Standards And Apec

Product standards and technical regulations are critical to industrial performance and global trade and represent an important new area for international debate. The elimination of overlapping and conflicting regulations could significantly reduce costs for business and consumers alike, and international efforts to harmonize national regulatory systems could prove to be one of the most important parts of multilateral and regional trade talks into the 21st century.

This book is the first in a major new series examining Global Economic Institutions and contrasts regional economic integration in the Asia Pacific Region and in Europe. In the Asia Pacific Region, regionalism is developing by means of "open regionalism", which is different from the regionalism which has developed in Europe, through the construction of a single European Market and Monetary Union within the European Union. In the light of this contrast, a number of important contemporary policy questions are considered.