Conformity Assessment in the Americas 23-27 April 2001
NIST and private sector representatives cosponsored a workshop, entitled "ConformityAssessment in the Americas," during the week of April 23, 2001. Experts from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and theUnited States discussed conformity assessment practices and enforcement issues.The objective was to explore possible joint projects to facilitate trade inthe Americas. The non-NIST sponsors were the AmericanNational Standards Institute (ANSI) and IntertekTesting Services (ITS) .
The workshop addressed: (1) quality systemscertification; (2) third party product certification; (3) self-declaration ofconformance; (4) the use of the private sector in regulatory conformity assessment;and (5) product safety and performance.
At the closing, the workshop participants recommended several action items, such as collating lists (by NIST) of official contacts throughout the region in order to provide alerts when the U.S. Government (or other countries) ban importation of items that might otherwise be trans-shipped, and working collectively to increase effective hemispheric participation in international fora.
For further information please contact: Ileana Martinez (301) 975-2766; ileana.martinez@nist.gov
Libby Parker (301) 975-3089; libby@nist.gov
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