Voluntary trade standards

ASTM American Society for Testing Materials is a globally recognized leader in the development and delivery of voluntary consensus standards. Currently, more than 12,000 ASTM standards are used worldwide to improve product quahty, enhance health and safety, strengthen market access and trade, and build consumer confidence. 

For distribution transformers, a voluntary standard assembled by the trade association NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) achieves substantial savings, particularly in standby energy, with a payback period typically of three years. The loss rate from the transformers is small, but the throughput of electricity accounts for a large fraction of total energy use in buildings, particularly when utility-owned transformers are considered. 

Members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysia included, have yet to formulate common rules for dmg regulation. Nonetheless, efforts have been made towards harmonization in terms of voluntary standards. Through the ASEAN Technical Cooperation Project in Pharmaceuticals, a number of reference substances and guidelines have been developed (17). Furthermore, agreements made for the ASEAN Free Trade Area have harmonized and reduced import tariffs on a number of goods, including pharmaceutical raw materials and finished products. 

Liu, P., Andersen, M. and Pazderka, C. (2004). Voluntary Standards and Certification for Environmentally and Socially Responsible Agricultural Production and Trade, FAO Commodities and Trade Technical Paper No 5, Commodities and Trade Division, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. 

Among governmental regulations, voluntary guidelines, or trade association codes of practice, there is no standard approach to classifying hazardous chemical reactivity. A variety of methods are used to address self-reactivity (e.g., decomposition reactions and some polymerization reactions) and chemical incompatibility. 

Because laboratory testing often applies to articles in international trade, international accreditation is often sought. There are many international accrediting agencies in existence. Two examples are the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (AALA). NIST administers what is called the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP). 

Although the safe design practices recommended by professional and trade associations have no legal standing where they have not actually been incorporated in a body of law, many of them have the respect and confidence of the engineering profession as a whole and have been accepted by insurance underwriters so they are widely observed. Even when they are only voluntary, standards constitute a digest of experience that represents a minimum requirement of good practice. 

As mentioned above, IEC Standards are adopted on a voluntary basis. Thus, compliance with IEC Standards does not guarantee free trading of explosion protected equipment worldwide. Today, mainly two blocks are attainable by compliance only with their own standards ... 

NBS is not a regulatory agency. It does not mandate or enforce standards, but it does provide the technical basis for the selection and application of standards by other agencies and by domestic and international voluntary standards organizations (10). NBS ensures that physical and chemical measurements within the United States can be traced to a consistent set of standards, reference methods, and reference materials that also are compatible with those used to regulate international trade. 

The US equivalent is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade association founded in 1958. PhRMA is a nonprofit scientific and professional organization of more than 100 pharmaceutical manufacturers. The Association promulgates voluntary standards ( Guiding Principles ) for producers, encourages product research and prepares and disseminates information on behalf of the industry. The Association also publishes consumer-orientated informational materials on drug utilisation. Voluntary standards proposed in 2005 include initiatives regarding direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines, use of an electronic system to track pharmaceuticals from the place of manufacture to the place where dispensed, and broader dissemination of clinical study data. 

ISO 14000 standards are voluntary. However, some countries may make ISO 14000 standards a regulatory requirement that can potentially lead to a trade barrier for foreign countries who cannot comply with the standards. 

ANSI). Founded in 1918. A federation of trade associations, technical societies, professional groups, and consumer organizations that constitutes the U.S. clearinghouse and coordinating body for voluntary standards activity on the national level. It eliminates duplication of standards activities and combines conflicting standards into single, nationally accepted standards. It is the U.S. member of the... 

The international standards produced by the ISO are not legally binding on any member nation. Their implementation is entirely voluntary, but in order for them to have any value at all it is important that this implementation be as wide and as full as possible. The only means that the ISO has to try to ensure this implementation are persuasion and encouragement. However, the national standards bodies have an important role to play here. In some countries it has been policy for many years to adopt, totally unaltered, as a national standard, any International Standard on which that country had submitted a positive vote. Unfortunately, this policy is not followed in many countries, with the result that differing national standards effectively contribute to barriers to international trade. It is obvious, therefore, that for International Standards to become more effective they need to be adopted nationally by more and more countries. 

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