The European lead industry, including users and producers, has agreed to prepare unique standards for lead products and analytical control methods. A technical committee (TC) was created in 1993 within the Comite Europeen de Normalisation (CEN) under the identification code CEN-TC 306. In 1998, 10 standards were prepared and two standards are available. To illustrate the work done by the experts, the lead 99.97 definition is presented in detail. Harmonisation has its limits. A unique standard for general applications, common to several countries, cannot cover all the numerous specific demands from users but has to reflect progress in refining and testing, and changes in demand. Recently, product standardisation covers the terminology of used products.