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Some international standards are promulgated by multinational treaty organisations
(e.g., the International Telecommunications Union (ITU); the United Nations Food and
Agriculture organisation (FAO)). Some international standards are promulgated by multinational
non-treaty organisations (e.g., the International organisation for Standardization
(ISO); the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)). Some international standards
are promulgated by organisations that originated as national industry associations,
professional societies, or standards developers, but over time evolved into a global
presence with multinational participation (e.g., ASTM International, SAE International,
and NFPA International). Annex 4 of the World Trade organisation (WTO) Committee on
Technical Barriers to Trade Report 2000 contains a good discussion of what constitutes
an international standard. In short, the WTO suggests that a standard may be considered
international if the processes and procedures used to develop it are transparent,
open, impartial, and provide meaningful opportunities for WTO members to contribute
to the development of the standard so that the standard does not favour any particular
suppliers, countries, or regions. Equally important, the standard must have a global
relevance and use.
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