The development of standards is of public interest. The importance of the relation between standardization and political power cannot be underestimated.

The European Council highlighted this in the conclusion on standardization in 2002: "the Council reiterates the need for public authorities to acknowledge the strategic importance of standardization, in particular by maintaining a stable and transparent legal, political and financial framework, in which standardization can further evolve, and for national standards bodies to continue to support the functioning of the European standardization infrastructure and the attainment of common European objectives;"

Unfortunately, it is still rather unspecified in which circumstances the deployment of standards can be left on goodwill of stakeholders, and wnich circumstances it becomes necessary to mandate standards. There are countries where the mandatory status of specifications is embodied in law, either as a generic principle, or within a precise domain.

Whatever initiative is at the origin of standards - if they are to become part of officially acknowledged regulations, they need to be endorsed by some official body. They are granted the status of de jure standards through this process.

Several suppliers may take a joint initiative to create common specifications, in order to permit the interchange, or the inter-operation, of their products, and foster the development of the market. This results in informal standards. However such specifications may subsequently be challenged by another group of suppliers, so increasing confusion, and impeding inter-operation by splitting the market into two or more groups of suppliers, with their own customers imprisoned in proprietary non-interoperable products. There is a definite lack of guidance on where and how to use standards.