Becoming A Global Presence - Cooperative Efforts

To facilitate global e-commerce and to ease the trepidation many companies may have toward negotiating the various obstacles to establishing a global e-commerce presence, several standards organizations from around the world, including the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Standard Organization's Committee on Consumer Policy (COPOLCO), are working toward the creation and implementation of international e-commerce standards. The main thrust of these standardization efforts is the goal to protect consumers, whose fears over the compromise of financial data and invasion of their privacy, many analysts conclude, have hampered the growth of e-commerce, and could limit its future potential if not remedied.

Such proposed standards measures include the implementation of various certification schemes, including trust marks and logos, for those firms that meet various international securities benchmarks. COPOLCO and others proposed the implementation of consensus-based codes of conduct, appropriate to the particular markets in which firms operate, detailing the kinds of behavior and commitments to consumers that certified companies would be obligated to maintain. COPOLCO also proposed the establishment of an e-commerce solutions forum at which concerns over e-commerce standards could be debated and enhanced in accordance with consumers' concerns. Such measures would give businesses clear goals and guidelines in the development of their global e-commerce strategies.