international satndard
Literature Review on International Standards and the TBT Agreement
This literature review talks about three articles dealing with understanding what are these international standards recognized by the TBT Agreement, but also on their implementation by member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Through these articles, we will try to define these international standards and their objective for international trade (I), we will then explain how they are adopted and why their adoption process involves gaps (II).
I/ International Standards : definition and objectives
Definition of the Concept ‘International Standard’ in the TBT Agreement (1), by Humberto Zuniga Schroder provides an interpretation of this concept whose no definition was never really given by the TBT Agreement, whereas Improving Regulatory Governance : International Standards and the WTO TBT Agreement (2), by Erik Wijkstrom and Devin Mcdaniel, and Harmonization of International Standards(3), by John Surak, focus on the purposes of international standards.
According to Schroder, international standards are not created by the WTO but by recognized international organizations (such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)), which implement rules, recommendations adopted to facilitate trade relations among member nations of the WTO. The WTO members recognize an international organization as such, if this latter has acquired a fully accepted reputation. Wijkstrom and McDaniels also add that member nations have to use theses standards as a basis for setting their own regulation, which gives them a lot of leeway. They thus specify as Schroder that countries may not apply these standards. Indeed, due to the diversity of all member nations, it can sometimes happen that an international standard is not considered sufficiently relevant or appropriate for a country due to different reasons, such as technological or geographical problems.
Furthermore, joining Schroder in his
This literature review talks about three articles dealing with understanding what are these international standards recognized by the TBT Agreement, but also on their implementation by member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Through these articles, we will try to define these international standards and their objective for international trade (I), we will then explain how they are adopted and why their adoption process involves gaps (II).
I/ International Standards : definition and objectives
Definition of the Concept ‘International Standard’ in the TBT Agreement (1), by Humberto Zuniga Schroder provides an interpretation of this concept whose no definition was never really given by the TBT Agreement, whereas Improving Regulatory Governance : International Standards and the WTO TBT Agreement (2), by Erik Wijkstrom and Devin Mcdaniel, and Harmonization of International Standards(3), by John Surak, focus on the purposes of international standards.
According to Schroder, international standards are not created by the WTO but by recognized international organizations (such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)), which implement rules, recommendations adopted to facilitate trade relations among member nations of the WTO. The WTO members recognize an international organization as such, if this latter has acquired a fully accepted reputation. Wijkstrom and McDaniels also add that member nations have to use theses standards as a basis for setting their own regulation, which gives them a lot of leeway. They thus specify as Schroder that countries may not apply these standards. Indeed, due to the diversity of all member nations, it can sometimes happen that an international standard is not considered sufficiently relevant or appropriate for a country due to different reasons, such as technological or geographical problems.
Furthermore, joining Schroder in his