S. Joe Bhatia, American National Standards Institute (ANSI) president and CEO, addressed attendees during the 63rd SES - The Society for Standards Professionals Annual Conference in Ottawa. Mr. Bhatia's remarks, which were delivered during the conference's first technical session, Current Trends in Standardization Cooperation at the International and Regional Levels, touched on the role played by ANSI in both regional and international standardization ecosystems, as well as recent developments in the global standards community involving China and other developing nations. The 2014 SES Annual Conference took place August 11-14, at Ottawa's Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel. The event featured a keynote address by John Walter, CEO of the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), and seven technical sessions covering issues critical to standards developing organizations (SDOs), private industry, and government agencies, as well as two professional development courses. The conference's full program is available online.
During his remarks, Mr. Bhatia highlighted ANSI's ongoing international and regional activities and relationships, including active involvement with the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT), where he currently serves as president [see related story].
Mr. Bhatia also pushed for continued efforts to engage corporate leaders in connection with standards, arguing that basic standards knowledge and a strategic understanding of standardization and its benefits for business were major assets for today's c-suite. To support the wider understanding of standards-related issues inside the business community, ANSI is coordinating the Standards Boost Business (SBB) promotional campaign, which is aimed at helping U.S. businesses understand the power of standardization in driving business growth and advancing U.S. competitiveness.
ANSI's Marisa Peacock Presents on Incorporation by Reference
During the conference's second technical session, "Plus ça change…" - How Legal and Regulatory Issues Impact Standardization, Marisa Peacock, ANSI senior program manager, gave a presentation titled ANSI's Answer to the IBR Challenge, which looked at ongoing issues related to the U.S. government's use of incorporation by reference (IBR).
IBR is a process by which privately developed voluntary consensus standards are adopted into regulations. These incorporated documents remain under copyright, but are required to be reasonably available to citizens affected by regulations. For more general information and ANSI resources on IBR, visit www.ansi.org/ibr.
In order to support the reasonable availability of these standards without undue impact on SDOs, in 2013 ANSI launched the ANSI IBR Portal, an online tool for free, read-only access to IBR standards. Ms. Peacock noted ANSI's unique role as the coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system. Further, as U.S. member body to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ANSI is the only U.S.-based organization that could secure standards developed by IEC and ISO for inclusion on the portal. In total, standards developed by 15 SDOs are currently represented on the portal, with additional IBR standards expected to be added soon.
To learn more about the ANSI IBR Portal, visit ibr.ansi.org.