The future for ANSI

Abstract

s " Integrity " is the single most important word in ANSI's mission to " enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems and safeguarding their integrity. " Integrity takes many forms in the ANSI community, but it starts with a sense of community based on a shared desire to fulfill the ANSI's mission. This common cause enlightens the self-interest that drives the actions of the participants and allows the community to build the consensus it requires to function. The participants' desire to protect their investment of time and resources in the process provides them with a pragmatic motive for defending the integrity of the system. NSI's new strategic plan has five goals, all of which contribute to the integrity of the ANSI process and output. The first goal seeks greater cohesion among participants in order to create an effective, integrated, and cooperative standards community which is private, sector-led, and government supported. However, the integrity of this community must be built on more than political consensus and compromise; it must rest on a solid foundation of value. Because there must be value in the processes and value in their output, the ANSI community must ensure that funding mechanisms do not undermine the cohesion and therefore the integrity of the Institute. The second goal seeks to increase (a) diversified participation in ANSI, (b) the use of American National Standards in the private and public sectors, and (c) awareness of the meaning and value of American National Standards and ANSI's role in the national and international standards community. In order to widen support for its mission, it is essential that the community reach out and communicate the value of its activities to a broader audience. ANSI's third goal, the timely provision of relevant products and services that meet the needs of the voluntary standards community and the general public, focuses on value. ANSI will provide value in three ways: as a national policy forum on standardization issues, as a national accreditor of standards developers and conformity assessment systems, and as a source of information and education on standardization for the country and our trading partners. The importance of ANSI as an information provider is increased by the enormous influence that public notice of standards actions has on the integrity of the system as a whole. …