U.S. Standards Community Celebrates World Standards Day 2009

(ANSI: New York) -- Nearly 250 members of the standards and conformity assessment community gathered in Washington, D.C., on October 7 for the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day 2009. The exhibition, reception, and dinner marking the occasion focused on the theme "Standards for Environmental Stewardship."

The event is co-chaired each year by the American National Standards Institute [1] (ANSI) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology [2] (NIST). Underwriters Laboratories Inc. [3] (UL) served as this year’s administrating organization in celebration of their 115th anniversary.

“World Standards Day is a global event and here in the United States our celebration is made possible through the input and collaboration of many organizations,” says S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO. “In the same way, the U.S. standards and conformity assessment system relies upon the involvement and cooperation of many diverse stakeholders. It is a partnership between those who develop standards and compliance systems, and those who use them.”

The evening’s festivities included an announcement of the winner of the 2009 Ronald H. Brown Standards Leadership Award. The recipient, Jim Sanford, assistant U.S. trade representative for Market Access and Industrial Competitiveness, was honored for his outstanding contributions to the use of standardization to reduce trade barriers.

Also announced during the celebration were the winners of the World Standards Day Paper Competition. Denis Leonard, who was unable to attend, won the first place prize of a check for $2,500 and a commemorative plaque for his paper, “Facilitating Environmental Stewardship Through Integrated Management Systems, Standards and Assessment Programs: A Focus on Sustainable Buildings.” The paper will be published in the Standards Engineering Society’s (SES) journal, Standards Engineering.

A second place prize of $1,000 was awarded to Greg Monty for his paper, “Democracy, Standards and Behaviors to Sustain Our Earth.”

Celebrated annually each October, World Standards Day pays tribute to the thousands of volunteers around the world who participate in standardization activities and helps to raise awareness of the role that standards play in addressing national and global priorities. The global celebration is coordinated by the principal international standards organizations—the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

More information about the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day 2009 is available at www.wsd-us.org [4].