PRIVATE STANDARDIZATION IN PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAWMAKING

Less numerous but highly visible are ISO's management systems standards for quality assurance systems (9000 Series) and environmental management systems (14000 Series); third-party certification is among the mechanisms used for assessing conformity with two of the major standards in these series, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.5 Both the 9000 and 14000 series apply to all organizations, not just specific industries, although a number of applications to specific sectors have recently evolved.6 In other situations, where the subject to be addressed is deemed insufficiently mature or too controversial to be developed into an ISO international standard, ISO typically opts instead to develop reports and other products that, unlike international standards, are not exclusive and compete by offering different technical solutions. 7 ISO 26000 is similar to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in that it is intended for use by any organization. A further Protocol of Good Practice, for example, could be developed to guide standardization bodies to accept international public norms in their approach to standardization in fields relating to public policy. 283 To cover the full breadth of ISO activities, such a Protocol would necessarily extend beyond the scope of the existing TBT framework, which focuses only on product characteristics or their related PPMs, but not services. 284 In a softlaw approach, a model law or interpretative guidelines on the role of private standardization in public policy areas could be developed for use by states and their standards bodies, and by ISO and other private standardization organizations, as well as by the United Nations and other public organizations.