2. International organization

The need to have common references for products (and possibly services) involved in international trade relations has given a particular impetus to global standardization.

Two essential criteria seem to guide the standardization process:

• on the one hand, the search for relative harmonization of production, leading to a degree of product interchangeability; this approach, which tends to reduce variety, is typically standardizing and often voluntary;

• on the other hand, the desire to harmonize rules affecting sensitive areas (personal and product safety) and, increasingly, the environment; in this context, we are witnessing an interpenetration of the regulatory and voluntary spheres.

Alongside a number of sector-specific initiatives (telecommunications...