OTHER NEWS - July 8, 1995

U.S. Firms Oppose Software Standard: Electronics industry officials said they have asked Washington to block a proposed Japanese quality standard for computer software, arguing that it could become a barrier to foreign products. A private Japanese standards group has proposed that software companies voluntarily submit their products to it for quality review based on the widely used manufacturing standards called ISO 9000. The software proposal “would apply ISO 9000 standards in a much broader fashion than they’ve been before to a wider range of products than before,” said John Stern, director of the Tokyo office of the American Electronics Assn. Japan’s trade ministry has denied that, saying the country is merely implementing internationally accepted standards.