Recent United States efforts to eliminate trade barriers caused by standards, text methods, and conformity assessment

The objectives of the project are to present and evaluate recent United States efforts eliminating trade barriers caused by standards, test methods, and conformity assessment. The project reviews activities and events at the federal, state, and local levels within public and private agencies in coordinating standards development and conformity assessment, and their harmonization with international systems and standards.; Artificial barriers to U.S. exports caused by the European Union's systems for standards and conformity assessment and internal harmonization activities will be evaluated. Some of the associated economic impacts on U.S. international trade will be demonstrated.; While there are a variety of efforts addressing these trade barriers, the pace and status of forming an U.S. infrastructure to support and coordinate standards development and conformity assessment appears inadequate.; A spreadsheet model is proposed for inputting, managing, and categorizing data and information relative to the details of artificial trade barriers.