United States to Host Major Meeting of Pacific Rim Standards and Conformity Assessment Experts in Honolulu

On behalf of the United States, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) will serve as host of the first-ever Joint Annual Meeting of the Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC) and the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) on May 18-26 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The weeklong series of events will bring together more than 150 delegates and guests from 20 countries throughout the Pacific Rim region for discussions that will shape the future direction of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies.

ANSI's hosting of the joint meeting marks the first time PASC and PAC will hold their annual plenaries together, reflecting an effort to strengthen cooperative work on the vital connection between standards and the conformance activities that guide and assess their implementation. PASC is a voluntary organization of Pacific area national standards organizations that serves as a forum for strengthening the region's International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standardization activities, supporting free trade and economic growth, and fostering information exchange and collaboration with other standardization stakeholders. PAC is an association of accreditation bodies working to facilitate trade and commerce in Asia Pacific economies by promoting international acceptance of its members' accreditation activities.

"PASC/PAC 2013 will be an exciting gathering for everyone in the Pacific Rim standardization community. ANSI is proud to have helped PASC and PAC coordinate their annual meetings to create a joint forum for the broadest information sharing and strategic collaboration," said S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO. "By hosting the event in Honolulu, ANSI is reaffirming the U.S. commitment to international standardization and creating opportunities for U.S. industry to participate in standards and conformance activities that promote global market access."

Events to be held during the Joint Annual Meeting include:

• An Opening Ceremony and Seminar on the afternoon of May 20, including a welcome from Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie (to be confirmed) and presentations from Pacific Rim standards and conformance leaders on topics of interest to the standardization community
• A Welcome Reception for attendees and their guests on the evening of Monday, May 20, featuring brief remarks from ANSI, PASC, and PAC leaders
• More than 15 technical and management committee meetings, topical workshops, as well as PASC and PAC plenary meetings

All events will be held at the Modern Honolulu hotel in Waikiki, 1775 Ala Moana Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii 96815. For a full schedule of events and more information, visit http://pasc-pac-2013.com.

The Opening Ceremony/Seminar and Welcome Reception on Monday, May 20, 2013, are open to the media with advance notification; to gain press access, contact Susanah Doucet ([email protected]).

About PASC
The Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC) was founded in 1973 to coalesce the contributions of countries within the Pacific Rim on international standardization and strengthen global trade and commerce. PASC works to strengthen international standardization programs and improve the ability of Pacific Rim standards organizations to participate in these programs effectively. The members of PASC have adopted by consensus a number of important resolutions concerning international standardization, the work of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and communication and interrelationships among PASC members. PASC is concerned not only with standards preparation but also with conformance to standards.

About PAC
The Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC) is an association of accreditation bodies and other interested parties whose objective is to facilitate trade and commerce among economies in the Asia Pacific region. Its ultimate objective is the creation of a global system that grants international recognition of certification or registration of management systems, products, services, personnel, and other programs of conformity assessment. PAC operates within the framework of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and in cooperation with other regional groups of accreditation bodies around the world. IAF provides the technical basis for the world-wide recognition of the competence of the bodies accredited by its members.