No, in Europe we have the same problem with ISO norms and likely on some national technical ones, strictly speaking they are not Laws, but they are often cited either in the Laws and/or exposed to the public through labeling.
Bang on.
Until recently I had several reams of MiFID and its implemting regulations on my desk, they sensibly are very closely aligned with standards, which co-evolve with them- so they are filled with references to ISO20022, 10383, 17442 and so many others.
That said, even for our very complex business needing to refer to the standards was very rare.
(It still would absolutely have saved time and money, but finding someone to commit actual money to BSI or ANSI membership can sometimes get lost in bureaucracy)
The case with VDE is a good example, where the norms have law force.
In contrast DIN makes a specific statement, that the norms are just recommendations (as it should!) and have no law force. Even then, often through "state-of-the-art" obligations, they end up having law force. That is BAD idea.
VDE rules do NOT have law force, as mentioned in my other reply. Please stop repeating this.