What Is It and

What Does It Do?

by Jim Pauley, P.E.

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 following 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

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ANSI WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO?

Are you ready with your

building officials, etc.), govAcronyms:
answer? The correct answer
ernmental agencies (Federal,
ANSI American National
is. (g). Many of you probState, local) and users recogStandards Institute
ably picked (a) A standards
nize and look for standards
ANS American National Standard
developing organization as
that are recognized as ANS.
ASC Accredited Standards
your answer. This is a comBy using standards that have
Committee
mon misconception. ANSI
been designated as such,
BSR Board of Standards Review
does not develop stanthey can be assured that the
ExSC Executive Standards Council
dards. Rather, it helps to fastandard has been processed
cilitate the development of
through an open system,
standards by establishing
where consensus was
the guidelines for consensus, due process and open- achieved, and there was ample opportunity for those
ness. Read on to learn more about this critical element affected by the standard to participate and comment.
of the US Standards System.
Standards are presently promulgated as ANS, by any
one of three methods: Committee,Organization and
History
Canvass.
Founded in 1918 by five engineering societies and three
The Accredited Standards Committee (ASC)
government agencies, ANSI remains a private, nonprofit Method is used by developers who chose to form a
membership organization supported by a diverse con- specific accredited committee to do the standards work.
stituency of private and public sector organizations. ANSI For instance, ASC C2 develops the National Electrical
represents nearly 1400 company, organization, govern- Safety Code. The organization providing the development agency, institutional, and international members. ment support is IEEE and they manage the process and
the activities of the C2 committee.
National Standards Activity
The Organization Method is used by organizations
Ask most people about ANSI and the odds are good that choose to establish a set of procedures specific to
that you will hear something about developing stan- their organizational needs. The procedures must also
dards. We all talk about ANSI Standards which leads comply with the ANSI procedures and guidelines, but
us to believe that ANSI actually develops standards. In are typically more extensive in nature. As an example,
fact, ANSI actually accredits many different standards NFPA develops the National Electrical Code under the
developers, including those familiar to the electrical organizational method of ANSI.
industry like NFPA, UL, and IEEE. By being an accredThe Canvass Method of standards development is
ited developer and following the procedures outlined used by a wide variety of standards developers. The ANSI
by ANSI, the developer is allowed to call their finalized procedures outline a specific set of requirements for this
standard an American National Standard (ANS).
method. In this method, a canvass list of interested perDevelopers are not accredited in a haphazard fash- sons is established and this body provides the review
ion. Each developer desiring to become ANSI accred- of the standard that is under development. UL, NEMA,
ited must submit a set of standards development pro- ARI, and a host of other developers use this method.
cedures for ANSI review.
Use of any of the above methods results in a standard
These procedures must be in compliance with the that can be designated as an American National Stanbasic ANSI principles of openness, consensus and due dard. Due process and consensus are the hallmarks of
process. In addition, the developer must undergo an that designation. In all cases, the ANSI process requires a
audit of their procedures and processes at least once public review period. This allows those who did not dievery five years. The purpose of the Audit Program is to rectly participate in the development of the standard to
confirm adherence to the criteria for accreditation and still make comments on the technical content of the stanto confirm that the developers procedures and prac- dard. A single standards developer could have standards
tices continue to be consistent with their approved produced under one or more of these three methods.
procedures and current ANSI requirements.
There are some key groups within ANSI that have reWhy is the designation of an American National sponsibility for portions of this national standards system.
Standard important? It is the glue that holds together Each of these groups exists to ensure that the ANSI process
the private sector based standards system. Without a is maintained, appeals are heard, and procedural issues are
process in place such as that provided by ANSI, we addressed. These are in addition to all of the mechanisms
would likely have more governmental control of the that may exist within the standards developer process.
standards system and less acceptability of the standards
The Board of Standards Review (BSR) The
nationwide. Authorities having jurisdiction (inspectors, Board of Standards Review is responsible for the ap30

