mirroring the ISO/IEC 17065 approach and preventing financial conflicts of interest.

JTC 21 is operating under accelerated procedures to deliver harmonized standards supporting the EU AI Act — notably prEN 18285 (Conformity Assessment) and prEN 18286 (AI Quality Management System), both targeting Q4 2026 adoption. Box Commons offers JTC 21 three specific forms of value:

1. US regulatory intelligence. We maintain active engagement across the US AI regulatory landscape — formal comments filed with NIST, CPPA, Federal Reserve, FAR Council, NAIC, and Singapore IMDA. This provides JTC 21 with current, first-hand reporting on US approaches to AI conformity assessment.

2. Conformity assessment alignment. Our credentialing framework was designed for compatibility with ISO/IEC 17065, ISO/IEC 42001, and the NIST AI RMF. As a liaison, we would contribute operational experience from implementing these frameworks in a US regulatory context.

3. Bidirectional standards adoption. European harmonized standards gain global influence when they are practically implementable outside the EU. We provide a feedback channel on extraterritorial implementability — whether requirements translate, where terminology diverges, and where mutual recognition is feasible.

Working Group 4 — AI Management System. Our NIST AI RMF alignment work — mapping credentialing modules to the Govern, Map, Measure, and Manage functions — provides a tested US implementation perspective relevant to prEN 18286 drafting.

Working Group 5 — Conformity Assessment. This is our primary area of expertise. Our third-party certifier accreditation model, credential registry design, and modular certification architecture offer practical implementation evidence for prEN 18285 drafting. We would contribute experience on certifier independence requirements, audit methodology design, and structural separation of standards-setting from certification.

Box Commons operates under a Royalty-Free (RF) default for all contributions to standards. Contributors grant worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free licenses to essential patent claims. This policy exceeds the minimum requirements of the CEN-CENELEC Common Policy on Patents and is fully compatible with the FRAND framework used in European standardization.

The three-chamber governance structure ensures that all technical contributions represent balanced stakeholder input. Box Commons will adhere to CEN-CENELEC rules on handling of working documents and is prepared to pay the annual liaison fee.