ETSI’s legitimacy is guaranteed by its openness and endorsement of its standards by the market

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A European Commission policy on the strategic role standards play has led to discussions over the European Telecommunications Standards Institute’s (ETSI’s) governance arrangements and sparked interest in academic circles on what defines the legitimacy of a recognised standards making organisation. This paper sets out how the founders of ETSI took seriously its legitimacy by making “openness” its defining feature and ETSI being responsive to the market. Only the market can be the arbiter of the legitimacy of claims made by standards bodies that they are responsive to the market.