Owing to innovations and a growing consumer demand for better and safer products, the number of technical standards has been steadily increasing in recent years. As standardization is a major catalyst to global commerce, The World Trade Organization (WTO), a typical consensus-driven...

Due to legislative and judicial developments, standard-setting has come to the forefront of public debates. Being for a long time considered as a 'no passing zone' for everyone but engineers and technical experts, standard-setting organizations (SSOs) have produced a rowing solid body of...

Standards reflect preferences and values of a given society which may – and usually do – diverge, thereby inflating compliance costs for companies. If developed internationally, then substantial gains can be made through the diminution of such costs and by addressing network externalities,...

The emergence of blockchain may transform the way we work, operate and interact. Through the use of distributed ledger technology, blockchain challenges the fundamental of any business model built around middlemen and centralization, while ensuring anonymity, market confidence and trust....

Transnational technical standard-setting has grown in prominence in recent years. The World Trade Organization (WTO) requires the use of international standards but adopts a deferential approach towards international standards. However, practice shows that several international standards are...

Can a WTO Member discriminate against foreign suppliers of services located in jurisdictions that refuse to share information with a government to permit it to determine if its nationals engage in tax evasion? Does it matter if the Member uses standards developed by an international body as the...