FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                  NIST 94-27
June 13, 1994

Contact:  Roger Rensberger              U.S./UKRAINE TO HARMONIZE
          (301) 975-2762                STANDARDS TO IMPROVE
                                        INTERNATIONAL TRADE

     To enhance trade between the United States and Ukraine,
the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and
Technology and the State Committee of Ukraine for
Standardization, Metrology, and Certification (DERJSTANDART) have
signed a memorandum of understanding on scientific and technical
cooperation to remove non-tariff trade barriers between the two
countries.

     The MOU in the fields of standards and metrology was
completed on May 28, 1994, at the first informal meeting of the
U.S./Ukraine Standards Working Group in Kiev.  The meeting was
hosted by Yuriy D. Severinov, president of DERJSTANDART.

     A U.S. delegation of industry and government officials
interested in standards-related trade issues between the United
States and Ukraine was led by Stanley I. Warshaw, director of the
Office of Standards Services at NIST.

     The memorandum between NIST and DERJSTANDART recognizes the
growing importance of the harmonization of standards and
conformity assessment measures to improve international trade.

     At the Kiev meeting, U.S. and Ukrainian standards officials
endorsed a recommendation that the Executive Committee of the
Joint Commission on Trade and Investment adopt the Standards
Working Group under its auspices.  The first meeting of the JCTI
Executive Committee will be held July 1994 in Kiev.  The JCTI was
formally established in March 1994 during a visit to the United
States by Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk.

     The aim of the Standards Working Group will be to explore
mutually advantageous avenues of cooperation, including the
promotion of international standards and product acceptance
criteria.

     Warshaw notes that Ukraine has adopted a law known as the
Act on the Protection of Consumer's Rights for which DERJSTANDART
has established a product certification program, called
"UkrSEPRO."  This requirement is similar to Russia's Consumer
Protection Law of 1993, which mandates the certification mark of
that country.  The Ukraine program requires that all goods,
materials and foods be certified before they are placed in the
Ukraine marketplace.  

     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.

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NOTE TO EDITORS:  For information on the U.S./Ukraine Standards
Working Group, contact Mary Saunders, Office of Standards
Services, A603 Administration Building, NIST, Gaithersburg, Md.
20899-0001, (301) 975-4000, fax:  (301) 963-2871.