The ROC government filed the lawsuit against ISO in July 2007 after the organization failed to respond positively to its repeated requests to correct the designation in its ISO 3166 country codes list. The lawsuit was filed in the name of the government of the Republic of China. It marked the first time that Taiwan has taken a legal action against a major international organization over the name issue.
Before the lawsuit was filed, the ROC's representative office in Geneva had negotiated with ISO authorities on many occasions and expressed the government's stance by retaining lawyers to send letters of protest. The ISO argued that the 3166 country codes list was formulated in 1974 in line with the U.N. practice of referring to Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China."
The court held hearings in November 2007 and February 2008, during which the ISO tried to block the ROC's legal action by challenging its legal standing as a plaintiff. According to Shen Lyu-shun, the ROC's representative to Geneva, the Geneva First Instance Court ruled Sept. 16 that the ROC is an eligible plaintiff because it possesses all the elements of statehood and its government holds and effectively exercises sovereignty over its territory. "The verdict also stated that whether the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a U.N. member or diplomatic ally of Switzerland is irrelevant to the case," he added. The case should now proceed to trial.
The court's decision was also welcomed by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs--a U.S.-based non-profit organization that promotes the sovereignty and national rights of Taiwan--that has long battled to force the ISO to correct its wrongful designation of Taiwan.
According to FAPA's Executive Director Chen Wen-yen, the ruling is an encouraging development and he urged the government to use the name "Taiwan" when it presents its case against the ISO. "Replacing PRC with ROC will only further confuse the international community and undermines Taiwan's argument," he said.
The Geneva-based ISO is an international standard-setting body founded in 1947. Although it is a non-governmental organization, the ISO's authority on setting international commercial and industrial standards makes it more influential than most NGOs. As the ISO 3166 list has been widely used across the world, cases of international organizations and multinational business groups using the misleading designation "Taiwan, Province of China" have become increasingly prevalent.
Write to Ellen Ko at ellenko@mail.gio.gov.tw