ANSI President and CEO S. Joe Bhatia Elected President of Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT)
NEW YORK, April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- S. Joe Bhatia, president and CEO of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), was elected to a two-year term as president of the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT) during the group's annual General Assembly, held April 21–26, 2013, in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia. Mr. Bhatia – who replaces outgoing COPANT president Sergio Toro of Chile's Instituto Nacional de Normalización (INN) – previously served as COPANT's vice president.
COPANT is a multinational organization tasked with promoting standards and conformity assessment activities in the Americas and worldwide. The group is made up of 28 National Standards Bodies (NSBs) from the Americas, as well as 8 adherent members from other parts of the world.
"A key part of ANSI's mission is to facilitate the partnerships that lead to the strongest standardization solutions for national and global priorities. In my four years as COPANT vice president, I saw firsthand how COPANT can be a terrific forum for fostering that kind of collaboration in the Americas and beyond," Mr. Bhatia said. ANSI serves as the coordinator of the U.S. voluntary standardization system, and is the U.S. member body to COPANT and other regional and international standards and conformance forums.
"My election as COPANT president demonstrates U.S. commitment to international standardization and to our important trade partners in the region," Mr. Bhatia continued. "I expect my role will help to raise awareness of international standardization within U.S. government and industry, and contribute to the spirit of regional and international cooperation that drives the standardization community."
Participants in the 2013 COPANT General Assembly were given the opportunity to attend talks, presentations, and workshops covering a variety of important subjects related to standardization. These events included an April 23 workshop, Sustainable Construction in Commercial Buildings through Building Codes and Standards, where Mr. Bhatia provided opening remarks.
The General Assembly provides a forum to advance standardization activities in the Americas, and offers opportunities for U.S. interests to share information, network with standards and conformance bodies from the region, and build important relationships that support trade and economic growth. During the assembly, ANSI and the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Normalización (INEN), Ecuador's national standards body, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in support of greater U.S.-Ecuadorian cooperation on issues related to standards and conformity assessment.
About ANSI
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness and the American quality of life by promoting, facilitating, and safeguarding the integrity of the voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. Its membership is made up of businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, government agencies, and consumer and labor organizations. ANSI represents the diverse interests of more than 125,000 companies and organizations and 3.5 million professionals worldwide.
The Institute is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and is a U.S. representative to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). ANSI also serves as a U.S. representative to a number of other international and regional standardization forums, including the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT), the Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC), and the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC).
About COPANT
The Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT) is a non-profit multinational organization made up of more than two dozen national member groups from the Americas, as well as affiliated adherent members representing countries in other regions of the world. The group is focused on promoting the advancement of standards and conformity assessment work throughout the Americas.
SOURCE American National Standards Institute
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