SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000 29

What Is It andWhat Does It Do?

T he American National Standards Institute (ANSI)— Most in the electrical industry have heard of it,but do you really know what it does? Take the fol-

lowing short quiz:

The American National Standards Institute is:(a) A standards developing organization (like UL, IEEE,

NFPA, etc.)(b) A facilitator of standards development(c) A federal government body (like NIST, DoD, etc.)(d) The US representative to international standards

organizations (ISO, IEC)(e) All of the above(f) Both “a” and “b”(g) Both “b” and “d”

by Jim Pauley, P.E.

30 IAEI NEWS

ANSI – WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO?

Are you ready with youranswer? The correct answeris…. (g). Many of you prob-ably picked (a) “A standardsdeveloping organization” asyour answer. This is a com-mon misconception. ANSIdoes not develop stan-dards. Rather, it helps to fa-cilitate the development ofstandards by establishingthe guidelines for consensus, due process and open-ness. Read on to learn more about this critical elementof the US Standards System.

HistoryFounded in 1918 by five engineering societies and threegovernment agencies, ANSI remains a private, nonprofitmembership organization supported by a diverse con-stituency of private and public sector organizations. ANSIrepresents nearly 1400 company, organization, govern-ment agency, institutional, and international members.

National Standards ActivityAsk most people about ANSI and the odds are goodthat you will hear something about developing stan-dards. We all talk about “ANSI Standards” which leadsus to believe that ANSI actually develops standards. Infact, ANSI actually accredits many different standardsdevelopers, including those familiar to the electricalindustry like NFPA, UL, and IEEE. By being an accred-ited developer and following the procedures outlinedby ANSI, the developer is allowed to call their finalizedstandard an American National Standard (ANS).

Developers are not accredited in a haphazard fash-ion. Each developer desiring to become ANSI accred-ited must submit a set of standards development pro-cedures for ANSI review.

These procedures must be in compliance with thebasic ANSI principles of openness, consensus and dueprocess. In addition, the developer must undergo anaudit of their procedures and processes at least onceevery five years. The purpose of the Audit Program is toconfirm adherence to the criteria for accreditation andto confirm that the developers’ procedures and prac-tices continue to be consistent with their approvedprocedures and current ANSI requirements.

Why is the designation of an American NationalStandard important? It is the glue that holds togetherthe private sector based standards system. Without aprocess in place such as that provided by ANSI, wewould likely have more governmental control of thestandards system and less acceptability of the standardsnationwide. Authorities having jurisdiction (inspectors,

building officials, etc.), gov-ernmental agencies (Federal,State, local) and users recog-nize and look for standardsthat are recognized as ANS.By using standards that havebeen designated as such,they can be assured that thestandard has been processedthrough an open system,where consensus was

achieved, and there was ample opportunity for thoseaffected by the standard to participate and comment.

Standards are presently promulgated as ANS, by anyone of three methods: Committee,Organization andCanvass.

The Accredited Standards Committee (ASC)Method is used by developers who chose to form aspecific accredited committee to do the standards work.For instance, ASC C2 develops the National ElectricalSafety Code. The organization providing the develop-ment support is IEEE and they manage the process andthe activities of the C2 committee.

The Organization Method is used by organizationsthat choose to establish a set of procedures specific totheir organizational needs. The procedures must alsocomply with the ANSI procedures and guidelines, butare typically more extensive in nature. As an example,NFPA develops the National Electrical Code under theorganizational method of ANSI.

The Canvass Method of standards development isused by a wide variety of standards developers. The ANSIprocedures outline a specific set of requirements for thismethod. In this method, a canvass list of interested per-sons is established and this body provides the reviewof the standard that is under development. UL, NEMA,ARI, and a host of other developers use this method.

Use of any of the above methods results in a standardthat can be designated as an American National Stan-dard. Due process and consensus are the hallmarks ofthat designation. In all cases, the ANSI process requires apublic review period. This allows those who did not di-rectly participate in the development of the standard tostill make comments on the technical content of the stan-dard. A single standards developer could have standardsproduced under one or more of these three methods.

There are some key groups within ANSI that have re-sponsibility for portions of this national standards system.Each of these groups exists to ensure that the ANSI processis maintained, appeals are heard, and procedural issues areaddressed. These are in addition to all of the mechanismsthat may exist within the standards developer process.

The Board of Standards Review (BSR) – TheBoard of Standards Review is responsible for the ap-

Acronyms:ANSI – American NationalStandards InstituteANS – American National StandardASC – Accredited StandardsCommitteeBSR – Board of Standards ReviewExSC – Executive Standards Council

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000 31

ANSI – WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO?

proval and withdrawal of American National Standards.The functions of the Board of Standards Review include,but are not limited to, the following:

(1) National Standards and adjudicating questionsor conflicts that develop in the standards ap-proval procedure; and

(2) Determining whether standards submitted toANSI for approval or withdrawal as American Na-tional Standards meet the requirements of theANSI and acting on all requests for approval, re-affirmation, revision and withdrawal of Ameri-can National Standards.

The BSR is not involved in the content of standardsand does not hear appeals with regard to technical is-sues. However, the BSR may hear an appeal with re-gard to whether a technical issue was given due con-sideration in accordance with the ANSI accredited stan-dards developer’s procedures.

