The Geneva First Instance Court held its first hearing on Thursday on a lawsuit Taiwan filed against the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) over the issue of the nation's designation in the organization.
The non-governmental ISO refers to Taiwan as "Taiwan Province, China," instead of by its official title, the Republic of China, in the ISO 3166 country code list.
Taiwan considers the designation a disparagement to its national status and dignity and has repeatedly asked the ISO to correct it.
Failing to get a favorable response, Taiwan filed a lawsuit against the ISO with the Geneva court on July 20, demanding the organization refer to it as "Republic of China (Taiwan)."
debate
Thursday's brief hearing marked a formal start to court proceedings. The hearing ended after counsel for the plaintiff and defendant explained their basic stances. The court is scheduled to hold a debate session on Feb. 21.
Henri-Philippe Sambuc, the lawyer representing Taiwan, said after the hearing that the defense outlined several key points in support of its objection to the lawsuit.
In response to the ISO claim that Taiwan is not legally eligible to file a lawsuit in Switzerland, Sambuc said that as the ISO didn't go into detail on this point, it was unclear how the ISO arrived at that conclusion.
Sambuc added that the Swiss Federal Court had already confirmed Taiwan's eligibility to file a lawsuit in the high-profile Lafayette kickback case.
During the hearing, the ISO also claimed that it should not be sued over the designation issue and that the Geneva court does not have the authority to deal with the case.
Sambuc said that although the ISO was founded in London, its secretariat is based in Geneva. The Geneva court therefore has the legal authority to handle the case.
According to the Geneva court's decision on Thursday, Sambuc said, the ISO should give a formal reply or argument by Jan. 11. In turn, Taiwan has to present a written response by Feb. 15, ahead of a cross-examination session set for Feb. 21.
Shen Lyu-shun (
"The lawsuit is long overdue. We should have taken legal action on this issue long ago to safeguard our national dignity," he said.
Before filing the lawsuit, the representative office held several rounds of negotiations with the ISO and sent letters of protest through lawyers to request a correction. All such efforts were to no avail.
During the negotiations, the ISO staff at one point argued that the list was formulated in 1974 in line with the UN's practice of referring to Taiwan as "Taiwan Province, China."
change
Sources close to the Taipei Cultural and Economic Office in Geneva said the lawsuit against the ISO is at the very least expected to prod international non-governmental organizations to change the designations they use for Taiwan.
The 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, Switzerland.
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.
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