This contribution exposes the strategic relational questions associated with the creation of a voluntary standard. We first argue that the creation of rules is required to develop a new market. The development of new markets for non-conventional materials would beneficiate from the development of new standards. Yet, the creation of voluntary standards may entail competitive relational choices that the creators of standards are generally unprepared to handle. We thus consider two situations where voluntary standards have generated competitive interactions between rival standards organizations and try to suggest recommendations for the creators of new standards.