Archives of Previous News and Alerts posts
| Insight Volume 11 Num 2 July 2009 |
| Insight Volume 11 Num 1 February 2009 |
| Insight Volume 10 Num 3 October 2008 |
| GTW Associates contributed Whither European or International Services Standards? in a Talkstandards event Standardising the Single Market May 31 While the focus was on “Services standards” GTW posited the strategic policy question: “ why with respect to services standards have you stopped at the confines of what constitutes Europe these days? Is this not a strategic blunder? Should not the objective be a global market? GTW highlighted the issues presented by different EU and US proposals defining specific elements in any draft text relating to international standards in the Negotiating Group on Non-Agricultural Market Access (NGMA) of the WTO |
| Prof. Tim
Büthe (Duke University, USA) and Prof. Walter Mattli (Oxford
University, UK). have written a helpful treatise The
New Global Rulers: The Privatization of Regulation in the
World Economy on the role that technical and often
non-governmental rules play in the governance of global
product and financial markets. |
| ANSI convened a provocative meeting May 12 Standards Wars: Myth or Reality? The event uncovered instances where conflict and duplication in standards development have been intentional in response to stakeholder needs, and unintentional due to lack of awareness of existing standardization efforts The meeting addressed how the forces of competition, convergence, and coordination impact standards development. |
| ANSI
revised and published in February new
Guidelines for Implementation of
the ANSI Patent Policy
The new text addresses the cases where:
Occasionally ASDs have encountered situations where a potentially essential patent claim(s) becomes known or identified to the ASD but the ASD does not receive a Letter of Assurance ("LoA"). This situation may arise for various reasons and appropriate responses will vary depending on the circumstances. The following is an illustrative list of possible actions based on actions ASDs have taken in the past. Note that this is not an exhaustive list and the items listed may not be appropriate in particular circumstances. Possible actions before an American National Standard (ANS) issued and while the document is under development: ASD stops the ANS approval process ( i.e., no ANS issued)ASD publishes the document but not as an ANS ASD substitutes alternative technology for the suspected technology ( i.e., a work around) |
| European
Commission Announced Measures to Modernize European
Standardization. The European Commission
proposed June 1 a series of legislative and
non-legislative measures intended to accelerate expand, and
modernize European standardization activities. |
| GTW Associates will participate June 7 in the Talkstandards event A New Strategy for European Intellectual Property Rights to focus on the European intellectual property rights strategy released on the 24th of May 2011. |
| Defense, VA chose e-health record graphical user interface The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have selected a key component of the their joint electronic health record -- the graphical user interface, which clinicians will use to access records and radiological imagery. |
| NIST prepared a Summary of the responses to the December 8 RFI on Federal Agency Participation in Standardization Activities in Select Technology Areas and related Observations based on these responses. GTW Associates Excerpted parts of the summary addressing patents and copyright. GTW The summary and observations are intended to facilitate both internal (government) and external (public) discussion and interactions on issues related to federal government engagement in standardization activities in national priority areas. GTW found 24 of the the 93 public comments (including GTW) on the Effectiveness of Federal Agency Participation in Standardization addressed the matter of Intellectual property rights in standards setting. Fully one third of the 24 respondents noted there was no need for fundamental change to existing approaches of handling IP issues in standards setting |
| In March 2011 USTR
published
the 2011
National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) the twenty-sixth in an annual series that surveys
significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports. The report describes
barriers to trade in 60 nations, the European Union, and the Arab
League. The report contains descriptions of the IP landscape
in each of the countries covered, and often notes “concerns”
about perceived weakness in enforcement. The introduction
describes the report as a statutorily required “inventory of the
most important foreign barriers affecting U.S. exports of goods and
services, foreign direct investment by U.S. persons, and protection
of intellectual property rights. There
are 24 references to standards in the report.
