Trade policy, standards, and development in Central America

After reviewing the current state of standards and trade in Central America, the authors suggest top priorities for reform from a trade policy perspective in a new and increasingly important area of public policy and development. They conclude that it makes sense to: a) take a regional rather than a national approach to setting up accreditation, testing, and metrology infrastructure - to share equipment, experts, and information to get more bang out of limited funding; b) promote regional bodies as venues for Central American countries to develop common positions in international discussions of the development of standards; c) regionalize information-gathering efforts and use information technology to disseminate that information rapidly; and d) push for a sunset clause in international standards developments, because standards have value only if adopted and used.