Big Third-Party Certifiers and the Construction of Transnational Regulation

Jean-Pierre Galland

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2017, vol. 670, issue 1, 263-279

Abstract: International trade is increasingly regulated through standardization, certification, and accreditation. To ensure that consumers can trust that the products they buy meet regulators’ standards, third-party certifiers and accreditation bodies, which “certify the certifiers,†act as intermediaries enlisted to deliver conformity assessment certificates to producers. This article explores how a few third-party certifiers have exploited their position between multiple regulators and diverse targets to invest in a growing number of sectors, expand globally, and become preferred advisers to regulators. As regulators enlist them to standardize certification practices, big third-party certifiers (BTPCs) advise regulators to set system-based regulations that are better suited to their own organizations and networks of international subsidiaries.

Keywords: standards; third-party certifier; accreditation body; conformity assessment procedures; New Approach to standardization; regulatory governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:670:y:2017:i:1:p:263-279

DOI: 10.1177/0002716217694589

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