FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:             NIST 94-19
April 25, 1994

Contact:  Roger Rensberger         U.S./RUSSIA STANDARDS GROUP
          (301) 975-2762           TO PROMOTE INTERNATIONAL
                                   TRADE


     U.S. and Russian participants at the third meeting of
the Intergovernmental U.S./Russian Business Development
Committee's Standards Working Group in Moscow, May 24-25, 1994,
will define areas of mutual interest in automotive products,
telecommunications equipment, pharmaceuticals and medical devices
for the acceptance of conformity assessment measures between the
two countries to promote international trade.

     A U.S. delegation of more than 20 industry and government
officials interested in standards-related trade issues will be
led by Stanley I. Warshaw, director of the Office of Standards
Services at the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of
Standards and Technology.

     The meeting will be hosted by the State Committee of
the Russian Federation for Standardization, Metrology, and
Certification, known as GOSSTANDART.  Warshaw and Serguei F.
Bezverkhi, president of GOSSTANDART, co-chair the Standards
Working Group.

     The agenda for the May 1994 meeting will focus on priority
items in a joint statement, "Partnership for Economic Progress."
This document on the principles and objectives for the
development of trade, economic cooperation and investment between
the United States and the Russian Federation resulted from
a meeting of the Presidential Business Development Mission
and the U.S./Russian Business Development Committee in Moscow,
March 28-30, 1994.

     The statement reads in part:  "The two sides consider
cooperation in international standardization and openness of
conformity assessment indispensable to eliminating or avoiding
the creation of technical barriers to trade, and intend to
proceed vigorously with the program of work agreed upon in the
Joint Communiqu‚ on Cooperation in Conformity Assessment issued
in Moscow on Dec. 16, 1993, at the conclusion of the meetings of
the Joint Commission on Technological Cooperation led by Vice
President Albert Gore and Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin." 
The communiqu‚ commits NIST and GOSSTANDART to develop mutual
recognition agreements, or MRAs, for the acceptance of test data
required for product certification.

     Under SWG, NIST and GOSSTANDART will establish procedures
whereby the Russian government will accept test data from
laboratories accredited by the U.S. government that are found
competent to test products for compliance with the requirements
of the Russian Consumer Protection Law of 1993.

     Jan Kalicki, U.S. ombudsman and counselor to the Departments
of State, Commerce and Energy, stated at the March 1994 meeting
that:

o    despite the fact that the U.S. health and safety standards
     and certification system is acknowledged as the best in the
     world, Russia does not recognize U.S. test results or
     product certification;

o    lack of Russian testing facilities and high fees for
     retesting U.S. products are a rapidly growing impediment 
     to trade.  Significant delays in the export of tele-
     communications and other equipment are being reported; and

o    the U.S./Russia SWG must have the support of the highest
     levels of government to resolve this.

     The Intergovernmental U.S./Russian Business Development
Committee was established in 1992 by the U.S. Commerce Department
and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations.  The 
aim of SWG is to explore mutually advantageous avenues of
cooperation, including promotion of international standards and
product acceptance criteria.

     As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's
Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by
working with industry to develop and apply technology,
measurements and standards.

                                   -30-

NOTE TO EDITORS:  The U.S. SWG delegation also has been invited
to meet with Ukrainian standards interests and Yuriy D.
Severinov, president of the State Committee of Ukraine on
Standardization, Metrology, and Certification, in Kiev on 
May 26-27, 1994.  For information on SWG, contact Mary Saunders,
Office of Standards Services, A603 Administration Building, 
NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-4000, fax:  
(301) 963-2871.