Executive Standards Council (ExSC) - The Ex-ecutive Standards Council is responsible for the proce-dures and criteria for national and international stan-dards development activities of ANSI. The functions ofthe Executive Standards Council include, but are notlimited to, the following:

(1) Developing and promulgating procedures andcriteria for the coordination, development, ap-proval and withdrawal of standards as AmericanNational Standards;

(2) Developing and promulgating procedures andcriteria for the coordination, development and ap-proval of United States positions in the internationalnon-treaty standardization organizations withwhich the Institute is or may become affiliated;

(3) Establishing and supervising such groups as areneeded to plan and coordinate the developmentof American National Standards and to determineand coordinate United States positions in inter-national standards activities;

(4) Developing and promulgating procedures for au-diting the implementation of procedures and op-erations given in (1), (2) and (3) above;

(5) Hearing and adjudicating appeals pertaining toprocedural issues and accreditations; and

(6) Considering and responding to public reviewcomments.

Appeals Board - The Appeals Board considers ap-peals by directly and materially affected persons (orga-nizations, companies, government agencies, individu-als, etc.) who believe they have been, or will be, ad-versely affected by a decision of ANSI, whether in theform of action or inaction. In recent years, the AppealsBoard has primarily considered appeals of appeals de-cisions issued by the Executive Standards Council(ExSC) or the Board of Standards Review (BSR). How-

ever, the Appeals Board may hear appeals with regardto the implementation of additional procedural issues.

The importance of the ANSI process and the audit-ing program should not be underestimated.

Without this National Standards activity, the US stan-dards system would be open to domination by specialinterests, have limited acceptance across the countryand would negatively impact US competitiveness.

ANSI’s International RoleANSI is the sole U.S. representative and dues-payingmember of the two major non-treaty international stan-dards organizations, the International Organization forStandardization(ISO), and, through the U.S. NationalCommittee (USNC), the International ElectrotechnicalCommission (IEC).

Through the ANSI umbrella, US positions on issuesin IEC and ISO are conveyed to the international com-munity. This role helps the US in maintaining competi-tiveness in other markets and provides a forum whereconcepts in US standards can be promoted into IECand ISO standards.

It should be recognized that by participating in IECand ISO activities, ANSI is not committing the US tousing those standards on a de facto basis. Standardsthat are developed through IEC or ISO and are beingconsidered for use in the US are (and should continueto be) processed through the ANSI national standardssystem. This will ensure that all US interests have anopportunity to “weigh-in” on the standard before it be-comes accepted as an American National Standard.

ANSI MembershipThe present ANSI membership falls into three catego-ries; Corporate, Government, and Organization.

Corporate membership is for a corporation, part-nership or other entity that is created under the laws ofthe United States or any State thereof and that is engagedin industrial or commercial enterprise or professional,educational, research, testing or trade activity.

Corporate members include companies such asSquare D Company, Caterpillar, AT&T, Microsoft, etc.Corporate member dues to ANSI are determined basedon a fee structure related to annual revenue.

Government members are departments or agen-cies of the United States government or of any State,interstate or regional authority or agency, or any localor county subdivision of such entities interested in thework of ANSI. Government members include BrowardCounty Florida, City of Jacksonville, National Instituteof Standards and Technology, Metro Dade CountyFlorida, US Department of Defense, etc. Governmentmember dues to ANSI are determined based on a feestructure related to their annual budget.

32 IAEI NEWS

Organizational members include not-for-profitscientific, technical, professional, labor, consumer, tradeor other association or organization that is involved instandards, certification or related activities. Organiza-tional members include Underwriters Laboratories,International Association of Electrical Inspectors, Na-tional Electrical Manufacturers Association, etc. Orga-nizational member dues to ANSI are based on a basicorganizational fee along with a national activity assess-ment based on the number of standards the memberdevelops and submits to ANSI (if a standards devel-oper) and an international activity assessment basedon a level of involvement with ISO and IEC (if theysponsor a technical advisory group or a secretariat).

Membership in ANSI helps not only to support thevoice of the US interests internationally, but more im-portantly it supports the US infrastructure for a volun-tary, consensus-based standards system.

SummaryIn summary, ANSI plays an irreplaceable role in the USstandards system. Each participant in the electrical in-dustry (inspector, installer, manufacturer, designer, etc.)

must endeavor to understand the role ANSI plays andsupport that role by actively participating in the stan-dards system and in setting the direction ANSI takes inthe future.

One of the key ANSI publications is Standards Ac-tion. This document is produced biweekly and indi-cates what standards are under development and outfor public review. Standards Action is available on theANSI web site. This is required reading for anyone in-volved in the US codes and standards system.

More information about ANSI and ANSI membershipcan be found on its web site at www.ansi.org.

Jim Pauley is a registered professional engi-neer in the state of Kentucky and is manager,Global Standards Strategy for Square D Com-pany. He serves on NEC Code-Making PanelNo. 2, the NEC Technical Correlating Commit-tee and the NFPA Standards Council. He isalso active with UL, NEMA and the American

National Standards Institue and serves on the KentuckyChapter IAEI Executive Committee as well as the IAEI West-ern Section Board of Directors.

ANSI – WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO?

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