The European Telecommunications Standards Institute: A preliminary analysis

Abstract

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) was formed to accelerate standardization and promote greater harmonization among European telecommunications systems. This article describes ETSI's organization and structure and relates them to its expected behaviour and performance. Some characteristics, such as the use of a weighted majority voting rule, are likely to expedite the setting of standards; others, such as the institute's diverse membership and the decision to avoid recognizing alternative standards, may make it more difficult. Overall, ETSI's structure may be seen as an effort to find the right balance of features.