Governance of ICT standardization: Due process in technocratic decision-making

In the world of continuous globalization, technical standards and industry norms play a crucial role in transnational economic development. For the past few decades, increased digitalization and emergence of new technologies gave due prominence to ICT standards: our future is closely linked to the Internet of Things and 5G technologies that are expected to penetrate an enormous range of economic sectors and by this means affect our quotidian life. At the same time, the introduction of these new technologies is accompanied by concerns such as privacy and security. Especially the latter has been recently subjected to a wider political debate, which was largely fueled by national security concerns voiced by Western governments regarding the involvement of China-based companies, Huawei and ZTE, in standardization of 5G technologies. In this context, the paper discusses whether the current regulatory landscape can address the variety of concerns raised in relation to the development of ICT standards through the well-established procedural principles for standard-setting, such as openness, transparency and consensus, and whether these principles ensure that ICT standardization, while delivering cutting-edge technological solutions, remains balanced and inclusive.