Section 11. International standards at the crossroads

Ⅵ Critical issues in the rapidly changing global marketplace confront the formal international standards system. George Allen, coach for the Washington Redskins football team, when asked about short and long term approaches to building a winning team, often responded , " the future is now. " The international standardization community must adopt the same sense of urgency lest the fate of the dinosaurs befall the current international system. Weakness in the traditional system that leads to competitive threats must be addressed. In so doing, however, the hallmark strengths of international standards must not be sacrificed. To compromise fundamentals would be to sell, for the sake of expediency, the soul of a system that has been beneficial to global trade and worldwide safety, health, and the environment. he Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) defines a standard as a " document approved by a recognized body that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines, or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods with which compliance is not mandatory. " The TBT defines an international body or system as one " whose membership is open to the relevant bodies of at least all members (of the World Trade Organization (WTO)). " Thus, an international standard is one approved by an international body. International standards for our purposes are those accredited by the following entities: International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Elec-trotechnical Commission (IEC), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Codex Alimentarius (Codex) and a handful of others. They share a common characteristic in that their membership is open to the relevant bodies of WTO member countries, which may be national standards organizations or central governments. The concept of one member per country is key. International standards enjoy a favored status in the global marketplace. The TBT institutionalizes international standards as effective tools in reducing non-tariff barriers to trade. The TBT states, " Where technical regulations are required and relevant international standards exist or their completion is imminent. Members shall use them, or the relevant parts of them, as a basis for their technical regulations, except when such international standards or relevant parts would be an ineffective or inappropriate means for the fulfillment of the legitimate objectives pursued. " Similarly, the Agreement on Government Procurement states, " Technical specifications prescribed by procuring entities shall, where appropriate. .. be based on international standards, where such exist. " These are not abstract, academic …