A 250 gram piece of Roquefort purchased in France should weigh exactly the same as a 250 gram piece bought in New York City, although the American version will be labelled as weighing 8 ounces. The point of this (somewhat cheesy) reference is that sharing specifications in an unambiguous way is a basic tenet of modern business, but this was not always so. For the origins of modern commerce we must look to Napoleon Bonaparte, whose actions – in part – laid the foundations for free trade and the modern day European Union.