TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
<i> Times Staff and Wire Reports</i>
U.S., Japan Reach Agreement in Software Dispute: Industry officials from the two nations said they have settled a dispute over software quality standards that U.S. manufacturers had warned would create a trade barrier. A Japanese standards group had proposed that computer software companies voluntarily submit their products for quality review. But U.S. companies feared the reviews would become mandatory and that standards introduced unilaterally would make it harder to sell in Japan. In the settlement, the two sides agreed that unique standards and national accreditation systems were wrong because they inhibited trade, U.S. industry officials said.
