An example of this is the new requirement on child car seat manufacturers to put a pictogram and text label on rearward facing child restraints to warn of the hazard posed by front passenger airbags in the event of a crash. However, CI is only able to be involved in a handful of the thousands of standards developed each year. Even when consumers do have a say in policy making, they are always under-represented. This is especially true of consumers from developing and transitional economies, says Homer. She cites last year's ISO meeting on condom standards as an example.
Consumers worldwide are concerned about condom safety.
Since the AIDS epidemic, the reliability of condoms has become quite literally a life-saver, particularly in developing countries. But at the ISO meeting to revise the condom safety standard, only three of the 65 delegates represented consumers' views. International standards are becoming increasingly important. Because of new trade agreements and the establishment of the World Trade Organisation, governments are looking to international standards as a way of ironing out cross-border discrepancies in goods and services in order to reduce trade barriers. Standards that were previously voluntary are gaining quasi-legal status, as they are integrated into national and regional legislation and used as a means of settling global trade disputes.