Was heisst «Internationale Standards»?

International standards have become more and more important with and also through the globalisation of the financial markets. In consequence, they are most important in corporate law and in particular in the field of financial reporting, i.e. IFRS or US GAAP. This is not only true for Switzerland, but also for the European Union.

International standards are often enacted by a panel of experts rather than through a political or democratic process. As such, economically important countries have a larger say in what is to become the standard for many countries.

This special form of soft law can also easily become hard law. The new Swiss laws regarding the financial market architecture proclaim several international standards as binding for all market participants. Therefore it is important not only to explain the fundamentals of the term standard, but also to address the many points, that allow for a critique of it.