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Letters
An International Focus
I read Jim Thomas’ Plain Talk column in the October issue of Standardization News; it was very good. I have one major suggestion—the strategy should
be an international standards strategy. I have just finished commenting
on an ISO business plan which is written with the obvious assumption
that they are the sole authority for “international” standards.
This is just not so and I believe it is past time for U.S. interests
to bring this ISO opinion of itself into serious question. I do
not believe the WTO [World Trade Organization] language supports
this and I have brought this to the attention of the U.S. trade
representative, the ISAC-15 [Industry Sector Advisory Committee]
Textile Industry Advisory Committee, the ATMI [American Textile
Manufacturers Institute] Standards Coalition, and in a number
of papers we have generated relating to our own approach to standards
and the differences we have with ISO standards on cordage and
ropes.
Gale P. Foster
Technical Director,
Cordage Institute
I would like to comment on your recent editorial concerning international
standards. In Europe, the national standardizing bodies are supported
in whole or in part by the respective national governments. In
and of itself, this is not bad, however, other than in Europe,
most SDOs do not consider the political ramifications of standardization.
In Europe, this is not the case.
European countries suffer from chronic unemployment. For example,
current rates are: Germany, eight percent; England, eight percent;
France, 10 percent; Italy, 11 percent; Spain, 13 percent; and
Greece, 14 percent. Since the national governments pay the piper,
they can and do exert high pressure on the standards bodies to
vote for international standards that defend the economies of
European countries, regardless of their technical merit. In addition,
they call on many of their former colonies, who are members of
ISO and IEC, to vote along with them. The United States and its
few economic partners really don’t have a chance. I don’t know
the solution, but we should recognize that the U.S. is not playing
on a level field.
Albert L. Batik
Parker, Colo.
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