The report refers to The
United States Trade Representative's two
important earlier compilations of non tariff barriers to trade
facing US Exporters |
| United States does not share the views advanced in submissions by some others in the Negotiating Group on Non-Agricultural Market Access (NGMA) at WTO that would identify particular organizations as sources for relevant international standard within the meaning of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade . Chairman Luzius Wasescha reports April 21 on the state of play of the NAMA negotiations that Brainstorming and small group consultations need to be pursued to reach agreement in this area |
| The
UN/CEFACT convened a Global Meeting of Experts (GME) on Trade
Facilitation Recommendations and Electronic Business Standards
in McLean
, |
| The ANSI Committee on Education and the
APEC Subcommittee on Standards and
Conformance’s Project Advisory Group on Education |
| GTW Associates submitted recommendations and substantive comments in March 7, 2011 Standardization feedback to the Sub-Committee on Standards Docket No. 0909100442–0563–02 Effectiveness of Federal Agency Participation in Standardization |
| 24 of the the 93 public comments (including GTW) on the Effectiveness of Federal Agency Participation in Standardization addressed the matter of Intellectual property rights in standards setting. Fully one third of the 24 respondents noted there was no need for fundamental change to existing approaches of handling IP issues in standards setting |
| GTW Associates submitted
recommendations
and substantive comments in April 1 ,
2011 comments on the Strategy
for American Innovation
Securing our Economic Growth |
| NIST Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES), in collaboration with the NIST National Center for Standards and Certification Information has launched an Internet pilot project to allow "first responders" free access to approximately 300 standards. |
| NIST has developed a framework to evaluate and implement sustainability standards most appropriate for industry operations and interests. NIST will present this framework May 4 at the 18th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering in Braunschweig, Germany |
| On March 7, 2011, NIST Director Dr. Patrick Gallagher testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies An Overview of the FY 2012 Budget for NIST |
|
Phoenix Center Policy Bulletin No. 28, Regulatory Expenditures, Economic Growth and Jobs: An Empirical Study presents data claiming that reducing the size of the federal regulatory budget by even modest amounts will have significant positive effects on GDP and private sector growth |
On February 8 2011 the European Commission published a question-and-answer document to explain the issues surrounding the common mobile phone charger for which a new EU standard was introduced last December Reshad Forbes at Van Bael & Bellis has prepared helpful background |
|
| The very best April Fools joke I have ever seen in the standards world was played on the IETF mailing list by J. C. Jones. See Alternative To IPv6 |
| (NIST) Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES), in collaboration with the NIST National Center for Standards and Certification Information has launched an Internet pilot project to allow "first responders" free access to approximately 300 standards. The cooperating standards organizations are ASTM International, IEEE and the NFPA. OLES will analyze information on the agencies that use the documents in order to better understand how first responders use the documents. |
| NIST has developed a framework to evaluate and implement sustainability standards most appropriate for industry operations and interests. NIST will present this framework May 4 at the 18th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering in Braunschweig, Germany |
| On March 7, 2011, NIST Director Dr. Patrick Gallagher testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies An Overview of the FY 2012 Budget for NIST |
| GTW recently updated the GTW database of FTC advisory opinions related to standards and conformity assessment to include Proposal of Rx-360 -- A Not-For-Profit International Consortium Created By Members of the Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industries -- To Implement Two Audit Programs Which Would Respectively (1) Permit Rx-360 Members To Share Certain Existing Supplier Quality and Safety Audits, and (2) Permit Rx-360 Members, Going Forward, To Conduct Joint Quality Audits of Pharmaceutical Suppliers and An open and voluntary initiative by the coffee growers, roasters, trade and industry, trade unions, NGOs, and other stakeholders ... and the Common Code for the Coffee Community to establish a sustainability system with a global code of conduct .. |
| GTW Associates president Willingmyre participated in Talkstandards February 23 event EU Standardization – From Formalism to Pragmatism? The discussion addressed two important Communications from the European Commission related to e-Government and standardization: 1- Towards Interoperability for European Public Services, 2- Guidelines for the assessment of horizontal cooperation agreements. |
| The work above flows naturally from direction to NIST from the COMPETES Act, which supports an array of strategies for maintaining America’s leadership in science and technology. Among the Act’s important provisions is one encouraging the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to expand upon its work with the private sector to develop new standards for a range of vital industries such as emergency communications and tracking, green manufacturing, high performance green building construction, and cloud computing |
