New Developments in the World of Standards

We inhabit a ‘world of standards.’ This is a world where almost every product that we buy, service that we perform or receive, and transactions we make rely upon some mode of standard or are themselves part of broader standardisation cycles. As a result, a large part of our daily lives is actually ‘governed through standards’.

This world of standards has lately been showing some prominent signs of change. For a long time, the focus of technical standardisation was on reconciling the values of free trade and social protection. Today, technical standards are informed by a much wider set of policy goals, such as promoting sustainability, innovation, or safeguarding human rights in the transition towards a digital and circular economy.

In addition, on 5 March 2024 the European Court of Justice issued a landmark judgment in C-588/21 P, Public.Resource.Org and Right to Know v Commission and Others on access rights to harmonized standards. The judgement calls the current European standardisation system into question, in particular payment for access to standards. The specific implications of the judgement are still unclear; however, the ruling has potentially far-reaching consequences for the standardisation system in the EU.

The conference organised by the Centre of Private Governance at Copenhagen Law School (CEPRI) aims to understand and appraise these new developments in the world of standards, taking digitization and sustainability as two prime examples. The conference explores a range of different research questions: What are the new trends and challenges in the making of standards? When do standards constitute law? Can standards work against the law? Who are liable for standards? Are standards in fact able to promote a new range of policy goals? How are standards communicated and perceived in society? With a number of selected speakers from varied scholarly and practical backgrounds, the conference seeks to explore these questions concerning the exciting new developments in the world of standards.