Potential Legal Claims and Best Practices for Standards Developers and Conformity Assessment Bodies Will Be the Focus of ANSI's 2014 Legal Issues Forum

Experts to Discuss Legal Liability in Food Contamination and Other High-Profile Cases

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) will hold a Legal Issues Forum, addressing Best Practices for Standards Developers and Conformity Assessment Bodies to Avoid Legal Liability in Tort, Antitrust, and Other Areas of the Law, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 22, 2014, at the FHI 360 Conference Center, 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, in Washington, DC. The event is part of the World Standards Week series of meetings and celebrations hosted annually by the Institute, coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system.

A keynote address from Steven Weiner, a partner at Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan LLP, will explore the potential liability of conformity assessment bodies using the example of a suit brought against Primus Labs in connection with its third-party audit of Jensen Farms, the source of a 2011 outbreak of listeria.

An interactive roundtable discussion on issues related to legal claims that can and have been brought against standards developing organizations (SDOs) and conformity assessment bodies (CABs) will be moderated by Kevan Lawlor, president and CEO of ANSI member and audited designator NSF International. The discussion will touch on antitrust issues, tort liability, negligence, and other relevant subjects. The broad range of panelists participating in this discussion includes:

• Neil Bogatz, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, IAPMO
• Paul Brown, Vice President, Intellectual Property & Litigation, UL
• Jameson Carroll, Partner, Carroll & Weiss LLP
• Robert Davis, Counsel, Venable
• Patrick McCarthy, Managing Partner, Howard & Howard Attorneys, PLLC
• Grace Rodriguez, Partner, King & Spalding

ANSI members and all interested stakeholders including those from government, industry, business, consumer groups, and academia are encouraged to attend and share their perspectives, insights, and expertise on this important topic.

Attendance at the event requires a registration fee of $295 for current ANSI members and $350 for non-members. The agenda and registration details are available on the event webpage.

World Standards Week, to be held this year on October 20-24, 2014, is an annual event where members of the standards and conformity assessment community come together in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration. For more information, including registration for other WSW events and details on all meetings and conferences, visit www.ansi.org/wsweek.