Function and significance of technical standards with regard to our legal system

Standard concepts such as ''state of the art in technology'' are used in numerous rules of law as a ''legal standard'' to define what is allowed and required by law. This is true for many legal provisions governing technical safety and safety engineering, occupational safety and pollution controls the legal requirements to be fulfilled by technical systems are defined to a large extent by technical standards of this kind. Finally, the standards are taken into account in decision-finding in cases of private liability, e.g. with regard to liability of producers as non-contractual liability, or for defining contractual liability. (orig.)