Sharing standards: standardizing the European information society

Roy Rada , Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore , and John Ketchell, CEN/ISSS, Brussels, Belgium

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2000)

Rada and Ketchell briefly discuss the European Union's Information Society Standardization System (ISSS) and a standardization document called a workshop agreement. This article will be helpful to anyone contemplating information and communication technology linkage between distinct political or economic units. ISSS was created in 1998 to counter the rise of some 140 consortia, whose history is discussed. ISSS will use the Web to communicate standards to consumers. The development of technical standards is achieved by a process involving workshops, technical committees (TCs), and, ultimately, a European Board for EDIFACT Standards. The topics of three TCs are listed as examples, and the contents of three workshops are discussed. The authors suggest that Europe recognizing the new standards as legally binding in trade agreements would be a helpful step toward acceptance, but they acknowledge that this could reduce global cooperation.