2. Relevance of standards

Questions are often asked about the usefulness and relevance of standards. The following two sections address these questions. The first presents the economic relevance of standardization in a mass market logic, with a concrete example in the field of telecommunications. The second deals with standardization in the context of system lifetime.

The WTO (World Trade Organization) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), for example, advocates the use of international standards. Indeed, international standards play an essential role in improving efficiency in industry and developing world trade. The number of standards organizations that have accepted the Code of Good Practice for the Preparation, Adoption and Application of Standards contained in Annex 3 to the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade underlines the importance and scope of this agreement...