The Changing Standards World: Government Did It, Even Though They Didn’t Mean To

Stephen Oksala

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

This article discusses significant changes to the standardization process during the 1990s, and governmental factors which contributed to these changes. Some of the changes examined include a noticeable increase in participation in standards-setting by individuals outside the fields of engineering and standards administration; new standards developing organizations that look very different than the old ones; an increase in the search for revenue to fund the standards process; and an increase in the use of international standards. The author suggests the primary factors contributing to these changes were the U.S Government's National Cooperative Research Act of 1984, the European Union's 'New Approach' to regulation, and the World Trade Organization's Technical barriers to Trade Agreement, and he examines each of these government actions in detail.