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Welcome to ASTMin the International Arena

2012 Officers’ Training Workshop

Jeff GroveJim Olshefsky

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• Global Objectives

• Global Acceptance and Use of ASTM Standards

• Global Policy Initiatives

• MOU Program

• International Membership

• Engagement

• Your suggestions and thoughts

What We Will Cover

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To ensure that ASTM International standards that you develop are the most widely recognized, accepted and used standards around the world

ASTM International’s Global Aim

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Global Cooperation Objectives

Minimizing the barriers to the use and application of ASTM International standards

Facilitating increased active participation by technical experts from around the globe

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WTO / TBT Principles ASTM Principles

Transparency Transparency

Openness Openness

Impartiality and consensus

Impartiality and consensus

Effectiveness and relevance

Effectiveness and relevance

Coherence Coherence

Consideration of developing nations

Consideration of developing nations

International Standards

“Constraints on developing countries, in particular to effectively participate in standards development should be taken into consideration in the standards

development process.”

Who Uses the Standards?

5906 citations of ASTM standards that have been adopted, referenced or used

as the basis of a national standard around the world.

• China – 683

• Colombia – 1213

• Ecuador – 329

• Jamaica - 530

• Philippines – 518

• Saudi Arabia – 1764

• South Africa – 538

• Trinidad and Tobago – 261

• Turkey – 826

• Vietnam - 162

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MOU Objectives

• Promote communication • Avoid duplication of work efforts in standardization• Promote knowledge of the standards development activities of

each partner• Utilize ASTM standards/resources to benefit the national

standards system of developing nations• Promote participation to enhance international input and

multi-dimensional content into ASTM standards• Enhance the worldwide acceptance and use of ASTM

International standards

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8* Former MOU partner

ASIA EUROPE LATIN AMERICA CARIBBEAN MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA* BOLIVIA BELIZE BAHRAIN BOTSWANA

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM BOSNIA CHILE CROSQ EGYPT CONGO

CHINA BULGARIA COLOMBIA DOMINICA GCC (GULF STATES) ETHIOPIA

INDONESIA CROATIA COSTA RICA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

IRAQ GHANA

KOREA KAZAKHSTAN ECUADOR GRENADA ISRAEL KENYA

MALAYSIA MOLDOVA EL SALVADOR GUYANA JORDAN MAURITIUS

MONGOLIA ROMANIA* GUATEMALA JAMAICA KUWAIT MOZAMBIQUE

NEPAL RUSSIA HONDURAS ST. LUCIA MOROCCO NIGERIA

PAKISTAN SERBIA PANAMA ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

OMAN RWANDA

PHILIPPINES PERU TRINIDAD & TOBAGO PALESTINE SADC

SINGAPORE NICARAGUA QATAR SOUTH AFRICA

SRI LANKA URUGUAY SAUDI ARABIA SWAZILAND

TAIWAN TUNISIA TANZANIA

VIETNAM TURKEY UGANDA

U.A.E. ZAMBIA

YEMEN ZIMBABWE

MOU Partners

Standards Expert Program

• 2005 (2) - China

• 2006 (3) - Indonesia, Vietnam, Zambia

• 2007 (2) – Colombia, Saudi Arabia

• 2008 (2) – Peru, Korea

• 2009 (4) - China, Ghana, Israel, Jamaica

• 2010 (2) – South Africa, Vietnam

• 2011 (3) – Jordan, Malaysia

•2012 (4) – Mongolia, Zimbabwe, Qatar, Turkey

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Training Offered to MoU Signatories

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Vanessa Corona and Luis Ordoñez

ASTM International in Mexico

ASTM International in China

Liu Fei and Hu Yanan

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ASTM International in India

Jayakumar Gopalakrishnan

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ASTM International in Europe

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Multiple Paths to International Standards ASTM International and the U.S. Government, a WTO member, believe that there are

many ways to develop international standards.

Reflected in:

• U.S. Standards Strategy

• http://www.ansi.org/standards_activities/nss/usss.aspx

• U.S. Department of Commerce

• http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/standards/International%20Policy.htm

ASTM Relationship to ISO

Both international standards developers

Different standards systems and participation models

Industries need to develop a standards strategy that meets their needs

• Minimize duplication

• Harmonize where possible – biofuels and toys

• Respect intellectual property

May be multiple paths in an industry’s standards strategy

Some industries rely on ASTM to serve as ISO Technical Advisory Group (TAG) Administrator or Secretariat (ASTM currently houses 55 U.S. TAGs)

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Resources for US Technical Advisory Groups

(US TAGS)

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17* Former MOU partner

International Members

AFRICA - 3.5% AUSTRALASIA - 27.5% CANADA - 22.2% EUROPE - 22.8% MIDDLE EAST - 6.1% SO/LATIN AMERICA - 17.9%

Engaging International Participation

• Virtual Meetings

• Online Collaboration Areas

• Electronic Balloting

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ASTM International uses the Internet to overcome the barriers of space and time

Connecting Virtually

Year Meetings Countries Participants

2008 13 14 130

2009 23 37 440

2010 14 18 175

2011 15 27 185

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Online Collaboration Areas

• Allows task group members to comment on Draft

• Includes discussion threads, post related documents

• Over 1700 Collaboration Areas in progress

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Electronic Balloting

3300 standards actions per year Increases international participation Over half of ballot actions are revisions to

existing stds

Other Engagement Opportunities

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Videoconferencing

Meetings Outside U.S.

Delegation Visits

Intensive Training

Delegation Visits

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In 2011, 11 delegations from 7 countries U.S. Trade and Development Agency Commercial Law Development Program

Videoconferencing

• ASTM has portable equipment at Headquarters

• Other conference participant must have compatible equipment

• Many countries have such facilities housed at universities (different

from Virtual Meetings)

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Meetings Outside U.S.

• ASTM often speaks to international audiences

• Will work with industry partners to promote ASTM

• Often need in-country experts to present on behalf of ASTM

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Intensive Training

• New model for training

• Headquarters, Committee Week, Washington DC,

• Site visits

• Primarily industry and government funded

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KATS

To Conclude

The ASTM Process is Open and Inclusive to anyone anywhere in the world

ASTM supports cooperation with regional and other international standards bodies

ASTM strives to keep the science in the process, while keeping the politics out

ASTM works to remove worldwide barriers to the acceptance and use of our standards

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Thank you for Attending!

Any Questions?

Jeff Grove: jgrove@astm.orgJim Olshefsky: jolshefs@astm.org