Jan 03, 2025

As a representative of a regional, national, or subnational government agency, you may need to be mindful of different considerations than other stakeholders in an ASTM International committee. Fortunately, ASTM offers numerous resources and supports government representatives in a variety of ways.

1) Global Policy and Cooperation (GPC) Staff: GPC staff, located in the U.S. and around the world, can offer supplemental assistance to government representatives navigating government policy objectives, technical regulations, and voluntary consensus international technical standards. GPC team members can help with access, process, and protocol questions, among others. They can also assist with sharing educational or technical information with government bodies.  

2) The MoU Program: Initiated in 2001, ASTM has memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with 125 national and regional standards bodies around the world. Many of these bodies are government-affiliated agencies or departments within government ministries. The program promotes: communication between ASTM and signatory member standards bodies; awareness of each other’s standardization systems; and support for the development of MoU partners’ national standards (which another agency may make mandatory and enforce as technical regulations), minimizing duplication of standardization efforts.

3) The ASTM Open Consensus Process: Share your experience and knowledge with peers, contributing to the creation of critical standards. Show the value to management, colleagues in your agency, and your personal networks. Let them know about ASTM’s openness, global relevance, convening power, and the wide scope of activities, including training and capacity building.

4) Follow Agency Policy and Guidance: At the U.S. federal level, law and policy clearly recommends and encourages engagement in private-sector organizations like ASTM to develop standards that could be useful in addressing public policy or market needs. State and local governments may not have such clear cross-cutting structures in place, so practicality, alignment, and buy-in from management are key. If in-person participation is not possible, take full advantage of ASTM’s virtual and online participation tools, including your MyASTM page.

Feel free to reach out to the GPC team through your staff manager to learn more.