In these committees, voting is done by country, and ANSI is the official US representative. Here again, ANSI itself only participates at the policy level, leaving the actual standards committee activities to be administered by groups that it designates. There are national standards bodies like ANSI in most other countries, as well. Examples are CSA in Canada, BSI in the United Kingdom, JSA in Japan and DIN in Germany. ISEA Online has links to many international and national standards bodies.
Standards establish requirements.
A supplier needs to be able to communicate to the purchaser and user that its product, process or service conforms to a standard. This is the purpose of certification. The process of certification involves testing to an established standard, and providing a mark or some other indication of conformity. Government certification programs exist in the US mostly when public health and safety are involved. In the U.S., manufacturer's self-certification is the most common approach.