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Government files suit in ISO dispute

Taiwan has filed a lawsuit against the International Organization for Standardization, widely known as ISO, over its reference to the nation as "Taiwan Province, China" instead of "Republic of China (Taiwan)," an official said on Monday.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman David Wang (王建業) said the government filed the suit with a court in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 20 after the ISO failed to respond positively to repeated requests to rectify Taiwan's designation in the ISO 3166 country codes list.

The Geneva court has accepted the suit.

Wang said the lawsuit was filed in the name of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Claiming that the ISO was violating Taiwan's rights by using "Taiwan Province, China" in its country codes list, the lawsuit demands that the ISO stop using the "derogatory" reference and instead refer to Taiwan using its correct formal name, "Republic of China (Taiwan)."

Wang said that using the title "Republic of China (Taiwan)" not only complied with legal provisions and political reality, but also met the demands of various domestic political camps.

It marks the first time that Taiwan has taken legal action against a major international organization over the name issue.

Over the past two years, Wang said, the nation's representative office in Geneva has negotiated with the ISO authorities on many occasions and expressed the government's stance on the issue by retaining lawyers to send letters of protest to the headquarters of the ISO.

Regrettably, none of these efforts have received a favorable response from the ISO, Wang said.

As the ISO 3166 list has been widely used in the international community, cases of international organizations and multinational business groups referring to the country as "Taiwan Province, China" have become increasingly prevalent, he said.

"Such a development has not only invited misunderstanding and confusion for Taiwan, but has also undermined Taiwan's national status and interests," Wang said.

Until now, he said, the Ministry of Foreign Affair and the nation's representative offices abroad have dealt with the issue on a case-by-case basis, asking each international organization or private corporation that refers to the country as "Taiwan Province, China" to correct the mistake.

However, such an approach cannot possibly resolve the issue once and for all, which prompted the government to file a lawsuit against the ISO with a view to requiring it to revise its 3166 country codes list, Wang said.

The Geneva-based ISO is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on Feb. 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide industrial and commercial standards. It is headquartered in Geneva.

While the ISO defines itself as a non-governmental organization, its ability to set standards that often become law, either through treaties or national standards, makes it more powerful than most NGOs. In practice, the ISO acts as a consortium with strong links to governments.

ISO officials once said that the 3166 list was formulated in 1974 in line with the UN's practice of referring to Taiwan as "Taiwan Province, China."
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