Joseph Tretler, vice president of international policy at the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), signed an implementation plan with Brazil's national standards organization, the Associacao Brasileira de Normas Tecnicas (ABNT), and Brazil's National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO) to begin development of a Standards Portal for U.S.-Brazil trade resources. The signing took place at the end of the 12th U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue held in Washington, DC, on March 19, 2015.
The U.S.-Brazil Standards Portal will serve as a free online resource to support trade, investment, and technical exchange between the two countries. It will also help ANSI, ABNT, and INMETRO better understand the standards, regulatory, and conformance related technical requirements that they face in the U.S. and Brazil. "With the trade relationship between our nations growing significantly, this is the perfect time to make such a resource available for everyone's benefit," said Mr. Tretler of the collaboration.
Mr. Tretler signed the implementation plan with co-signers Dr. Joao Alziro Herz da Jornada, president of National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology-INMETRO; Pedro Buzatto Costa, deliberative council president at ABNT; and Ricardo Rodrigues Fragoso, general director of ABNT.
ANSI's Standards Portal was established in 2006 as a collaborative effort between the U.S. and China, but has since grown as a resource that offers material for the U.S., Chinese, Indian, and Korean economies. The primary aim of the portal is to answer key questions asked by exporters about the technical requirements of their target markets.
In 2014, U.S. exports to Brazil totaled over $42 billion, over 60 percent higher than 2009 numbers. Brazil imports have also spiked, "showcasing the significant bilateral trade relationship," said Mr. Tretler. Both Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Trade Armando Monteiro Neto and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker have highlighted the importance of the bilateral trade relationship, and of non-tariff measures such as standards and technical regulation to the continued growth of the relationship. Minister Monteiro noted during his visit to the U.S. in February 2015 that "Brazil needs to take a more active commercial policy and a key element is the upgrading of the relationship with the United States."
"With the addition of Portuguese language material and information on the Brazilian economy, the Standards Portal will continue to grow as a resource to increase transparency and information exchange for U.S. and Brazilian stakeholders," said Mr. Tretler, who encourages all interested stakeholders to peruse the Standards Portal online at www.standardsportal.org.
ANSI and ABNT are respectively the U.S. and Brazilian national member bodies for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and for the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) via their respective national committees. Brazilian Institution National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology-INMETRO provides support to national enterprises to increase their productivity and the quality of goods and services. Each organization will promote the Standards Portal in an effort to increase its recognition as a global resource. For more on the implementation plan, contact ANSI.