International Standards

Abstract

The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, an agreement under the umbrella of the World Trade Organization, prescribes rules pertaining to technical regulations, standards and conformity assessment procedures. One of the important hallmarks of the agreement is the use of international standards developed by a variety of international bodies, the use of which leads to a presumption of compliance with WTO law. Recent decisions of dispute settlement organs have shed some light on the obligations that WTO members incur under the agreement and the circumstances in which WTO members may deviate from such standards. While these decisions have brought about some clarity, they also leave many questions unanswered, including the division of power between the international trade regime and WTO members.