ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades A world standard plug system???

I wonder why it only seems to be British-influenced countries that are obsessed (OK, maybe that's a bit strong!) with having a switch for each receptacle? Nowhere else in the world seems to consider it necessary.

That "inverted Australian" picture looks from the markings as though you've arranged the switches down for on. For a worldwide standard, should we adopt down=on or up=on for those switches?