How is the vision of “one globally applied standard and one globally applied test” reflected in the Strategy?
The U.S. Standards Strategy is based upon an underlying concept of market-driven and market-relevant standards. For these reasons, the Strategy neither encourages nor discourages the concept of one globally accepted standard or test. This stance was taken because there is a great variance between the needs and circumstances of various market sectors. For many products, processes, and services, the marketplace will demand one globally accepted standard. In other areas, long-standing national infrastructures (such as electrical) may make it economically or technically infeasible for one globally accepted standard. While in other sectors, the best approach may be to develop competing standards and let the marketplace decide on implementation.