Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
34
with issues of more general significance, including economic development. There are far fewer PDCs
than TCs, with the most active ISO members—including OIC member states—taking part in three.
However, a number of OIC member states only take part in one PDC, which indicates that their ability to
exercise an influence on the general policy issues that ISO is confronted with is limited. Again, there is
the risk that the organization’s work is oriented more towards policy issues in the countries that
participate most actively in these committees, potentially to the exclusion of lower income developing
countries. Issues of human, financial, and technical capacity are key. However, in relative terms,
developing OIC member states’ participation in PDCs is stronger than for TCs—perhaps reflecting the
fact that detailed sectoral knowledge in areas like engineering is less of a prerequisite, as the issues that
arise are more policy-centered. Nonetheless, there is still scope for technical assistance and capacity
building to boost the participation of the least active countries.