Two goats for a bushel of grain: a question of global relevance

2003-10-14

The buying and selling of goods has come a long way from the days when two goats could be traded for a bushel of grain.  Or has it?

For centuries, raw materials have been extracted from the depths of the earth and refined.  The elements combined and multiple products manufactured.  Each of these products, in turn, distributed through established channels linking many suppliers.  The products bought by consumers from numerous retailers or combined to form part of other products.

At each point in this intricate chain of supply and demand there is both a specific set of standards and a corresponding set of tests.

In fact, the very basis of the links between manufacturers, distributors, retailers and consumers is the ability to demonstrate that a product or service measures up-that it has specific attributes and qualities and meets certain criteria.

So perhaps things haven't changed that much at all.  The parties involved must agree upon the value of each product or service.  The goat herder and the grain farmer must reach consensus on the value of their respective "goods" before they can trade.

Although between nations, there are many other variables to consider, it is much the same principle.  Acceptance of the standards and tests used in one place is a means to their being sold in another.

So what does all this have to do with the modern business of selling TVs, medical equipment and countless other products in markets around the globe?

Modern Marketplace

In today's marketplace, with the disappearance of traditional trade barriers (like tariffs), goods and services flow more readily across national and continental borders bringing international standards and the assessment of their conformity to the forefront of trade discussions. Manufacturers and service providers who can show that their product or service has been assessed and found to meet a standard that is recognized and applied around the world have a definite advantage over their competition. These tests or assessments of conformity are also an important indicator for governments, regulators, consumers and health and safety officials. Not only do the assessments build confidence and open doors to markets around the world, they also verify that the applicable safety, health, performance and other requirements have been met.

The World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) has reinforced this message by making standardization and conformity assessment a vital part of the global trade agenda. All signatory governments-more than 140 to date-are encouraged to participate in international standardization and, to use international standards as the basis for national/domestic activities.

The Challenge

The current challenge is ensuring that standards designed for use by any one country or region, are truly relevant around the world, and developing a genuinely global system for assessing conformance to those standards.

How is this challenge being met?  Across the international standardization community, work is underway to refine the principles and practices used to ensure that standards and conformity assessment are globally relevant.

Charles Cipolla, President, Rockwell Automation Canada Inc., and past Chair, Electro-Federation of Canada Inc., recognizes the goal of international standardization in terms of opening doors to markets around the world. He says Rockwell Automation Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation, which makes products such as industrial controls and programmable logic controllers, is working to have some of its newer products certified to International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards.

Harmonization

Developing international standards that address the needs of most countries is an important piece of the global relevance puzzle. The goal of international standardization is removing barriers to trade by encouraging the harmonization of national standards through the adoption of global standards. In order to prevent standards from becoming technical barriers to trade they must be free of national or regional bias.

The IEC has taken an important step towards realizing this goal through its new initiative to ensure that well-specified differences in essential national and regional requirements are included in its standards. The policy, detailed in the document entitled Implementation of Essential Differences in Requirements in IEC Standards, is designed to facilitate the development of truly global IEC standards that reflect the needs of all the world's major markets, as well as the WTO requirement for "equal treatment" of all countries and regions.

Tony Flood, President, Canadian National Committee of the IEC, and Chairman, IEC Global Relevance Task Force (GRTF), says this change is significant:  "Put into practice in the marketplace, this policy is expected to contribute to an increase in the implementation of IEC standards, a decrease in modifications at the national level and the increased potential for global product designs."

The policy was created after the GRTF found that only 50 per cent of 40 IEC standards surveyed were adopted without significant deviations. Countries which had a different technical infrastructure or climate than those addressed in an IEC standard often refused to adopt it as their national standard or implemented a modified version.

Mr. Flood points out that, writing differences into the main body of a standard means they can be seen and understood by all parties, including manufacturers, who are often able to incorporate differing requirements for various markets into the one product at the design stage.

The issue of global relevance is likewise on the table for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO has stated its intent to clarify the principles followed in the ISO system and, has raised the issue of global relevance in its ISO Horizon 2010 consultative document, as it surveys its members and other stakeholders to gather their ideas for its 2005-2010 strategic plan.

The ISO Technical Management Board (TMB) has decided that, before an ISO project is started, all interested parties should commit to achieving a single solution, or, at a minimum, a single set of performance criteria, with the option to define different deemed-to-comply solutions.

Regional and international schemes and agreements

Another key component of global relevance is the ability for countries to recognize each other's inspections, testing, certification or accreditation. The framework for this emerging global accreditation regime is provided by regional and international conformity assessment schemes and related formal agreements. These schemes and agreements help lower or eliminate duplicate costs and reduce delays in the delivery of products to market.

Key milestones in establishing a global framework include, the:

• use and acceptance of international documents such as ISO/IEC Guide 68 Arrangements for the acceptance of conformity assessment results;
• sharing of national best practices  related to conformity assessment;
• participation in international and regional systems of accreditation-the process of verifying an organization's competence to perform a particular conformity assessment function;
• signing of Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) and Multilateral Arrangements (MLAs) with organizations like the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and the International Accreditation Forum (IAF); and the
• expansion of the IAF and Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) MLAs to include environmental management systems and product certification.

Major standards developers are also contributing to another aspect of making standards truly international by signing recognition agreements. The dual-logo agreement between the IEC and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for example, is designed to minimize duplication and reduce unnecessary expenditures. Under the agreement, the IEC evaluates new IEEE electronics, telecommunications, power generation and other electrotechnical standards for international status. Selected standards are published as IEC/IEEE Dual Logo International Standards and are made available for adoption by IEC member countries

Hans Konow, CEO, Canadian Electricity Association (CEA), is encouraged by the IEC/IEEE dual-logo agreement and new IEC policy. "I think a great deal of progress has been made to break down historic barriers." He says CEA supports the "world standards first" philosophy, but stresses that standardization needs to take the fundamental differences between the North American and European electrical systems into account.

Developing nations

Among the most important aspects of the standards business is "inclusiveness" or the practice of involving representatives from all affected stakeholder groups (industry, consumers, testing labs and regulators). If conformity assessment and standards are to be relevant around the globe, all nations must be involved. At the international level, one group of players-developing nations-is receiving particular attention through efforts such as:

• the ISO Council Task Force on Developing Countries' (DCTF) Programme of Action to increase these countries' participation in international standardization; and
• expansion of the IEC Certification Body (CB) Scheme to non-IEC members. This is expected to benefit manufacturers in developing countries, where there are few IEC members. The CB Scheme promotes acceptance of test certificates based on specific IEC standards without the need for more testing and evaluation.

For the goat herder and the grain farmer, the village market has become a much different place-at once larger and smaller. And while the principle of a single accreditation, accepted worldwide is still down the road, the need for globally relevant conformity assessment and international standards is here to stay. Standards and tests are the tools that make it possible to market TVs, medical equipment and many other products and services, half a world away. Globally relevant standards and tests are the tools that will open new doors throughout the global village.  

-30-

This article first appeared in Volume 30 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2003.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

Back