In its role as the coordinator of the U.S. standardization system and as the U.S. representative to ISO, ANSI works to ensure that the U.S. is properly represented in the ISO process and that individuals serving on behalf of the U.S. have received sufficient guidance and training to effectively carry out their roles. By mandating completion of the ISO Directives Updates 2013 training course, which covers changes to ISO Directives, processes, and procedures that were implemented effective April 2013 [see related story], ANSI helps individuals serving as ISO secretaries or heading U.S. Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs) maintain a current and consistent knowledge of relevant policies and procedures.
All U.S. secretaries of ISO Technical Committees (TCs), Subcommittees (SCs), or Project Committees (PCs) - as well as the administrators of ANSI-accredited U.S. TAGs to those ISO bodies - who have taken an ANSI training course in the past two years are required to complete the ISO Directives Updates 2013 refresher course by Saturday, March 1, 2014. Individuals serving as chairs and conveners of ISO committees, Working Groups (WGs), or related U.S. TAGs are also strongly encouraged to complete the new training. To take the refresher course online, visit www.standardslearn.org and then submit a completed registration form.
U.S. ISO secretaries and administrators to U.S. TAGs who have not taken an ANSI training course in the past two years, or who have never taken an ANSI training course, must complete ISO Secretariat Operations: Taking the Secret out of the Secretariat, or The Operating Procedures of U.S. TAGs to ISO: Strengthening the U.S. Voice in International Standardization, respectively. These half-day, instructor-led webinars are offered free of charge and have been updated to reflect the April 2013 changes to ISO Directives, processes, and procedures. For more information about upcoming sessions of these courses, please visit the ANSI training schedule.
For questions regarding the content of the refresher course, email Steven Cornish, ANSI senior director for international policy, at [email protected]; for questions related to the course's compliance requirements, email Karen Hughes, ANSI Director, ISO P-membership Services, at [email protected].