She’ll Be Right: Some Observations on Diffused European Union Standards in a New Zealand Context

Abstract

Due to their technical and rather specialist nature, standards are often overlooked as a form of influence over third states, yet they form an important and expanding role in the emerging global legal order. Usually developed outside of formal legal processes, regulatory standards nevertheless have hard impacts upon national and international legal frameworks. This paper examines the EU’s advancement of its regulatory agenda: producing global and domestic legal standards that are diffused to third states through multiple channels of communication. Using New Zealand as a case study, this paper draws on research to examine the success of extending the EU’s standards beyond its borders. While the extent to which adoption of EU standards by New Zealand has been varied, there is clear evidence that Europe’s regulatory reach extends far beyond its borders. The colloquialism “she’ll be right” gives a flavour of New Zealand’s approach to the adoption of EU standards in many contexts.