Voluntary product standards in globalized markets; an analysis of the US, EC and Swiss antitrust approaches towards private standardization in a WTO perspective

The current study describes the approaches followed by U.S., EU and Swiss antitrust authorities towards private standardization. Although the main focus is on competition law, WTO law is also presented, as it is argued that competition authorities are bound by the disciplines of the TBT agreement. After a summary of the current economic theory discussion on private standardization, the study presents the case law in details and argues that, given the increased reliance on economic principles for the interpretation of competition law and the strong similarities between the competition law concepts used to deal with private standardization issues, the loopholes in the case law shall be remedied in a similar and WTO-compliant manner. The study aims at providing practicians and academics with a basis for the discussion in this area.