Metastandards

Metastandards, or meta-standards, is a term used in standards studies to describe standards that govern the creation, evaluation, and governance of other standards. They operate at a higher level than technical or product standards, outlining the processes, criteria, roles, and lifecycle management used by standardization activities across domains.

Scope and purpose

Metastandards define how standards should be developed, reviewed, tested, published, updated, and deprecated. Their aims include ensuring transparency, accountability, consistency, interoperability, and quality across a portfolio of standards. By establishing common governance models, metastandards help coordinate efforts among diverse stakeholders, reduce duplication, and enable cross-domain compatibility.

Core elements

Typical components of metastandards include: the mandate and scope of standardization activities; procedures for stakeholder participation and public comment; drafting and review processes; validation, testing, and evidence requirements; versioning and lifecycle management; change control and dispute resolution; and compliance assessment or certification mechanisms. They may also specify publication formats, metadata, and archival rules for deprecated standards.

Governance and examples

Metastandards are often embedded in overarching governance documents or directives published by standards bodies, national agencies, or coalitions of organizations. Examples of frameworks that function as metastandards in practice include formal directives and process guidelines used by bodies such as international standards organizations and national standardization offices. These frameworks influence how individual standards are created, assessed, and retired.

Impact and challenges

By providing a structured, repeatable approach to standardization, metastandards aim to improve legitimacy, reproducibility, and cross-border interoperability. Critics note potential rigidity, bureaucratic overhead, and the risk of gatekeeping; effective metastandard implementations seek balance between rigorous governance and flexible innovation.

See also

Standardization, governance, interoperability, meta-standards.