There is no open standard that defines what a PC is. Linux and other operating systems are piggybacking on the Windows PC standard. If they want OEMs to manufacture hardware to their standards, they'll have to create their own "Linux-compatible" specification and persuade OEMs to follow it.
[0] https://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/hardware/commercialize/de...
[1] https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn...