Towards non-state actors as effective, legitimate, and accountable standard setters

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511635519.019

18 - Towards non-state actors as effective, legitimate, and accountable standard setters

from PART III - The authority and effectiveness of actors and standards

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010

Till Förster and

Edited by

Till Förster and

Gretta Fenner Zinkernagel

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Anne Peters: Affiliation:
Universität Basel, Switzerland
Lucy Koechlin: Affiliation:
Universität Basel, Switzerland
Till Förster: Affiliation:
Universität Basel, Switzerland
Gretta Fenner Zinkernagel: Affiliation:
Universität Basel, Switzerland

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Summary

The three parts of this book have dealt with our lead questions on non-state standard setting: How can the relevant actors and processes be described and mapped? By what authority do they set standards? And are the processes and their outcome, the standards, effective and legitimate?

The chapters comprised in this volume explore different facets of standard setting, some looking at these questions from a more theoretical perspective, some discussing concrete case studies in various fields. Given the diversity of actors and the diversity of standard-setting processes, no single set of necessary and sufficient conditions for guaranteeing the legitimacy, accountability, and effectiveness of non-state standard setting could be identified. However, the importance of inclusiveness, transparency, and procedural safeguards has emerged as a common theme. Moreover, all chapters taken together have made it abundantly clear that the phenomenon of non-state standard setting forces us to question four boundaries which are used in legal, sociological, and political analysis: the boundaries between law and non-law, between the public sphere and the private sphere, between public law and private law, and between international, national, and local law.

Actors and processes

The role of NGOs in standard setting

The case studies in this book have illustrated how NGOs participate in global standard setting. In a legal perspective, we can distinguish various types of standards and corresponding different types of NGO involvement.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Non-State Actors as Standard Setters , pp. 492 - 562

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511635519.019 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

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