The Trade Representative's Office has a branch which now specifically follows foreign standards development practices to see if they amount to unfair trade barriers against U.S. products. The U.S. is not the only country expressing concern. Among other problems, a number of companies have complained that some standards setting groups are inflexible and that it takes an extraordinary amount of time to get a new product or process approved. NIST is holding a meeting in Washington, D.C. in September to further explore the situation and learn what problems U.S. businesses are having on an international basis with what some believe are unfair standards. Congresswoman Morella has promised to look into the issue further and it is expected that Congress will get more involved.
Standards setting by private groups can be helpful to both consumers and industry.
Uniform standards can aid buyers readily identify those products and services that conform to objective standards of health and safety. Government agencies such as NIST, the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission will sometimes recognize a privately set standard. For instance, this has happened with the heavy metal lip and rim standard of the Society of Glass and Ceramic Decorators. Uniform standards can make it easy to compare products. In the U.S. and the European Union, antitrust problems can arise if a private standard is set or enforced with an intent to keep rivals out of a market.