ANSI President travels to support U.S.-India cooperation.
Press Release Summary:
ANSI President and CEO S. Joe Bhatia traveled to New Delhi to demonstrate support for greater standardization cooperation between the U.S. and India. Along with the CII and BIS, ANSI signed an MOU which recognizes the critical importance of a public-private partnership in the development of effective standards and conformity assessment-based solutions. The MOU also includes the pledge to incorporate Indian content to the Standards Portal between the U.S. and China.
Original Press Release:
ANSI President Travels to India in Support of Greater U.S.-Indo Cooperation
S. Joe Bhatia, president and chief executive officer of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), traveled to New Delhi this week to demonstrate support for greater standardization cooperation between the United States and India.
Mr. Bhatia also traveled to India in January of 2007 to urge leaders from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to work together with the U.S. in the standardization arena.
This afternoon, ANSI and CII came together with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), making a formal commitment to cooperation and establishing a path forward for the advancement of trade between the U.S. and India.
Building upon existing working relationships among ANSI, BIS, and CII, this tripartite agreement recognizes the critical importance of a public-private partnership in the development of effective standards and conformity assessment-based solutions.
A key component of today's MOU signing is the pledge to incorporate Indian content to the Standards Portal, a unique information resource developed last year to provide standards, technical regulations, conformity assessment activities, and trade-related information for the U.S. and the People's Republic of China.
"Through the increased transparency and mutual understanding that the Standards Portal provides, our approaches to standards, conformity assessment, and technical regulations will move closer together, incorporating the best practices of each country," explained Mr. Bhatia in his remarks at the signing ceremony. "Together, we will move one step closer to the concept of 'one standard - one test - accepted everywhere.'"
Earlier this morning, Mr. Bhatia gave the keynote address at the celebration of National Consumer Day. Hosted by the Government of India and the Department of Consumer Affairs, this year's theme was "an enlightened consumer is an empowered consumer."
In his remarks, Bhatia called for an increased partnership between industry, government, and consumers. "To create a safer consumer environment," he said, "we need to make more efficient use of the standards and conformity assessment resources that are already in place, and we need to identify every gap that exists."
Mr. Bhatia went on to cite ANSI's work with the Toy Safety Coordination Initiative to reinforce the consumer product safety system and bolster the integrity of the global supply chain.
