A Call to Action to Strengthen U.S. Competitiveness
Initiative to Enhance
Commerce Department Standards Activities

Impact of Standards and Technical Regulations on Trade

The United States has a strong and diverse tradition of developing and using voluntary standards to support the needs of our citizens and the competitiveness of our nation's industry. These voluntary consensus standards for products, processes, and services underpin our nation's economy and are crucial factors in our international competitiveness. Yet, our nation faces new challenges as the international standards landscape changes in combination with increases in competition from other countries.

Standards and standards-related technical regulations are pervasive features of global commerce, affecting an estimated 80 percent of world commodity trade. These technical specifications make up much of the vocabulary in the exacting language of industry, consumer protection, and government regulation. As such, foreign standards and methods used to assess conformity to standards can either facilitate efficient international trade and its resultant benefits, or they can impede access to export markets. Divergent standards peculiar to a nation or region, redundant testing and compliance procedures, unilateral and non-transparent standard setting exercises, and a confusing thicket of other standards-related problems are now recognized as major impediments to free trade.

Over the course of the last several months, a number of industry associations and companies have highlighted foreign standards development and technical regulation as an issue of increasing importance for U.S. exports. There is a sense from industry that the U.S. Government, specifically Commerce, could do more to reduce the barriers to export markets caused by foreign governments' adverse policies on standards and technical regulatory requirements.

The Department of Commerce is already actively engaged, both directly and in coordination with other agencies, in the following activities: ensuring the recognition and use of globally relevant and internationally recognized standards both domestically and in the global marketplace; promoting worldwide acceptance of competent test and calibration data to facilitate the trade of products; and providing assistance to other government agencies, industry, trade associations, exporters, and standards developing organizations through its operations, training programs, and information programs. It also works with other U.S. government agencies and foreign governments to resolve foreign standards-related market access problems brought to its attention by U.S. industry.

Standards Initiative Framework

In response to industry concerns, the Commerce Department has developed an eight-point initiative to augment current activities as an effective framework to address the relationship between foreign standards and the international competitiveness of U.S. companies.

1. Developing a Commerce Global Standards Activity Assessment: The Department of Commerce has a defined leadership role to play in standards and technical regulatory issues pursuant to authorities vested under the 1979 Trade Agreements Act and the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act. Accordingly, the Secretary of Commerce will task the Technology Administration, through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to conduct a standards activity assessment of all existing Commerce Department programs and efforts to reduce standards-related barriers in foreign markets. The Department will also work with other Federal agencies to include an inventory of existing government programs and initiatives in this assessment in order to help effectuate stronger coordination in the management of Federal interagency standards activities. Based upon the findings of the Standards Activity Assessment, recommendations will be made to the Secretary for future action.

In conducting the assessment, the Department will solicit input from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and its member domestic and international standards developers, as well as from the private sector generally. Additionally, suggestions from advisory committees through the authorities to whom they report, such as the proposed President's Export Council subcommittee on technology and competitiveness and the Industry Functional Advisory Committee (IFAC) on Standards, as well as comments from related U.S. Government interagency groups such as the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), will be solicited. A framework for this assessment will be developed in April 2003, with a report to the Secretary expected in January 2004.

2. Reinforcing Expertise in Key Markets: The Commerce Department currently has standards liaisons based in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East to assist U.S. businesses and foreign governments in their standards development. NIST and the International Trade Administration (ITA) have developed a new, redesigned, intensive training program for standards liaisons posted abroad; other U.S. Government agency experts will be included in the training curriculum as appropriate. During the spring of 2003, the liaisons assigned to the U.S. Mission for the European Union and to Mexico will participate in the training program. This network of standards liaisons will also be strengthened based on recommendations coming from the Standards Activity Assessment and from input from the U.S. standards community.

3. Devising an Effective Training and Outreach Program: NIST and ITA, in cooperation with U.S. standards development organizations and with U.S. industry, will develop a standards training program for all Commerce Department Foreign Commercial Service officers so that all U.S. officers posted worldwide have sufficient understanding and knowledge of the importance of standards in international trade. This will enable Foreign Commercial Officers to advocate more effectively for globally relevant and internationally recognized standards in key foreign markets.

4. Creating a "Best Practices" Database: Working with its offices abroad, other government agencies, and industry, the Commerce Department will assemble a database of "best practices" with useful information relating to standards, technical regulations, and market access in foreign markets. This database will serve as a toolkit for Departmental staff to work more effectively with U.S. industry to address the challenges they face and to undertake stronger efforts to advocate standards and conformity assessment procedures in markets around the world.

5. Expanding the Early Warning System: The Commerce Department will strengthen and expand "Export Alert!," a free, web-based service to disseminate market intelligence and information on standards developments in key priority foreign markets in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

6. Partnering with the President's Export Council on Standards Leadership: The Commerce Department will support the development of a dialogue on standards within the proposed President's Export Council subcommittee on technology and competitiveness. The subcommittee would provide advice and suggestions on global standards issues for the Council's consideration to include in its overall recommendations for U.S. policy. The subcommittee will be encouraged to reach out to other industry associations and coordinate with advisory committees, such as the IFAC on Standards, so that the plan is complementary to, and supportive of, existing private sector efforts.

7. Reaching out to U.S. Industry: The Commerce Department will host a series of industry-specific roundtables to gather input from U.S. industry on the most pressing standards issues and priority foreign markets. Information and transcripts from the roundtables will be shared with NIST and other interested parties in the development of the Standards Activity Assessment and related recommendations for action.

8. Appointing a Liaison at the International Trade Administration: A senior official will be named to act as ITA's Standards Liaison with U.S. industry. The ITA Liaison will ensure that industry's priorities on standards are promoted through the Commerce Department's international policies and programs, and will work closely with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and other U.S. Government agencies on how to address these priorities in U.S. trade agreements. The Liaison will also work closely with NIST's Standards Services Division to strengthen coordination on technical and policy issues affecting industry and its international competitiveness.