What Are And Why Standards?: A Pragmatic And E-Commerce Perspective

Jake Knoppers, and David Clemis

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 3/5/2001)

The need for a standards-based approach is a key component of the implementation of the Canadian government's strategy for electronic commerce, i.e., "For electronic commerce to be globally adopted, common standards for both interoperability and language independent communication are required". {Summit Paper, p. 3.3}The focus of this contribution is to serve as a common base and understanding among diverse parties, their interests and perspectives of "What are Standards?".Significant confusion and misunderstandings currently exist as to what "standards"are. Added to this confusion is the debate on methods of implementation and enforcement of standards, i.e., via "regulation" versus "self-regulation".