NIST VCAT Meeting

S. Joe Bhatia

ANSI President and CEO

February 5, 2015
 The American National Standards Institute 

coordinates standards, conformity 

assessment, and related activities 

in the United States.

 Founded in 1918, ANSI is a private, non-profit organization. 

 ANSI is not a government agency nor a standards developer.

2015 ANSI

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NIST VCAT Meeting | February 5, 2015
 U.S. member of ISO

 U.S. member of the IEC, via ANSI’s 

U.S. National Committee

 a U.S. member of IAF and ILAC

 member of regional forums in the Pacific 

Rim and the Americas

 liaison with groups in Europe, Africa, 

and the Middle East

 bilateral agreements with other 

national standards bodies

2015 ANSI

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NIST VCAT Meeting | February 5, 2015
The ANSI Federation represents more than 125,000 companies 

and organizations and 3.5 million professionals worldwide.

Members of the ANSI Federation include . . .

 Academia 

 Individuals 

 Government 

 Manufacturing 

 Trade Associations

 Professional Societies 

 Service Organizations 

 Standards Developers 

 Consumer and Labor Interests

 and many more

2015 ANSI

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NIST VCAT Meeting | February 5, 2015
U.S. Standardization System

 Emphasizes private-sector 

standards solutions

 Standards users drive activities

 Provides a strong voice and greater 

authority to standards users and 

individual stakeholders

 Strength from diversity

2015 ANSI

Slide 5

NIST VCAT Meeting | February 5, 2015
U.S. Standardization System 

 In the U.S. alone, there are more than 100,000 standards 

 These documents are being developed by:

 hundreds of standards developing organizations (SDOs)

 over 500 consortia

 hundreds of thousands of technical committees

 Over 11,000 approved American National Standards

2015 ANSI

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NIST VCAT Meeting | February 5, 2015
The Public-Private Partnership

2015 ANSI

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The Public-Private Partnership

 System is led by private sector

 No single government agency has control over standards

 Each agency determines which standards meet its needs

 National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA)

 Thousands of government employees sit on standards 

developing committees

 100 from NIST in ISO alone

2015 ANSI

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NIST VCAT Meeting | February 5, 2015
Critical Role of Standardization

80%

of global commodity trade =

$14T

NIST VCAT Meeting | February 5, 2015 2015 ANSI

Slide 9
FM Approvals Europe Advisory Council | July 1, 2014 Slide 10

The Multiple

Path Approach
90% 80%

2015 ANSI

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NIST VCAT Meeting | February 5, 2015

SPRING Keynote Address | June 29, 2011 Slide 13

What are standards?

How are they developed?

Why do 

they matter?
U.S. – German Standards Panel | October 15, 2013

Standardization

Impacts Everything

Industry Must 

Participate
FM Approvals Europe Advisory Council | July 1, 2014 Slide 15
FM Approvals Europe Advisory Council | July 1, 2014 Slide 16
FM Approvals Europe Advisory Council | July 1, 2014 Slide 17

www.StandardsBoostBusiness.org
American National Standards Institute

Headquarters New York Office

1899 L Street, NW 25 West 43rd Street

11th Floor 4th Floor

Washington, DC 20036 New York, NY 10036

T: 202.293.8020 T: 212.642.4900 

F: 202.293.9287 F: 212.398.0023 

www.ansi.org

webstore.ansi.org

www.nssn.org

S. Joe Bhatia

President and CEO

jbhatia@ansi.org