Technical and Legal Standards in Global Systems
Nick Rossiter* and Michael Heather**

*School of Informatics and **School of Law
Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Today security is paramount in the methodology of any quality or disaster management standard. Europe has developed standards like ISO17799 and the EFQM (the European Foundation Quality Management) Excellence Model to achieve the highest standards for management of organisations in manufacturing and services industries for both public and private sectors. What is the difference between a Standard and a Model? Every model has an essential unique component that may be viewed either as a standard or posited as a legal requirement. The fundamental relationship has to be understood to minimise disaster. 

Now quite diverse enterprises are becoming electronically intertwined with dynamic threads in the strategy of a global basis for Europe. It does not follow however that the connection of two organisations even though built locally to the same specification of standard will operate together to those same standards when in tandem. This is because non-local conditions result: more organisations mean more complexity. Security can be the first casualty. For existing standards are built on a paradigmatic methodology which cannot guarantee global consistency. 

The interoperabilty of open heterogeneous systems needs still to be overpinned by the closure of a formal theory to ensure quality standards. A formalised security model cannot in itself guarantee absolute security but the understanding that it brings does provide a conceptual tool for calculations like scientific risk analysis. Another example of a higher order effect in global systems arises from the interaction between technical standards and legal requirements. Here there is a need to understand the effect of a combination of international and national laws that have an impact on the interoperation of organisations. Here again the formal model can assist.