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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 questions
or conflicts that develop in the standards approval procedure; and
(2) Determining whether standards submitted to
ANSI for approval or withdrawal as American National Standards meet the requirements of the
ANSI and acting on all requests for approval, reaffirmation, revision and withdrawal of American National Standards.
The BSR is not involved in the content of standards
and does not hear appeals with regard to technical issues. However, the BSR may hear an appeal with regard to whether a technical issue was given due consideration in accordance with the ANSI accredited standards developers procedures.
Executive Standards Council (ExSC) - The Executive Standards Council is responsible for the procedures and criteria for national and international standards development activities of ANSI. The functions of
the Executive Standards Council include, but are not
limited to, the following:
(1) Developing and promulgating procedures and
criteria for the coordination, development, approval and withdrawal of standards as American
National Standards;
(2) Developing and promulgating procedures and
criteria for the coordination, development and approval of United States positions in the international
non-treaty standardization organizations with
which the Institute is or may become affiliated;
(3) Establishing and supervising such groups as are
needed to plan and coordinate the development
of American National Standards and to determine
and coordinate United States positions in international standards activities;
(4) Developing and promulgating procedures for auditing the implementation of procedures and operations given in (1), (2) and (3) above;
(5) Hearing and adjudicating appeals pertaining to
procedural issues and accreditations; and
(6) Considering and responding to public review
comments.
Appeals Board - The Appeals Board considers appeals by directly and materially affected persons (organizations, companies, government agencies, individuals, etc.) who believe they have been, or will be, adversely affected by a decision of ANSI, whether in the
form of action or inaction. In recent years, the Appeals
Board has primarily considered appeals of appeals decisions issued by the Executive Standards Council
(ExSC) or the Board of Standards Review (BSR). How-

ever, the Appeals Board may hear appeals with regard

to the implementation of additional procedural issues.
The importance of the ANSI process and the auditing program should not be underestimated.
Without this National Standards activity, the US standards system would be open to domination by special
interests, have limited acceptance across the country
and would negatively impact US competitiveness.
ANSIs International Role
ANSI is the sole U.S. representative and dues-paying
member of the two major non-treaty international standards organizations, the International Organization for
Standardization(ISO), and, through the U.S. National
Committee (USNC), the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC).
Through the ANSI umbrella, US positions on issues
in IEC and ISO are conveyed to the international community. This role helps the US in maintaining competitiveness in other markets and provides a forum where
concepts in US standards can be promoted into IEC
and ISO standards.
It should be recognized that by participating in IEC
and ISO activities, ANSI is not committing the US to
using those standards on a de facto basis. Standards
that are developed through IEC or ISO and are being
considered for use in the US are (and should continue
to be) processed through the ANSI national standards
system. This will ensure that all US interests have an
opportunity to weigh-in on the standard before it becomes accepted as an American National Standard.
ANSI Membership
The present ANSI membership falls into three categories; Corporate, Government, and Organization.
Corporate membership is for a corporation, partnership or other entity that is created under the laws of
the United States or any State thereof and that is engaged
in industrial or commercial enterprise or professional,
educational, research, testing or trade activity.
Corporate members include companies such as
Square D Company, Caterpillar, AT&T, Microsoft, etc.
Corporate member dues to ANSI are determined based
on a fee structure related to annual revenue.
Government members are departments or agencies of the United States government or of any State,
interstate or regional authority or agency, or any local
or county subdivision of such entities interested in the
work of ANSI. Government members include Broward
County Florida, City of Jacksonville, National Institute
of Standards and Technology, Metro Dade County
Florida, US Department of Defense, etc. Government
member dues to ANSI are determined based on a fee
structure related to their annual budget.
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ANSI WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO?

Organizational members include not-for-profit

scientific, technical, professional, labor, consumer, trade
or other association or organization that is involved in
standards, certification or related activities. Organizational members include Underwriters Laboratories,
International Association of Electrical Inspectors, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, etc. Organizational member dues to ANSI are based on a basic
organizational fee along with a national activity assessment based on the number of standards the member
develops and submits to ANSI (if a standards developer) and an international activity assessment based
on a level of involvement with ISO and IEC (if they
sponsor a technical advisory group or a secretariat).
Membership in ANSI helps not only to support the
voice of the US interests internationally, but more importantly it supports the US infrastructure for a voluntary, consensus-based standards system.
Summary
In summary, ANSI plays an irreplaceable role in the US
standards system. Each participant in the electrical industry (inspector, installer, manufacturer, designer, etc.)

must endeavor to understand the role ANSI plays and

support that role by actively participating in the standards system and in setting the direction ANSI takes in
the future.
One of the key ANSI publications is Standards Action. This document is produced biweekly and indicates what standards are under development and out
for public review. Standards Action is available on the
ANSI web site. This is required reading for anyone involved in the US codes and standards system.
More information about ANSI and ANSI membership
can be found on its web site at www.ansi.org.
Jim Pauley is a registered professional engineer in the state of Kentucky and is manager,
Global Standards Strategy for Square D Company. He serves on NEC Code-Making Panel
No. 2, the NEC Technical Correlating Committee and the NFPA Standards Council. He is
also active with UL, NEMA and the American
National Standards Institue and serves on the Kentucky
Chapter IAEI Executive Committee as well as the IAEI Western Section Board of Directors.

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