Standardising electronic marketplaces – what and how?

This paper addresses some of the issues relating to standards and standardisation in the context of electronic marketplaces. The information interchange between business partners is subdivided into different layers, and a brief discussion is presented for each of these layers regarding the “what, where, and how?” of standards setting. An adequate, standards-based infrastructure to support e-marketplaces is urgently required. How to provide for “trust” is another aspect that will be discussed. This is basically a non-techncial problem, so technology alone will not suffice to actually esatblish trust. Finally, some suggestions are made on how an adequate standards setting process should look like.