| The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued two new draft documents on cloud computing for public comment, including the first set of guidelines for managing security and privacy issues in cloud computing. The agency also has set up a new NIST Cloud Computing Collaboration site on the Web to enable two-way communication among the cloud community and NIST cloud research working groups |
| ANSI recently issued Why Voluntary Consensus Standards Incorporated by Reference into Federal Government Regulations Are Copyright Protected, According to ANSI the document is intended to educate U.S. standards developers, government officials, and other stakeholders about the importance of copyright in standards. It affirms that every standard is a work of authorship and is copyright protected under U.S. and international law, giving the owner certain rights of control and remuneration. See also GTW URLs In the Supreme Court of the United States Southern Building Code Congress International, Inc, Petitione v. Peter Veeck, D/B/A Regional Web and and Regulatory Adoption by Reference of standards |
| ANSI released the third edition of the United States Standards Strategy February 3 indicating its Support for U.S. Competitiveness and International Trade "The Strategy articulates the principles and tactics that guide how the United States develops standards and participates in the international standards-setting process" |
Department
of Homeland Security Announces Final Standards for Private
Sector Emergency Preparedness
Tuesday,
October 12, 2010, 8:00:00 PM Janet Napolitano, Secretary of
Department of Homeland Security announced the adoption of final
standards of the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness
Accreditation and Certification Program (PS-Prep) |
|
OECD
to revise 2000 Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
... Roles of National Contact Points under Review
The
2010 Revision will
include recommendations by governments covering all major areas
of business ethics, including corporate steps to obey the law,
observe internationally-recognised standards and respond to
other societal expectations. GTW
advises parties
interested in the
substance of the proposed revisions
to consult with their relevant trade associations or
processes for representing national interests in the work
of the OECD Consumer Policy and Investment Committees. |
|
What
is an International Standardizing Body?
Fundamentally, whether a standard is relevant, effective and
appropriate in fulfilling a Member’s particular regulatory or
market need is not determined by which body developed it.
Further, greater harmonization results from increased worldwide
use of a standard, and that use is directly attributable to
relevance, effectiveness and appropriateness of the standard
itself in meeting a specific need.
Contribution by US to June 2010 NAMA meetings on NTBs
Following meetings during
the week of November 4 through 6 2009 on
Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) in the Doha Trade
round. Non Tariff Barriers to Trade are a significant
topic within the negotiations. |
|
GTW
Associates Willingmyre presented "Global
Standards for Global Trade: Fact versus Fiction" to
the International Trade Commission October 6.
[abstract] |
|
IPR
in Standards:
GTW Associates President Willingmyre participated in the General
Assembly of IFAN and the October 5 meeting of IFAN
WG17 on IP and Standards preparing a survey of IFAN
members experience in this regard. Two
US studies of IP policies in standards are about to begin. One commissioned by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology will focus on ex
ante IP policies and experience. The US PTO requested
proposals Spring 2010 for a Comparative
Study on Intellectual Property Management |
|
A
Variety of Social Responsibility Standards compete in the
Global Marketplace
On
November 1 The American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) announced that ISO
26000, Guidance on social responsibility, is
available on the ANSI
webstore. This standard integrates international
expertise on social responsibility (SR), detailing what it
means, what issues organizations need to address to operate in a
socially responsible manner, and what the best practices are for
implementing SR effectively and efficiently. A
helpful private sector site with background on the work is
maintained by retired Siemens Corporation standards Executive
Guido Guertler UL
Environment, in partnership with Greener World Media, offered
for public review for 45 days (closed September 15) a
sustainability standard that will be used to assess corporate
policies and practices, known as the ULE
880 - Sustainability for Manufacturing Organizations Social
Accountability International (SAI)
is a non-governmental,
multi-stakeholder organization whose mission is to advance the
human rights of workers around the world. It partners to advance
the human rights of workers and to eliminate sweatshops by
promoting ethical working conditions, labor rights, corporate
social responsibility and social dialogue. SAI maintains
the standards Social Accountability 8000 (SA
8000) AccountAbility's
AA1000 series are another choice of accountability standards
based standards offered by "AccountAbility"
to help organisations become more accountable, responsible and
sustainable. They address issues affecting governance, business
models and organizational strategy, as well as providing
operational guidance on sustainability assurance and stakeholder
engagement. |
|
The
United States Trade Representative's office released this year
two important compilations of non tariff barriers to trade
facing US Exporters USTR
March 31 report 2010 REPORT ON TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE 2010
REPORT ON SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES March 2010 |
|
The WTO Secretariat completed a TRADE
POLICY REVIEW Report UNITED STATES
WT/TPR/S/235 25 August 2010
including a comprehensive description of development of
technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures in
the US.
