INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR TOURISM & RELATED SERVICES

There is increasing pressure from a number of international bodies including WTO-Tourism and ISO – International Organisation for Standardisation - for the development of international standards for the Tourism industry, specifically in the area of Tourism Services. This trend is not supported by the majority of our members.

ISO, WTO Tourism and WTO Trade – all teaming up to impose standards on the industry

• Several provisions in the text of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) recognize the value of International Standards in facilitating trade in services
• In April 2004, ISO formally submitted to WTO Tourism a Briefing Paper reviewing ISO’s work in the field of tourism and outlining potential new initiatives including the new “Tourism & Related Services” field of technical activity.
• This paper includes references to the EU mandate given to the European Committee for Normalisation (CEN) to develop a framework for the standardisation of services.
• ISO’s Committee on Consumer Policy (COPOLCO) first expressed an interest in the issue of tourism services in 2002.
• Despite continued input from IH&RA demonstrating that standardisation was not required particularly as the hotel & restaurant sector is already subject to stringent regulation, COPOLCO continued to press for further work in this area, specifically at the initiative of the Spanish Standards Organisation, AENOR, also a member of CEN.
  

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