ANSI to Translate U.S./China Standards

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, www.nist.gov) awarded a $250,000 matching grant to support the development of an American National Standards Institute (ANSI, www.ansi.org)-sponsored U.S./China Standards Portal. The Web site will provide online educational materials on the Chinese and U.S. standards systems, as well as translated titles and scopes of up to 1,000 selected standards used in the countries.

According to a recent survey of members of the U.S.-China Business Council (www.uschina.org), standards ranked sixth among the top 10 concerns of U.S. companies, up from eighth a year earlier. NIST believes the ANSI U.S.-China standards Web site can help clear up some of the confusion U.S. companies have regarding the application of standards when conducting business in China. Likewise, the Web site is expected to assist Chinese business in applying standards in the United States.

Developed in consultation with ANSI members and constituents, the U.S./China Standards Portal will feature translations of key bibliographic information pertaining to 1,000 of China’s mandatory national standards and Chinese translations for a comparable number of U.S. standards. The free site will include information on the structure and operation of the standards systems in both nations.

The site is scheduled to launch by the third quarter of 2006.

— Flow Control Staff