This is just not so and I believe it is past time for U.S. interests to bring this ISO opinion of itself into serious question. Gale P. Foster Technical Director, Cordage Institute I would like to comment on your recent editorial concerning international standards. In Europe, the national standardizing bodies are supported in whole or in part by the respective national governments. In and of itself, this is not bad, however, other than in Europe, most SDOs do not consider the political ramifications of standardization. In Europe, this is not the case.
European countries suffer from chronic unemployment.
Since the national governments pay the piper, they can and do exert high pressure on the standards bodies to vote for international standards that defend the economies of European countries, regardless of their technical merit. In addition, they call on many of their former colonies, who are members of ISO and IEC, to vote along with them. The United States and its few economic partners really don't have a chance. I don't know the solution, but we should recognize that the U.S. is not playing on a level field.