Civil society organisations participating in ISO TC 228 and ISO TC 229: the INTERNORM project and its future

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_FC5F31645DE6
Type
Inproceedings: an article in a conference proceedings.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Civil society organisations participating in ISO TC 228 and ISO TC 229: the INTERNORM project and its future
Title of the conference
EURAS Proceedings 2013
Author(s)
Hauert Christophe, Audétat Marc, Bütschi-Häberlin Danielle, Graz Jean-Christophe, Kaufmann Alain
Publisher
Verlag Mainz, Aachen
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2013
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Editor
Jakobs Kai, de Vries Henk J., Ganesh Ashok, Gulacsi Andrea, Soetert Ingrid
Pages
171-186
Language
english
Abstract
This paper presents the first results of the INTERNORM pilot project funded by the University of Lausanne (2010 - 2014) to support the involvement of civil society organisations (CSO) in two ISO technical committees (TC), the ISO TC 228 on "tourism and related services" and the ISO TC 229 on "nanotechnologies". It analyses how a distinct participatory mechanism can influence the institutional environment of technical diplomacy in which standards are shaped. The project is an attempt to respond to the democratic deficit attested in the field of international standardisation, formally open to civil society participation, but still largely dominated by expert knowledge and market players. Many international standards have direct implications on society as a whole, but CSOs (consumers and environmental associations, trade unions) are largely under-represented in negotiation arenas. The paper draws upon international relations literature on new institutional forms in global governance and studies of participation in science and technology to address three questions: to which extent do CSOs identify participation in standardisation as worth of their mobilisation? How is the pluralisation of knowledge and expertise supporting CSO position during the deliberation? To which extent can CSO access and influence standardisation beyond their consultative role? It argues that there are significant limitations to the rise of civil society participation in such global governance mechanisms. Despite high entry costs into technical diplomacy, participation is not so much a matter of upstream engagement, or of procedure and resources only, than of opportunistic CSOs mobilization, of distinct thematic incentives and concrete outcomes to be expected in standardisation arenas or in the broader
use of international standards.
Create date
07/08/2013 15:37
Last modification date
20/08/2019 16:27
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