As for the problem of stretching the truth on spec sheets, it's not really a technology problem at all... it's a human nature problem. I can't see any real solution outside of either making new laws, or having an industry-funded independent organization to do testing. The latter option seems more viable to me.
Even if you had one or more independent, industry funded testing organizations, what would prevent a manufacturer from doing their own testing or publishing whatever results they wanted? Some of the existing independent testing providers have tried implementing other test procedures and 'verified' results but it is still up to the manufacturers as to what they decide to publish and any results that do not benefit the manufacturers are unlikely to be published.
It seems to come down to simple business, few manufacturers are going to publish data that makes their products appear less capable compared to the competition even if they know that it is more accurate. Only manufacturers selling primarily to people who will understand the differences in the data provided can probably afford to publish more accurate data regardless of how it compares to their potential competition.