U.S., India enter standards cooperation

U.S., India enter standards cooperation The U.S. International Trade and Development Agency, along with the American National Standards Institute and the Confederation of Indian Industry, on Monday launched the U.S.-India Standards and Conformance Cooperation Program.
   The program seeks to promote trade through improved cooperation between the United States and India on more streamlined and transparent standards, conformity assessment procedures, and technical regulations that apply to the increasing trade volumes between the two countries.
   “India is an important partner for USTDA, and this program is a priority for us both because standards play a key role across all trade sectors in ensuring access, safety and quality for producers and consumers,” said USTDA Acting Director Leocadia I. Zak, in a statement.
   In September 2008, USTDA awarded a $535,300 grant to the Confederation of Indian Industry to establish a program to support technical exchanges on ways to better harmonize standards and regulatory matters between the United States and India.
   In addition to developing a U.S.-India standards portal, sector-specific workshops will be held in India to bring together industry and technical experts in an effort to address standardization and conformance issues, USTDA said.