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Overview[]

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a private, non-profit organization that coordinates the U.S. private sector's voluntary standardization efforts. Its goal is to enhance U.S. global competitiveness by facilitating voluntary consensus standards and information sharing to minimize overlap and duplication of U.S. standards-related efforts.[1]

ANSI facilitates the development of American National Standards (ANSs) by accrediting the procedures of standards-developing organizations (SDOs).

ANSI promotes the use of U.S. standards internationally, advocates U.S. policy and technical positions in international and regional standards organizations, and encourages the adoption of international standards as national standards where they meet the needs of the user community.

ANSI represents the interests of its nearly 1,400 company, organization, government agency, institutional and international members. ANSI does not itself develop American National Standards (ANS), but facilitates development by establishing a consensus among qualified groups.

ANSI is the dues paying member and sole U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In the United States, any group that participates in ISO must first participate in ANSI.

ANSI accredits standards developers to create standards. The businesses, professional societies and trade associations, standards developers, and government agencies that make up its nearly one thousand members work together to develop voluntary national consensus standards.

The InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) serves as ANSI's Technical Advisory Group (TAG).

References[]

  1. A December 2000 memorandum of understanding between ANSI and NIST establishes the organizations' agreement on a unified national approach to developing national and international standards. The memorandum states that ANSI is the representative of U.S. interests in international standards-developing organizations.

See also[]

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