Second Workshop on Conformity Assessment in the Americas
Oct 01-05, 2001 ( Gaithersburg, MD )
NIST hosted a workshop, entitled "Conformity Assessment in the Americas," during the first week of October, 2001. A selected group of 17 experts from Central America, the Caribbean, selected and the United States discussed conformity assessment practices and enforcement issues. The objective was to explore possible joint projects to facilitate trade in the Americas.
The workshop addressed: (1) quality systems certification; (2) third party product certification; (3) self-declaration of conformance; (4) the use of the private sector in regulatory conformity assessment; and (5) product safety and performance.
The workshop participants recommended several action items, such as collating lists (by NIST) of official contacts throughout the region in order to provide alerts when the U.S. Government (or other countries) ban importation of items that might otherwise be trans-shipped, and working collectively to increase effective hemispheric participation in international fora.
+ Objectives
- Discuss conformity assessment practices relevant to the market needs of the participating countries.
- Discuss types of conformity assessment appropriate to the product or service.
- Identify the present and future direction of conformity assessment requirements (legislative, regulatory and/or technical) in the participating countries.
+ List of Participating Organizations
Country |
Organization |
Barbados |
Ministry of Commerce Consumer |
Bolivia | Instituto Boliviano de Normalizacion y Calidad (IBNORCA) |
Bolivia | Viceministro de Industria y Comercio Interno |
Dominica | Dominica Bureau of Standards |
Ecuador | MSTQ System |
Grenada | Grenada Bureau of Standards |
Guatemala | Ministry of Economy/National Quality System Department |
Guyana | Guyana National Bureau of Standards |
Honduras | Secretaria Industria y Comercio |
Jamaica | Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Technology |
Nicaragua | Ministerio de Fomento, Industria y Comercio |
Paraguay | Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia y Normalizacion (INTN) |
Paraguay | Ministerio de Industria y Comercio |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | Bureau of Standards |
Saint Lucia | Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Bureau of Standards |
Venezuela | Fondo para la Normalización y Certificación de la Calidad (FONDONORMA) |
Venezuela | Servicio Autonomo Nacional de Normalizacion, Calidad, Metrologia y Reglamentos Tecnicos (SENCAMER) |