Taiwan files law suit against ISO

Taiwan has filed a lawsuit against the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) over its reference to the nation as 'Taiwan Province, China' instead of 'Republic of China (Taiwan)', according to an official source.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman David Wang said the government filed the suit with a court in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 20 after ISO failed to respond positively to repeated requests to rectify Taiwan's designation in the ISO 3166 country codes list.

The Geneva court has accepted the suit.

Wang said the lawsuit was filed in the name of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

Claiming that ISO was violating Taiwan's rights by using 'Taiwan Province, China' in its country codes list, the lawsuit demands that ISO stop using the "derogatory" reference and instead refer to Taiwan using its correct formal name, 'Republic of China (Taiwan)'.

Wang said that using the title 'Republic of China (Taiwan)' not only complied with legal provisions and political reality, but also met the demands of various domestic political camps.

It marks the first time that Taiwan has taken legal action against a major international organization over the name issue.

While 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, ISO acts as a consortium with strong links to governments.

ISO officials had previously explained that the 3166 list was formulated in 1974 in line with the UN's practice of referring to Taiwan as 'Taiwan Province, China'.