|
|
Smart
Grid Standards
The National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST
advised the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it
has identified five "foundational" sets of standards
for Smart Grid interoperability and cyber security that are
ready for consideration by federal and state energy regulators.
In an October 6, 2010 letter to FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff,
NIST's national coordinator for Smart Grid interoperability,
George Arnold, said the standards "are essential to uniform
and interoperable communication systems throughout the grid and
will accommodate the evolution of the grid and the integration
of new technologies." In
an October
7 FR notice FERC seeks additional
public comments on the standards recommend by NIST and in
an October
29 FR notice announces a public meeting The
Smart
Grid Interoperability Panel met in a virtual
meeting October 29 Smart Grid Testing and
Certification Committee SGTCC presentation described
a document Interoperability Process Reference Manual
(IPRM) to be made available for review shortly.
This manual will describe a "Framework" including
the concept of an "Interoperability" Brand and support
for Interoperability Testing and Certification Authorities
(ITCAs) The ITCAs would be measured by criteria
defined in the (IPRM) by accreditors that might be NIST or
ANSI. The ITCAs would certify products submitted by
suppliers to be "Interoperable" |
|
The
National Science and Technology Council Technology Committee
established a Subcommittee on Standards (SoS) whose charter was
recently approved. The SoS committee is charged
with providing
high-level leadership to federal agencies to ensure they are
strategically focused and actively engaged on critical
standards-related issues. Gallagher provided insight to the preliminary
steps of the SoS committee in a presentation. |
|
WIPO SCP and Global Government Procurement Policy involving
standards policy to be addressed at the ANSI Intellectual Property Rights Policy Committee
meeting November 17, 2010. Mr. Willingmyre will
update the ANSI IPR PC on IPR-related standards
activities of the Internet Governance Forum (“IGF”) Forum
and the World Intellectual Property Organization
("WIPO") Standing Committee on the Law Patents meeting
held |
|
GTW
on Open Source Software and RAND Betwixt
and Between: Open source software and RAND standards development
patent policies GTW Associates at TalkStandards on
Line Forum August 26, 2010 |
|
|
The Federal Federal Emergency Management Agency announces October 16, 2009 its intent to select three standards for adoption in the Voluntary Private Sector Accreditation and Certification Preparedness Program (``PS-Prep'') According to a December 24, 2008 Federal register notice ANSI-ASQ ANAB will be the ``selected entity'' ... to develop and oversee the certification process, manage accreditation, and accredit qualified third parties to carry out certifications
George T. Willingmyre P.E. presented Update on the Dynamic Coalition on Open standards within the Internet Governance Forum and activities within the Yale Information Society Project at the October 5, 2009 meeting of the ANSI Intellectual Property Rights Policy Committee.
GTW President Willingmyre presented "Considerations for global business concerning treatment of Intellectual Property related to standard-setting" at a September 8 internal webinar for the patent attorneys of a Fortune 50 Global US Corporation "Advising Clients on Standards-Setting Organization Participation"
GTW
Associates President George Willingmyre is working with Ms
Masako Wakui,
Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Law Osaka
City University to plan and
facilitate meetings in Washington, DC November 12 - 22.
