| On October 3-7, 2005, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hosted the International Workshop on Mutual Recognition Agreements for Telecommunication Equipment in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Organization of American States, Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (OAS CITEL), and the Telecommunication Certification Body Council (TCBC). The United States Government is involved in three Mutual Recognition Agreements/Arrangements (MRAs) for telecommunication equipment: 1) U.S.-EU MRA , 2) APEC Tel MRA , and 3) CITEL MRA . Each of these agreements is at different stages of implementation with various countries. This workshop was designed to assist regulatory authorities, designating authorities, accreditation bodies, test laboratories, certification bodies, and all other interested parties in keeping up with new and changing technical regulations governing telecommunications equipment around the world. Participants included approximately 160 Government and industry representatives from 19 countries, 5 continents, and 3 regions including Australia, Barbados, Brazil, British West Indies, Canada, Dominican Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Paraguay, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela. There were many instructive and thought-provoking presentations and discussions on how various telecom regulatory authorities are successfully implementing technical programs to implement MRAs and/or their efforts to work towards this goal, as well as presentations on advanced technologies such as 3G, Ultrawide Band, Smart Antenna, MIMO, and Zig Bee Technology. For more information, please click on the links below: |
