Technical standards in nanotechnology as an instrument of subordinated governance: Mexico case study

In this study, governance is understood as a process that guides technology through both promotion and regulation as a result of interaction, interdependence and confrontation between the government, research institutions, industry sector and social organizations. We analyze the National Standardization Technical Committee on Nanotechnologies (Comité Técnico Nacional de Normalización en Nanotecnologías, CTNNN), the entity responsible for developing voluntary standards for nanotechnology in Mexico. After identifying strategic, relevant and secondary actors, we find that technical standards are treated primarily as a competitiveness factor. We thus characterize the process of regulating nanotechnologies in Mexico as a case of “subordinated governance” in which international rules of operation and technical standards are reproduced in the narrow Mexican regulatory framework. The absence of regulation that could serve as a reference for identifying and managing risk thereby imposes greater responsibility on policy-makers.