The intention is to share i national academy study
The 2009 edition of the WTO’s International Trade Statistics, a comprehensive overview of world trade up to 2008, was published in electronic format on 28 October 2009 This publication and its data is available: Charts and tables in Excel format; chapter highlights in pdf format ; statistics in a searchable database
Insight Volume 7 Num 1 February 2004
H. R. 1086 ‘‘Standards Development Organization Advancement Act of 2003 ’’ Introduced March 5, 2003 To encourage the development and promulgation of voluntary consensus standards by providing relief under the antitrust laws to standards development organizations with respect to conduct engaged in for the purpose of developing voluntary consensus standards, and for other purposes.
February 13 REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL EVALUATION OF THE APPLICATION OF DIRECTIVE 98/34/EC IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION SOCIETY SERVICES Over 20 years, Directive 98/34/EC has enabled over 7 000 draft national regulatory texts to be analysed. Member States notify at the draft stage, any national provisions containing technical regulations. The scope of the Directive has been gradually broadened to cover all industrial, agricultural and fishery products. Directive 98/48/EC extended the system to include Information Society services.
A trial court had concluded in litigation Rambus v. Infineon that Rambus, at the time a member of the Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC), had committed fraud by failing to disclose patent rights which it later asserted against adopters of a JEDEC memory standard. On January 29, 2003 A three-judge panel of United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the jury’s verdict against Rambus and the trial judge’s decision upholding the verdict. In a 2-1 decision, the majority of the panel rejected JEDEC’s patent disclosure rule as too “amorphous” and “unbounded.” On February 26, 2003 Infineon filed a petition for rehearing en banc, which is essentially a review of the circuit court's majority’s decision by all the judges of the court. A coalition of standards organizations filed an “amicus brief” March 5 supporting rehearing en banc
Finding that European Communities non use of an International standard was inconsistent with TBT Agreement December 24 European Communities and Peru informed the WTO Dispute Settlement Body that the deadline for the European Communities to implement the recommendations and rulings of the DSB in the dispute EC – Trade Description of Sardines (DS231), adopted on 23 October 2002 will expire on 23 April 2003 In light of our findings that Codex Stan 94 is a relevant international standard, that it was not used as a basis for the EC Regulation and that it is not ineffective or inappropriate to fulfil the legitimate objectives pursued by the EC Regulation, we find that the EC Regulation is inconsistent with Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement.
ISO TC 176 to begin work on international standards for Market Based Codes of Practice and Alternative Dispute Settlement Global Standards Challenges for the Services Business Sector
GTW Associates commented to USTR that Standards for trade in services have increasing implications for any business aspiring to compete in a global market for services in reply to the USTR request for information Concerning Market Access in the Doha Development Agenda Negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO)
On June 14, 2002 GTW Associates commented to FTC with respect to the FTC study of Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy and public hearing April 18 Standard-Setting Practices: Competition, Innovation and Consumer Welfare.
GTW Associates President Willingmyre presented Overcoming Trade Barriers: The OECD Project at the May 1-3, 2002 Conference "Protecting the Public Network in a Privatized Part 68 Environment: What the Telecom Industry Needs to Know" sponsored by the Advisory Council on Terminal Attachments. The presentation covered work of the OECD Trade Committee; UN/ECE WP6 and the Industry Cooperation on Standards and Conformity Assessment
FTC and DOJ convened a hearing April 18, 2002 in Washington Standard-Setting Practices: Competition, Innovation and Consumer Welfare to discuss the antitrust treatment of common practices used by organizations to set standards that incorporate intellectual property and the effects on innovation and product market competition. The April hearing was one in a series Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy. Public comments available
On July 11 Forgent Networks claims essential IPR in JPEG standard Offers license terms. July 19 JPEG committee thinks there is prior art...sets up web site to collect data July 22 ZDNET story Website created following the development
European standardisation: harnessing the power of the market to deliver on public policy aims The EU's market-led standardisation model is delivering the regulatory flexibility we need to keep pace with technological change, encourage innovative entrepreneurs, sustain the internal market's vitality, and duly protect the environment and consumer interests, says a new report on European standardisation, presented to EU internal market ministers by Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen on 27 September, 2001
GTW Associates President Willingmyre presented "Value of Management System Certification" at the 10th International Conference of Standards Users (IFAN) event "World Trade and Standardization" in Berlin September 27/28
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