The global market for information technology (IT) products is undergoing radical alteration. Fundamental changes in information and telecommunications technologies have lowered production costs and driven rapidly accelerating market demand for new products. But individual national systems of conformity assessment currently in use regulate and restrict the entry of information technology into many national markets. A change to a global approach for conformity assessment is necessary, and this change should be implemented through a best-practices approach, benchmarking, and use of a global framework of principles. Such a framework of principles could be agreed upon by governments through current Information Technology Agreement (ITA) talks or by modification of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Implementation of those principles could be supported by industry through a best-practices analysis that would provide guidance concerning ways in which conformity requirements can be efficiently met and that would also serve as benchmarks for governments in assessing industry compliance.
