Press Releases
ABYC Standards Moving Towards ANS Designation
June 30, 2004, Edgewater, MD: Making further progress toward aligning its consensus-based standards development process with the revised American National Standards Institute (ANSI) guidelines, the American Boat & Yacht Council's (ABYC) Technical Department recently attended the ANSI seminar, American Way: ANS Process. ABYC's goal is to integrate the ANSI guidelines more efficiently and expeditiously into its consensus-based standards development process.
As the administrator for the ANSI/ABYC Technical Advisory Group to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 188 that deals with Small Craft, John Adey, ABYC Technical Director said, "Adhering to ANSI guidelines in the development of our standards is one of our major end goals." "As an ANSI Accredited Standards Development Organization (SDO), ABYC places high priority on revising our policies and procedures to ensure a fair and open process is maintained in order to protect industry and the rights and interests of every participant," stated Adey.
Starting this year, all ABYC Standards under review will be submitted for approval by ANSI to receive the American National Standard (ANS) designation. Such a designation will mean that as each ABYC standard is revised, it will be validated by a third party organization to ensure that the process is consistent and is aligned with other ANSI Accredited SDO's.
"As we look toward revising our standards development procedures to keep pace with a rapidly changing industry and technologies, we must maintain a fair, balanced and open process," stated Skip Burdon, ABYC's President. "In working closely with ANSI, I am confident that ABYC will not only have a fair and open process, but also a modern process that is responsive to the needs of our industry and to the boating public at large," Burdon concluded.
ABYC has been developing, writing and updating the safety standards for boat building and repair in the United States for 50 years. ABYC is actively involved with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as well as certification programs for marine technicians. These standards are available on CD-ROM and in printed form. Membership and general information can be requested by calling (410) 956-1050 or by visiting the ABYC website at www.abyinc.org.
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