Nov 14 2006
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) president and CEO S. Joe Bhatia, Standardization Administration of China (SAC) Administrator Liu Pingjun, and Belinda Collins of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), gathered today in Beijing to formally recognize the launch of the Standards Portal in China. More than eighty representatives from Chinese ministries, the U.S. embassy in Beijing, and China-based U.S. organizations and businesses participated. The ceremony follows the portal’s official launch on September 18 in Washington, DC [See related article: New Standards Portal Focuses on U.S.-China Trade].
A cooperative project between ANSI, NIST, and SAC, the Standards Portal aims to facilitate the cross border trade of goods and services between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.
“Regardless of industry sector or point of origin, business executives need access to definitive information about the standards and regulations that will affect the entrance of their products into a market,” said S. Joe Bhatia during his address at the ceremony. “The Standards Portal makes it easier for business leaders and policy makers in both nations to understand the voluntary standards, mandatory requirements, and compliance programs that influence global commerce.”
The portal contains dual-language (Mandarin and English) educational materials on the structure, history, and operation of the U.S. and Chinese standards systems; a database of 2,000 standards (1,000 from each nation) considered vital to successful trade between the two nations; and access to nearly 300,000 other national, regional and international standards and guidelines.
ANSI, in partnership with the Standardization Administration of China (SAC), will update and enrich the Standards Portal according to the interest of the website’s users and other stakeholders. ANSI will expand the U.S. content on the site to include conformity assessment and other topics that will further facilitate U.S.–China cooperation. SAC has indicated that it will develop additional information resources and expand cooperation with the U.S. and other trading partners.
http://www.ansi.org