Is the ISO/IEC OOXML Standard an International Standard under the TBT Agreement?

Andrea Barrios Villarreal
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Andrea Barrios Villarreal: Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development, Geneva, Switzerland

International Journal of Standardization Research (IJSR), 2016, vol. 14, issue 1, 20-33

Abstract: The Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement requires that national regulations and standards are based on international standards; however, it fails to define the terms international standard and international standardizing body (ISB). As of today, the panels and the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have put more emphasis on the requirement that a standard is adopted by an ISB than the process through which it is adopted to be considered as ‘international' for the TBT Agreement. This article shows, using the standardization process of the OOXML in the ISO/IEC JTC1 as an example, that an ISB may adopt standards that are not necessarily international for the Agreement purposes. Hence, the importance that in future disputes the panels and the Appellate Body follow the path opened in the US-Tuna II case in which the Appellate Body stated that there may be additional procedural conditions that must be met for a standard to be considered international for the TBT Agreement.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:igg:jsr000:v:14:y:2016:i:1:p:20-33

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