International Standardization and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade

"Technical regulations and standards have existed since antiquity. They are the invisible gears that shape the world we live in. "They shape not only the physical world around us, but our social lives and even our very selves". All the products that are traded and available at stores comply with technical regulations and standards. Among other things, they enhance food safety and product compatibility, while providing consumers with important information and establishing a common trade language. Technical regulations and standards are instruments for governments to implement economic, social and health policies and to foster development. For example, they are used to diminish information asymmetry between producers and consumers, and as part of public health policy goals, like providing consumers with information on the nutritional value of processed food through labeling and frontal labeling standards"--