ANSI Board of Directors Approves Proposed Revisions to Institute By-Laws

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Board of Directors has approved proposed amendments to the ANSI By-Laws, as well as a Response to Comments document that addresses input on the proposed changes received from ANSI members. The By-Laws, approved on June 5, will go into effect on January 1, 2020.

Proposed changes to the ANSI By-Laws were published and distributed in December 2018, as reported on ANSI.org. Input from membership was solicited during a 45-day comment period, and the comments received were considered as noted in the response document.

"ANSI believes that these modifications will continue to protect the integrity of ANSI's decision-making and further enhance ANSI's ability to serve the needs of the U.S. standards and conformity assessment communities," said ANSI president and CEO S. Joe Bhatia in a statement to ANSI members today.

Access the ANSI By-Laws and the Response to Comments on By-Laws Revisions.

Some of the more significant changes to the Institute's By-Laws are designed to:

• Clarify the roles and responsibilities of the four "Committees of ANSI," (i.e., the Executive Standards Council (ExSC), Board of Standards Review (BSR), ANSI ISO Council (AIC), and the USNC Council), and underscore that members of these Committees, since they make decisions on behalf of ANSI, are fiduciaries of ANSI and are subject to Conflict of Interest requirements, as with the Board and ExCo members;

• Simplify and flatten ANSI's organizational structure, with all four Committees of ANSI reporting directly to the ANSI Executive Committee;

• Clarify that Policy Committees, now called Policy Advisory Groups (PAGs), are advisory in nature and that their members are not fiduciaries, but reconfirm their continued importance to ANSI in developing ANSI policy positions on international, national and IP-related issues; and

• Include a comprehensive Code of Conduct, to replace the former Code of Ethics that provides broad and wide-ranging guidance on how ANSI volunteers are expected to behave at any ANSI meeting or gatherings, including Board, Committee, Forums, and Policy Advisory Groups.

ANSI also recently released a document of Frequently Asked Questions that provides members with details about why revisions were undertaken, and a description of and rationale for proposed changes.

See the related news item: ANSI Publishes Proposed Revisions to By-Laws