American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - Ansi On The World Stage, Ansi And The Internet

A private, non-profit organization that works to coordinate voluntary standards, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the hub of all standards-related policy decisions in the United States. It is the primary U.S. body that coordinates the efforts of industry, consumer, and governmental standards developers, and is the sole organization that accredits other U.S. standards organizations. With offices in New York City and headquarters in Washington, D.C., ANSI's mission is to boost the competitiveness of U.S. business and the American quality of life by ensuring the U.S. voluntary standardization system is well coordinated and promoted. Therefore, ANSI sees to it that U.S. businesses and industries maintain an adequate performance level for products, services, and processes, ideally keeping in mind the range of affected interests.

ANSI has played an important role in U.S. commerce for many years. It was founded in 1918 by a coalition of five engineering societies and three government agencies. The organization generates funding through its membership, which is comprised of nearly 1,000 private and public sector members, including individual companies, organizations, governmental agencies, institutions, and international organizations.

Mainly a service to the U.S. private sector and its position in the global economy, ANSI also works closely with governmental organizations. ANSI often coordinates its efforts with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's technology administration. A key area of activity is conformity assessment. Through its accreditation process, ANSI oversees the moves made by manufacturers and others to incorporate voluntary standards. ANSI confers the "American National Standard" (ANS) designation upon those organizations that meet its basic guidelines of due process, openness, balance, and consensus in setting and meeting the organization's voluntary standards.

ANSI does not, however, actually write or implement standards. Rather, the organization acts as a consensus-generating facilitator between various groups devoted to developing standards specific to their areas of concern. In this way, ANSI eschews a top-down approach to standards development, leaving the various sectors with autonomy in creating standards appropriate to the conditions they face. ANSI simply seeks to ease the standards into use with an eye toward a holistic look at U.S. competitiveness and quality-of-life issues.