Standards News

U.S.-Based Standards Organizations to use $399,500 Commerce Department Award to Establish Presence in China. Consortium Aims to Identify and Remove Non-Tariff Barriers to Trade.
On October 13, 2004,, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it would make $399,500 available for the establishment of an office in Beijing for China Standards and Conformity Assessment. The CSCA office is an initiative by a four-member consortium: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), The American Petroleum Institute (API), ASTM International, and CSA America.
Consortium members have a significant knowledge base and resources for standards and conformity assessment in a broad array of industry sectors
including: consumer products, medical devices, manufacturing components, tools, petroleum & gas extraction/processing/distribution, power generation, building materials, boilers, and compressed gas.
Through its CSCA office in Beijing, the consortium will form relationships with peer agencies in China, monitor standards development, and promote acceptance of members’ standards and conformity assessment systems. Once established and staffed, the CSCA Beijing office will prepare Chinese marketing materials and a website, obtain market and standards information of strategic importance, network with government agencies and standards officials, and conduct training.
“The Commerce Department is pleased to partner with ASME, API, ASTM International, and CSA America on this project,” said Ben Wu, nominee for Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy nominee. “This partnership reflects the Bush Administration’s commitment to opening new markets, growing better American jobs and creating an environment for businesses to innovate, compete and prosper.”
The funds awarded to the consortium are made available through the Commerce Department’s Market Development Cooperator Program (MDCP), a public-private partnership developed to help small and medium-sized U.S.
Firms expand exports that support jobs. The MDCP is a competitive program of the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration. The program builds partnerships by providing financial and technical assistance to non-profit organizations involved in improving competitiveness and developing foreign markets. The consortium will match every federal dollar with two dollars of its own.
Ben Wu, President Bush’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy, made the announcement this evening at the U.S.
Celebration of World Standards Day 2004. The event, which culminated with a dinner at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., was attended by representatives of about 50 trade associations, professional societies, standards development organizations, corporations, and government agencies.
World Standards Day recognizes the important role standards play in meeting the technical needs of business, government, and consumers. The U.S. event was organized by the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology and the American National Standards Institute, in cooperation with the Aerospace Industries Association.
For more information about the Market Development Cooperator Program, please visit the “continued” link below.