The Legitimacy of Standardisation as a Regulatory Technique : A Cross-disciplinary and Multi-level Analysis

This timely book examines the field of European and global standardisation, showing how standards give rise to a multitude of different legal questions. Each chapter offers in-depth analysis of a number of key policy areas such as food safety, accounting, telecommunications and medical devices. These multi-disciplinary contributions go beyond the field of law, and provide cross-disciplinary comparisons. Demonstrating how standards enter the European legal system in a variety of ways, the book studies their relevance for public and private law alike. While the trade advantages of using standards in regulation are undeniable, the contributors elucidate how standard-setting processes have departed from the purely private realm to enter the stage of public regulation. This inevitably raises the issue of whether standardisation is supported by sufficient legitimacy guarantees. The contributions provide valuable insights to answering this question, highlighting cross-cutting reflections on the topic, and case studies on specific policy areas. This analytical book will be of interest to students and scholars researching in the fields of EU and global standardisation, EU law and trade law. It will also be a useful resource for practitioners focusing on regulation and standardisation.