FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1998-01-26

Recognition of Standards Council keeps billion-dollar market open to Canadians

Canadian manufacturers and exporters will be able to use laboratories accredited by the Standards Council of Canada to meet new fastener quality regulations coming into effect in the United States this spring. Canada exports about a billion dollars worth of nuts, bolts and other fasteners to the U.S. each year.

Regulations under the new U.S. Fastener Quality Act, scheduled to take effect in May, require certain fasteners and metals used in fastener manufacture to be tested according to standardized test methods. To ensure that the tests are being carried out and reported properly, the regulations require that laboratories be accredited by a body recognized or approved under the Accreditation Body Evaluation Program (ABEP), managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

NIST recently advised the Standards Council that the specialty area for fasteners of its Program for the Accreditation of Laboratories - Canada (PALCAN) meets ABEP requirements. This came after a NIST team completed an in-depth evaluation of the Standards Council fastener program in the latter half of 1997.

Canadian interests have been working with the Standards Council for some time in anticipation of the new fastener regulations. In December 1996, the Canadian Fastener Institute (CFI) and several laboratories involved in metals and fastener testing strongly encouraged the Standards Council to develop a specialty area within PALCAN that would meet ABEP requirements. To date, four laboratories have been assessed and several others are ready to be assessed.

"We are impressed by the speed with which the Standards Council was able to meet all of ABEP's demanding requirements," said CFI president Leo Cvitkovitch. "Our members now have an effective means to continue providing a broad range of products to our clients in the U.S."

The Fastener Quality Act is the result of a concern by U.S. authorities over reports of "substandard, mismarked and/or counterfeit fasteners" being used in critical applications. According to NIST, nearly 55 per cent of currently available fasteners are subject to the provisions of the Act. The Act applies to manufacturers, importers, heat treaters and platers, and distributors.

This is not the first U.S. approval of PALCAN. Standards Council accredited laboratories are recognized through bilateral agreements in a number of different capacities in the United States, giving Canadian exporters access to laboratory services needed for market access and customer acceptance in areas such as radio interference testing.

"This is a further example of how the Standards Council supports Canadian industry by securing international acceptance of our accreditation programs," said Standards Council executive director Michael McSweeney. "These agreements help to bring about open global markets."

More than 200 laboratories are accredited by the Standards Council, the federal Crown corporation with the mandate to promote efficient and effective standardization.

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