‘관련’(relevant) 국제표준의 관련성에 대한 소고

Abstract

When international standards exist, WTO members need to make domestic technical regulations based on international standards for international harmonization. Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement is related with the issue of the definition of international standards and whether international standards exist or not. However, in the discussion of international standards, the discussion has been only focused on international standard itself and ‘relevant’ international standard has not received that much attention.
 The EC—Sardines was analyzed in light of the ordinary meaning of the term ‘relevant’ as to the relevance of ‘relevant’ international standards. The ordinary meaning of the term ‘relevant’ is ‘bearing upon or relating to the matter in hand; pertinent’, and in EC— Sardines it was recognized as a relevant international standard through interpretation in accordance with the ordinary meaning of the term.
 Using the analysis in EC—Sardines, the US—Tuna II (Mexico) panel held that the related definitions and certifications constituted a ‘relevant international standard’ under Article 2.4 of the TBT Agreement. However, US—Tuna II (Mexico) appellate body did not analyze the meaning of the term, as it did not fall under the international standard.
 In addition to the relevance of ‘relevant’ international standards, the expression ‘relevance’ also appears in the six principles of the ‘TBT Committee Decision on International Standards’. Although the same expression is used, the relevance in the ‘relevance principle’ that appears in the six principles can be seen as playing a role in preventing unnecessary international standards from being developed. The relevance of ‘relevant’ international standards can be said to play a role in harmonizing domestic technical regulations with the international standards thus developed.
 These two ‘relevance’ need to be distinguished from each other linguistically and historically as distinct concepts. The international standard of the TBT Agreement is a device to promote international harmony. However, the obligation to harmonize should not simply be based on international standards, but on ‘relevant’ international standards.