LamprouMemo30

Memo 30 Describing Events. In 1918, three government agencies and five private sector organizations came together to form a new coordination body, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Their goal was to strengthen the U.S. marketplace position in the global economy while helping to assure the safety and health of consumers and the protection of the environment (ANSI “Overview”). ANSI is a private not-for-profit organization that is not itself responsible for developing standards but for promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards by providing a neutral space and bringing together interested U.S. parties to “work towards common agreements.” ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and, via the U.S. National Committee, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). ANSI coordinates the standardization efforts of diverse interests and standards development organizations. In 2004 ANSI established a Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NPS), a new coordinating body for the development of standards in the area of nanotechnology, in response to a request from the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP). The efforts of the ANSI-NSP are been guided by a Steering Committee formed and co-chaired by representatives of government, industry and the academic community. The panel serves as the cross-sector coordinating body for the purposes of facilitating the development of standards in the area of nanotechnology including, but not limited to, nomenclature/terminology; materials properties; and testing, measurement and characterization procedures. Among the objectives of the ANSI-NSP is to “coordinate and provide a forum for academia, individual industries, standards developing organizations, and governmental entities to define needs, determine work plans, and establish priorities for updating standards or creating new standards;” to facilitate the “development and adoption of standards for identified needs in the area of nanotechnology in general and nomenclature/terminology specifically.”