NIST Launches "Notify U.S." Service to Benefit U.S. Companies

On July 1, 2005, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, will launch Notify U.S., a free Internet-based service that electronically notifies interested businesses when foreign governments propose regulations that might influence the treatment of U.S. exports.

Available from NIST’s Technology Services’ National Center for Standards and Certification Information (NCSCI), Notify U.S. can spare businesses and other organizations from unwanted surprises sometimes caused by unanticipated changes in technical requirements that dictate terms of market entry.

Notify U.S. will gather, organize and disseminate notifications of proposed regulatory changes issued by any of 148 countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), WTO Members are required to report proposed central government and sub-central government regulations that may have an impact on trade.

WTO Members submit these TBT notifications to the WTO Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. In turn, the Secretariat distributes the notifications to designated TBT inquiry points in Member countries. In the U.S., the WTO TBT inquiry point is NCSCI, part of the Global Standards and Information Group in the Standards Services Division, Technology Services, NIST.

By electronic mail, Notify U.S. automatically sends WTO-distributed notifications to registered organizations and individuals. Notifications are sorted among 41 fields of activity that range from health-care technology to agriculture to construction materials. Users can specify the fields of activity that they wish to track. They also can monitor developments in selected countries or regions, such as Japan or the European Union.

In addition to describing the proposed regulation, notifications list the country of origin, the product covered and the deadline for comments. Interested users can read the full texts online or contact NCSCI to receive full-text copies of the proposals. The U.S. WTO TBT inquiry point also will submit comments from U.S. organizations to the notifying country.

Notify U.S. is expected to make it easier for U.S. companies to stay on top of foreign technical regulations that affect their overseas business. Early warning should help to ensure that U.S. organizations have adequate lead time to review and comment on proposed regulations—and perhaps head off regulations judged to pose a barrier to trade.

Last year, WTO members issued more than 700 TBT-related notifications. The largest numbers were issued in the areas of chemical technology, food technology, road vehicle engineering, and health care technology.

Notify U.S. will strengthen NIST’s standards information services and support the roles that standards play in society, especially commerce and industry. Standards are agreed-upon specifications designed to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose. Examples are common formats for exchanging information between computers, performance requirements for building materials and "plug and play" specifications for electronic appliances.

U.S. organizations and individuals interested in using the Notify U.S. service can register online at http://www.nist.gov/notifyus/. For additional information, contact NCSCI at 301.975.4040 or notifyus@N0SPAM.nist.gov .