This chapter examines the role of private regulators in global product markets, with particular emphasis on institutional structure and institutional complementarity in product regulation. It first provides an overview of how the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) became, for most industries, the focal rule-making institutions for setting international product standards. It then considers the global institutional structure and decision-making procedures before describing the domestic structures in Europe and the United States. It shows that the institutional structure for setting product standards in the United States is characterized by institutional fragmentation and contestation among competing standard-setters. In Europe, by contrast, the domestic standard-setting institutions are characterized by a high degree of coordination and organizational hierarchy.
