Introduction Standards are the generally agreed ways of doing something which can be repeated over and over again. They are set as rules for guidance on how to produce an item or how a certain activity is to be conducted. Standards help to make life easier and always increase the effectiveness and the reliability of goods and services produced. Both national and international trade are governed by standards covering environment, labor, products and other commodities; they are applied so as to mitigate against such risks associated with the environment as the health of the population, prevention of deceptive and unethical practices and finally to reduce the transactional costs in business. The standards always provide a common reference points for quality, authenticity, safety and sustainability. Standards will always be used as a strategic to enhance competitiveness of organizations and countries. Lack of standards can be a major impediment for trade putting other traders at a very disadvantaged position; harmonized standards promote a fair competition in the market (Australian Business Awards 2011). Standards facilitate trade through quality and reliability of the products. Human beings engage in trade or the exchange of goods and services and deal with incorrect measures and misrepresentation throughout the history though systems are developed to enforce honesty. The earliest standards in the past were basically to enforce honesty between people. Importance of standards to international trade Over the years, there has been a major development in trade, especially on the international level, that is why there has been a rising need by the manufacturers to develop a single worldwide accepted standards and conformity tests. The health, environment concerns and the safety standards differ among the countries, and therefore governments have accommodated all this when developing global standards. Our societies relies heavily on standards, and all the products and services we consume every day have been subjected to some form of standards. International standardization has grown tremendously and helped in eliminating of ambiguity in business transactions. Standardization has helped in major progress towards trade liberalization across the globe by providing a common reference that is recognized in different countries. Standards have also enhanced the quality of products and their reliability by providing confidence in the products and services. For instance, we have the mandatory, obligatory, preferential and even business of marketing standards. ISO the International Organization for Standardization is a voluntary standard setting body which membership is recognized by the authorities in their countries (International Organization for Standardization n. d.). It began in 1942 and has undergone many changes; currently, it offers different standard certification all over the world. Importance of standards to Health, Safety and consumer rights The Australians Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is an independent government statutory body in charge of ensuring national consumer protections law. These laws concern unsafe products and unfair trade and therefore guarantee on quality goods and services for the consumers. This commission ensures consumer’s safety and health across countries. This is the way of ensuring t