Portable Sanitation Association International

WEEKLY EDITION NOV 9, 2016 ANSI Standard Revisions Now Available – Free To Members PSAI's Executive Director, Karleen Kos, has this to say about the new standards. "The PSAI is proud of its role in setting standards in areas that relate to the organization's mission and purpose. When experts in their own industries - like the portable sanitation industry – take an active role in researching, building consensus, and setting standards rather than waiting for the government to do so, everyone wins. The resulting standards are more likely to reflect best practices and to take challenges into account that would not otherwise find their way into the rule-setting process." ANSI Standards do not have the force of law. However, ANSI does serve as a conduit for information exchange between the public and private sector. ANSI assists in the cross-communication of public-sector views to U.S. organizations and companies and private-sector views to government officials. Staff in ANSI's Washington D.C. headquarters takes the lead in maintaining key government relationships and monitoring public policy issues in the area of standards and conformity assessment. MORE INFORMATION What is ANSI? ANSI is the American National Standards Institute. ANSI itself does not develop standards; instead the organization oversees the development and use of standards by accrediting the procedures of some 220 organizations like the PSAI. The PSAI has been an ANSI- accredited standards developer since the 1990s. What does ANSI accreditation mean? ANSI accreditation signifies that the procedures used by standards developing organizations meet the Institute's requirements for openness, balance, consensus, and due process. There are approximately 9,500 American National Standards that carry the ANSI designation. What does the process involve? The American National Standards process involves: • Consensus by a group that is open to representatives from all interested parties • Broad-based public review and comment on draft standards • Consideration of and response to comments • Incorporation of submitted changes that meet the same consensus requirements into a draft standard • Availability of an appeal by any participant alleging that these principles were not respected during the standards- development process What is ANSI's relationship to ISO? ANSI is the official U.S. representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). When international standards are developed, ANSI approves U.S. Technical Advisory Groups (U.S. TAGs) to develop and transmit, via ANSI, U.S. positions on activities and ballots of the international technical committee. Is the PSAI involved in setting international standards? The PSAI is one of dozens of organizations involved in PC 305 – an international project committee developing a new international (ISO) standard on nonsewered waste systems. We also participate in the US Technical Advisory Group for this new standard. The expected publication date of the standard for nonsewered waste systems is late summer/early fall of 2018. PAGE 7

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