Standardization:
A key tool for global trade
Jean Kubler, UNECE
The official definition of a standard is a «document, established
by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common
and repeated use, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their
results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in
a given context». As such, it is recognized by WTO.
International standards hold many of the
answers to global trade issues
When countries adopt international
standards and harmonize their technical regulations worldwide, everybody
stands to gain. Producers save both at the production and sales levels.
They simplify their inventories by not having to adapt their products
and services to a variety of different national rules. Consumers, in
turn, find their choice of products widened to include offers from around
the world. These products nevertheless conform to guaranteed quality
and security. In an ideal world, trade is facilitated when all, both
sellers and buyers, base their products and services on international
standards to make them compatible worldwide. National legislative and
regulatory work is simplified and accelerated when reference can be
made to internationally agreed documents. Moreover, the multiplication
of technical instruments shared by the countries facilitates their economic
relations and helps to overcome the factors of division. The vital role
of International Standards as the technical foundation for the global
market is explicitly recognized in the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. The Agreement urges Governments
to make the utmost use of International Standards so as to avoid unnecessary
obstacles to the free flow of goods. It includes a ‘’Code
of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards’.
This Code applies to all members of the Organization, and so far, some
70 countries have notified their acceptance.
Standards developed by consensus among trading
partners serve as a lingua
franca for trade
Examples of the lingua franca are the UN/EDIFACT standard for
electronic commerce, an United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE) and ISO standard, that ensures that all participants can really
communicate and understand each other electronically. The use of UN/EDIFACT
by the bar-code community grew by 59% during 1997 and 998 and the UN/EDIFACT
messages are translated into 21 languages. The cooperation between UNECE
and ISO dates back to the 70’s when the first recommendation developed
by UNECE in the 60’s on the layout of trade documents was based,
among other things, on ISO standards of paper size – the famous
A4 format. Since that time, the cooperation extended to standardization
of information exchange in areas such as country names, currencies,
syntax and electronic data interchange, UNTDED-ISO7372, UN/EDIFACT-ISO
9735.
Standard-setting for global trade is supported
by a web of international standards organizations
In the
late 80’s UNECE realized that the competition among the private
sector in the field of electronic business and digital information may
lead to a standardization maze that raises the issue of compatibility
and interoperability of standards required for global trade. Even if
each organization developed standards in its own specialized sector,
there are risks of divergent and competitive approaches. Conflicting
specifications, such as initially the European and United States standards
for electronic data interchange or the PAL/SECAM/NTSC for TV systems
are examples of such failures. To respond effectively to this type of
issue, the Memorandum of Understanding between ISO, IEC and UN/ECE the
sector of electronic business is an example of a new partnership of
the standard-setting organizations . The existence of national and regional
standards and regulations can prevent the creation of the global standards
needed by the trading partners. For instance, in the automotive industry,
over 80 different kinds of standards from the whole world cover the
various areas of car manufacture, from Australian railways standards
to standards for Brazilian fuels. That being said, there are many examples
of regional standards which become global when found useful and responding
to user needs. UN/ECE standards and regulations, such as those related
to spare parts of motor car vehicles, transport of dangerous goods or
UN/EDIFACT, now serve as the basis for many international instruments.
The UNECE and ISO are further deepening their coordination efforts to
provide the user community with coordinated standard specifications
for future e-business activities in areas such as the ebXML initiative.