International regulation is regulation that occurs at the international level, often exercised by international organizations. An advantage of international regulation is that it allows localities and the individuals in them to be held accountable for the impact that their actions (e.g. pollution) have on other localities.
A series of powerful international regulatory regimes have arisen especially in fields dealing with risk, such as banking, accountancy and the actuarial profession. In banking, the Basel Accords regulate a wide range of bank behavior, such as capital adequacy, the requirement to have capital reserved against risk. In accountancy, the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have replaced many national accounting standards to enable international comparability of reporting of accounts. The International Actuarial Association is working on standardization of international practice.
Although there is no international government to issue regulations, negotiations between industry bodies and national governments have often succeeded in orchestrating regulatory regimes that are obeyed across most nations.
History
Maritime regulation
The international nature of the sea has resulted in two thousand years of development of maritime law and the law of the sea (such as the medieval Rolls of Oléron), which regulate navigation, the freedom of the seas and the use of resources such as minerals. In the mid-nineteenth century, British domination of navigation resulted in British rules being adopted as International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, and similarly for the Plimsoll line to prevent overloading of vessels. The need for safety and rescue at sea led to the building of remote lighthouses and the standardization of distress signals in the International Radiotelegraph Convention (1906). In response to the sinking of the Titanic, the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea of 1914 laid down standards for lifeboats and continuous radio watches. Navigation on the Rhine, which flows through many countries, was controlled by the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, established after the 1815 Congress of Vienna.
Resources accessible by sea have been subject to overexploitation because of lack of regulation. Concern over overfishing in the North Sea led to the creation of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea in 1902, which eventually sponsored limits on fishing and cooperation in marine science. Despite the collapse of whale populations from unrestrained whaling by many countries, regulation was slow in coming. The 1931 Geneva Convention for Regulation of Whaling and the 1937 International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling had limited effectiveness and were replaced by the more effective International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling which came into effect in 1948. Rival claims to Antarctica were put aside in the Antarctic Treaty of 1961 which preserved Antarctica as a demilitarized zone limited to scientific research. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 extends similar principles to ensure that outer space is not divided into exclusive zones.
The dangers of miscommunication at sea by multilingual crews led to the need for an international maritime language. With British domination of the seas from the eighteenth century, that was inevitably English. English requirements for maritime communication have developed into the simplified Seaspeak. Aviation followed, and in 1951 the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommended that English be used exclusively in air communications. The recommendation was followed. ICAO adopted in 1956 the NATO Phonetic Alphabet (Alfa, Bravo, Charlie ...) for spelling out words when they might be misunderstood. These developments were important in making English the international language generally.
Trade, health and warfare regulation
International trade required the development of binding customs applicable across international boundaries, such as the medieval law merchant. Customs of diplomatic immunity also have a long history; they are now codified in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).
The Universal Postal Union, established in 1874, coordinated international postage so that payment of postage in any country ensured its delivery anywhere. The International Telegraph Union (later International Telecommunication Union) was formed in 1865 to standardize telegraphic communication.