By now most people are aware that ISO 9001 is in the process of being revised, with a planned release date of some time in 2015. Reactions from users range from mild curiosity to excitement to extreme trepidation.

ISO 9001 is much more than a standard. It should be part of a company’s strategic plan rather than something to get certified to because customers require it. The guidelines and quality principles in ISO 9001 are just good business practices.

This article is about accreditation of conformity assessment bodies. Before proceeding further, however, it is important to provide some definitions in order for all of us to have the same understanding of key terms.

The first term is “conformity assessment body” (CAB). According to ISO/IEC 17000 a conformity assessment body is “the body that performs conformity assessment services.”

With new treatments for disease, test suites that safeguard computers, and even expertise to rescue miners trapped thousands of feet underground, federal laboratories have a wealth of technologies and know-how that can give U.S. companies a competitive edge and improve quality of life.

These science and technology resources were developed in response to national challenges, but they also can be valuable assets for private industry and academia as well as other government agencies.

There are several programs on the market that provide information to consumers about energy efficiency. However, the ENERGY STAR program, a joint effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is likely the best known program.

During a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony, the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) unveiled a new laboratory designed to demonstrate that a typical suburban home for a family of four can generate as much energy as it uses in a year.

The United States already has one of the highest direct fire loss rates among developed nations, and progress in reducing this tremendous burden is slowing.

Fires claim more than 3,000 lives a year, injure more than 90,000 firefighters and civilians, and impose costs and losses totaling more than $300 billion—equivalent to about 2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.

T he International Organization for Standardization (ISO) develops and publishes more than 19,200 voluntary international standards that bring benefits for businesses, governments, and society. But how do the standards contribute to the economic returns of countries and companies? What is the bottom line?

A new versatile measurement system devised by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) accurately and quickly measures the electric power output of solar energy devices, capabilities useful to researchers and manufacturers working to develop and make next-generation solar energy cells.

Editor's note: The following interview with ANSI CEO, Joe Bhatia, first appeared in the June 2012 edition of ISO Focus+ magazine and is reproduced with the kind permission of ISO Central Secretariat.