4.2.1.1 Criteria for approval of an American National Standard
With respect to any proposal to approve, revise or reaffirm an American National Standard (including the national adoption of an ISO or IEC standard as an American National Standard) for which one or more unresolved objections have been reported, the BSR shall evaluate whether:
a) the standard was developed in accordance with the procedures upon which the developer was granted accreditation, with particular attention given to whether due process was followed, consensus was achieved, and an effort was made to resolve any objections to the standard;
b) any appeal to the standards developer with respect to the standard was completed;
c) notice of the development process for the standard was provided to ANSI in accordance with PINS or its equivalent;
d) any identified conflict with another American National Standard was addressed in accordance with these procedures;
e) other known national standards were examined with regard to harmonization and duplication of content and if duplication exists, there is a compelling need for the standard;
f) ANSI’s patent policy is met, if applicable;
g) ANSI’s policy on commercial terms and conditions is met if applicable;
h) the standards developer provided the following or evidence thereof:
- title and designation of the proposed American National Standard;
- indication of the type of action requested (that is, approval of a new American National Standard or reaffirmation, revision, or withdrawal of an existing American National Standard);
- a declaration that applicable procedures were followed;
- a declaration that the proposed standard is within the scope of the previously registered standards activity;
- a declaration that conflicts with another American National Standard have been addressed in accordance with these procedures;
- a roster of the consensus body that indicates: the vote of each member including abstentions and unreturned ballots, if applicable; the interest category of each member; and a summary thereof;
- a declaration that all appeal actions related to the approval of the proposed standard have been completed;
- a declaration that the criteria contained in the ANSI patent policy have been met, if applicable; and
- identification of all unresolved negative views and objections, with names of the objector(s), and a report of attempts toward resolution.
If the BSR determines, based on the weight of the evidence presented, that the above-stated criteria have been satisfied, the standard shall be approved as an American National Standard. The BSR shall deny approval, if, based on the weight of the evidence presented, the BSR determines that the American National Standard:
a) is contrary to the public interest;
b) contains unfair provisions;
c) is unsuitable for national use;
or that the ASD has failed to make a good faith effort to resolve conflicts.
Standards approved as American National Standards shall be designated, published, and maintained in accordance with the procedures contained herein. A substantive change that has not been afforded due process in accordance with these procedures may not be made in an approved American National Standard.
The BSR shall not approve standards that duplicate existing American National Standards unless there is a compelling need.
Notice of the BSR’s final action on all standards shall be published in Standards Action.
4.2.1.4 Final notice
Notice of final action on all standards shall be published in Standards Action.
4.4 Designation of American National Standards
A standard that is approved as an American National Standard shall have its cover or title page marked with an approval logo11 furnished by ANSI or the words “an American National Standard.” In addition, American National Standards shall be marked in such a way as to identify the version of the standard or shall be identified by a unique alphanumeric designation in accordance with the guidelines contained herein.
The ANSI approval logo and the words “an American National Standard” shall not be used to identify any standard that has not received approval as an ANS by the ANSI Board of Standards Review or been approved by an accredited standards developer who has been granted authority to designate its standards as American National Standards.
Portions of a published document that were not approved through the ANS consensus process shall not contain requirements necessary for conformance with the approved American National Standard (ANS) and shall be (1) clearly identified at the beginning and end of each such portion of the document, or (2) such information shall be overprinted on the cover page. These portions of the document shall be marked with the following, or similar, explanatory language:
“The information contained in this (portion of a document) is not part of this American National Standard (ANS) and has not been processed in accordance with ANSI’s requirements for an ANS. As such, this (portion of a document) may contain material that has not been subjected to public review or a consensus process. In addition, it does not contain requirements necessary for conformance to the standard.”
American National Standards shall be identified by a unique alphanumeric designation (e.g., ANSI/ASD 123-2021). Multiple designations should be avoided. If a standard has multiple designations, an attempt shall be made by those concerned to arrive at a single designation.
