The National Association of Manufacturers on April 14 joined other trade associations in a letter to Obama Administration officials opposing the latest proposal from the European Union on international standardization under the Non-Agricultural Market Access portion of the WTO negotiations, that is, provisions dealing with limits on trade of such items as manufactured goods. From the letter:

The EU’s newest NAMA proposal on international standards restricts choice and flexibility not only by naming their list of preferred standardizing bodies and suggesting that only standards developed by these bodies are relevant internationally within the context of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, but by essentially requiring countries to use standards from those bodies. While this proposal is consistent with traditional European standards strategy, it fails to recognize that thousands of international standards and test methods that emanate from other globally respected standardizing bodies that currently serve as the basis for effective technical regulations or conformity assessment procedures which facilitate trade and enhance protection of public health, safety and the environment across many WTO Members and observers. The proposal also ignores significant proposals in Europe, Japan and elsewhere to expand the range of legally acceptable standards, including those developed by fora and consortia. (continue reading…)