Do Private Standards encourage or hinder trade and innovation?

Abstract

Humankind shares a common interest in the safety of the products it uses and consumes and an increasing interest in the way the product has been produced. In a globalized world, private standards play a role in ensuring the safety and sustainability of products and production methods. The co-management of the public good ‘food safety’ by the public and the private sector is not new from a historical point of view. The industrial revolution in the 19th century was characterized by the emergence of new industries that made use of scienc Show more