NIST serves as the U.S. government's focal point for standards and conformity assessment activities. NIST programs and activities are designed and conducted to ensure recognition and effective use of U.S. standards domestically and in the global marketplace; to promote worldwide acceptance of U.S. test and calibration data to facilitate the marketing of U.S. products; and to provide standards-related assistance and information to government agencies, industry, trade associations, and exporters.

NIST implements the federal government's standards-related policies and procedures to enhance domestic commerce and international trade. It represents or helps to organize the representation of U.S. interests in matters concerning standardization, product testing, certification, laboratory accreditation, and other forms of conformity assessment. The NIST Standards Services Division (SSD) provides the secretariat for the federal government's Interagency Committee on Standards Policy (ICSP), which implements the Office of Management and Budget Circular No. 119, Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Standards, aimed at harmonizing standards and related programs of federal agencies.

NIST also is responsible for implementing the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA) by coordinating standards and conformity assessment activities among federal, state, and local government agencies and with the private sector. These responsibilities are addressed through focused programs in global standards and information, laboratory accreditation, and standards coordination and conformity. Programmatic activities cover a wide variety of topics concerning standards and conformity assessment and their relationships to domestic commerce and international trade.

return to top of page

Standards and Conformity Assessment Activities in Support of Trade
NIST provides technical information and support to federal agencies and industry to assist in resolving trade issues related to standards and conformity assessment. The Standards Services Division (SSD) monitors developments in standards and conformity assessment activities in the Western Hemisphere, the European Union, Russia and the Newly Independent States, Central Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region, and reports significant events to cognizant agencies and offices throughout the government and the private sector. NIST participates in the activities of interagency groups that establish U.S. government positions on standards-related aspects of major international trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). SSD supports standards-related work in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and other free trade agreements. Furthermore, SSD staff members participate in national, regional, and international private and public organizations concerned with standards and conformity assessment, and contribute their expertise to standards-related working groups.

As part of its responsibilities under the U.S. Trade Agreements Act, NIST maintains the National Center for Standards and Certification Information (NCSCI) to provide research services on standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment procedures for non-agricultural products. NCSCI is the central repository for standards-related information in the United States, with access to U.S., foreign, and international documents and contact points with other members of the World Trade Organization. NCSCI also serves as the U.S. national inquiry point for non-agricultural products under the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade notifying the WTO Secretariat on any proposed U.S. technical regulations that might impact trade. NCSCI manages Export Alert!, a free Internet-based service that automatically notifies interested U.S. businesses and other organizations when the governments of WTO member nations have proposed technical regulations that might significantly affect trade, thus affording interested U.S. stakeholders the opportunity to comment as appropriate.

SSD develops training material and conducts workshops to apprise interested U.S. and foreign individuals of U.S. standards and conformity assessment procedures and policies. NIST conducts a Standards in Trade workshop program for participants from Latin America, Asia, or the Middle East, and supports the Special American Business Intern Training (SABIT) program of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration, helping technical experts from Russia and the Newly Independent States to learn about the U.S. standards system and technology. SSD conducts economic and policy analyses of standards-related issues, and publishes CD ROM, Web-based, and hard copies of information on national, regional, and international standards and conformity assessment.

NIST recommends qualified technical experts for placement by the Foreign Commercial Service (FCS) to work in key U.S. embassies and missions on standards-related and regulatory matters. FCS standards experts are currently stationed in Mexico City, Mexico; Brasilia, Brazil; and Brussels, Belgium (U.S. Mission to the European Union). In addition, NIST has contract employees in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and New Delhi, India. The standards experts work with Department of Commerce Commercial Officers, other U.S. government agencies, U.S. businesses, and foreign organizations to identify and remove technical barriers to trade. SSD provides standards-related training for these experts and for other FCS Commercial Officers prior to their undertaking assignments abroad. NIST provides continuing technical support for U.S. standards advisors and other FCS Commercial Officers abroad, as well as for domestic and international standardization activities of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration.

Contact: Carmiña Londoño