 do will make their reasons known in the form of a publication-but compliance is strictly voluntary. De facto standards are more accurately described as conventions that are well established in practice, and made legitimate by virtue of their wide acceptance. De facto standards are 'created' by industry associations or consortia, representing key suppliers and, possibly, customers. These interested parties convene to resolve compatibility issues and later publish their results. THE INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION The ITU operates under the auspices of the United Nations. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland it is a de jure treaty organization. Its membership consists of Video Communications: The Whole Picture "administrations" (where each is a country). Nearly every nation in the world is represented in the ITU. National delegates usually come from the largest telecommunication service provider in a member country. Each ITU administration has one vote. The State Department represents the U.S. in the ITU. Elsewhere in the world, where telecommunications networks are not yet privately owned, government-owned Post Telephone and Telegraph entities (PTTs) provide members. Other organizations (non-government-owned carriers, manufacturers, scientific organizations, etc.) can participate, but only the government administration can cast a vote in an ITU plenary session. The "one country-one vote" approach is meant to achieve harmony. The ITU's goal is not to create telecommunications standards but to encourage international cooperation in order to arrive at an efficient international telecommunications infrastructure. It operates in six languages and must have consensus before it can ratify a recommendation. This used to take years (four to be precise) but the ITU has accelerated its standardization work. It can now approve a standard in 15 months. This quickening of pace resulted in the approval of over 900 specifications during the period between 1993 and 1996. These are published in at least three languages (Fre