The United States considers voluntary consensus standards to be a fundamental factor in the nation’s economy and a vital tool in the advancement of global commerce.

 

For more than 100 years, the nation’s standards, along with the related conformity assessment systems, have been developed through a complex but effective system administered by the private sector and supported by government. Representatives of industry, academia, consumers, and government are all actively involved.

 

Because the U.S. standards system is so diverse, a central framework has been developed to help identify where there are standardization needs to be met, opportunities to do better, and good work to reaffirm. This framework is documented in the United States Standards Strategy (USSS).

 

The USSS supports the view that standardization activities should be driven by the marketplace and adhere to the set of globally accepted principles for standards development expressed during the Second Triennial Review of the World Trade Organization's Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement. Modern circumstances require that all segments of our global society work together more closely for mutual benefit. The U.S. view of the future focuses on forging new and solidifying existing partnerships with counterparts around the world, and working in active collaboration with them to carefully examine marketplace and societal issues and to develop standards-based solutions to address those needs.