May 15, 2006, Edgewater, MD: : Over 70 participants representing 12 countries recently gathered in Annapolis, Maryland, to attend the first International Marine Standards Summit, which was held in conjunction with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 188 Plenary Session. Hosted by the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC), standards developers and industry representatives from France, Sweden, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia, Japan, the U.S. and South Africa assembled to hear presentations from noted marine professionals and government representatives, and to discuss timely and important issues surrounding boating safety, co-recognition as well as harmonization of marine standards and the import/export of marine products. Both events were held at the Loews Annapolis Hotel in Annapolis, MD.

As a result of this Summit, a cooperative atmosphere and tone was set for making real progress towards global harmonization and co-recognition of marine standards. Committees were formed to address the initial action items to include examination of practical steps needed to:

1) establish a single marine standards information source to more effectively communicate about global standards issues; and
2) conduct a Gap Analysis on two major standards areas: capacity and fuel. The Gap Analysis will focus on the 33 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), ABYC standards and ISO standards and also incorporate relevant standards/requirements from other countries such as Australia and Canada.

The next face-to-face meeting of these committees will be at the Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) in Amsterdam in November 2006.

"The summit allowed standards writers and users from around the world an opportunity to better understand the real world challenges each other are experiencing," stated Craig Scholten, Director of Product Compliance for Genmar. Scholten continued, "The need to develop 'internationally recognized' standards is necessary for component and boat builders competing in the global market place. The idea of being able to design, test and certify to a single source or recognized set of requirements would increase the level of consistent product compliance with a major savings in time and dollars."

To jump start the communication between the committee members, Ken Cook Company, a participant at the Summit volunteered to set up and host an online message board/document exchange area for the working committees. Accessible anywhere the Internet is available, when implemented, committee members from around the world will be able to connect to discuss standards issues and manage documents.

Tony Rice, Secretary General of the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) thanked and congratulated ABYC for taking advantage of the TC 188 Plenary meeting here in Annapolis to hold the first International Marine Standards Summit. "It could not be more timely," stated Rice. "The interest shown in this event has been notable. I support achieving mutual recognition, or reciprocity and where possible harmonization if the demand and will power exists, and I am very willing to support a review of both the ISO and ABYC standards to tabulate their differences as the first step in this process."

Held annually, the ISO TC188 participants gather in a different location to review the past year's business and begin plans for the next year. Because the Standards Summit was held in conjunction with this annual event, the ISO group was able to draw some additional technical experts from across the globe.

Francois Abram, ISO Central Secretariat commented that, "Rarely have I seen five continents get together for the ISO forum. Four is a regular occurrence, but five is an achievement."

ABYC has been developing, writing and updating the safety standards for boat building and repair in the United States for over 50 years. ABYC is actively involved with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as well as certification programs for marine technicians. These standards are available on CD-ROM, online (Web-STIR) and in printed form. Membership and general information can be requested by calling (410) 956-1050 or by visiting the ABYC web site at www.abyinc.org.

Editor's Note: High-resolution images of the above photos, as well as other speaker and conference photos are available in electronic format. Contact Caroline Chetelat