ANSI Standards Portal among the Successes Highlighted at U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue Briefing on Bilateral Cooperation

On June 29, 2016, Joseph Tretler, vice president of international policy for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), presented a brief overview of the U.S.-Brazil Standards Portal as part of the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue Debrief at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In support of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue - a cooperative mechanism to amplify bilateral trade and investment between the two nations - the addition of the Brazilian section to ANSI's Standards Portal was highlighted as one concrete outcome of the ongoing cooperation.

Mr. Tretler was joined by government officials from the United States and Brazil who presented key government takeaways from the bilateral dialogue. These officials included Kenneth Hyatt, acting under secretary for international trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) International Trade Administration (ITA); Daniel Godinho, secretary of foreign trade for the Brazilian Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade, and Services (MDIC); and Marcelo Maia, secretary of commerce and services for MDIC. The debriefing was led by Jodi Hanson Bond, vice president of the Americas department of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and moderated by Welby Leaman, senior director of global government affairs for Walmart.

More than 100 U.S. and Brazilian companies and government agencies attended the debriefing, including 24 ANSI member organizations, many of whom have been active participants in the U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue since its inception. The U.S.-Brazil Standards Portal is one of the more recent developments stemming from the bilateral engagement, and was developed with close collaboration from Brazil's national standards organization, Associacao Brasileira de Normas Tecnicas (ABNT), and Brazil's National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO), after the 12^th U.S.-Brazil Commercial Dialogue.

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. INMETRO provides support to national enterprises to bolster their productivity and the quality of Brazilian goods and services.

In addition to the U.S.-Brazil Standards Portal activity, a number of ANSI members have been engaged with Brazil throughout the dialogue. The following highlights some recent bilateral engagements by ANSI members in the standards and conformance space:

• During the November 2015 Commercial Dialogue in Brazil, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with INMETRO to support information exchange on best practices for conformity assessment, promote scientific and technical interchange, and enhance industry knowledge on compliance requirements. Over the past year, UL certification labs in Brazil have helped to decrease certification costs by 70%, reduce the average certification time from one year to three months, and increase the number of products certified by 35%. These achievements have led to an increased demand for product certification bodies by Brazilian companies.

• The Air-Conditioning, Heating, & Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) signed an agreement with the Brazilian Association of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Ventilation, and Heating (ABRAVA) in May 2016 with the aim of harmonizing Brazilian and U.S. standards in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) industry. The agreement covers the translation, by ABRAVA, of ten AHRI standards, using ABNT's format.

Brazil is the seventh-largest economy in the world and the largest in Latin America. In 2014 U.S. exports of goods and services to Brazil totaled more than $70 billion and have increased by over 15% annually since 2004.

ANSI's Standards Portal is a free online resource supporting trade, investment, and technical exchange that was established in 2006 as a collaborative effort between the U.S. and China, but has since grown to offer materials for the U.S., Brazilian, Chinese, Indian, and Korean economies. The primary aim of the portal is to provide a centralized location that answers the key questions asked by exporters about the technical requirements of their target markets. The portal also provides an opportunity for government and standardization organizations to better understand the standards, regulatory, and conformance issues faced in the others.

For more information on the Standards Portal, including access to the U.S., Brazilian, Chinese, Indian, and Korean portals, please visit www.standardsportal.org.