Call to Action Addressing the Impact of Standards and Technical Regulations on Trade. U.S. Commerce Secretary Evans' Standards Initiative to Strengthn U.S. Competitiveness

摘要

In the last volume of The Standards Edge and at the Future of Standardization Conference a year ago in Boston, a clear and convincing case was made that while standards can facilitate cooperation among competitors in the hopes of creating larger markets and accelerating the market uptake of technologies, standards can also serve as a competitive weapon used to propel technology from a particular company or a country into the forefront, capture new markets, and leave the competition behind to play catch up. United States businesses are certainly well aware of this fact. Standards, however once esoteric and cryptic they may have been years ago, are now a driver in the development of corporate strategy and business models for American commerce and competitiveness in all overseas market sectors, especially information and communications technology (ICT).