What’s up with the ACCT Draft Standards?

The public comment period on the draft standards closed on January 24th, 2023, and during that period 1,729 comments were received from 79 different individuals. In the intervening time the ACCT Board, who represents the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) Accredited Standards Developer (ASD), and the body they convene to process the draft (the Consensus Group) have met multiple times to discuss the best path forward.

We want to thank everyone that got involved in the process including the Consensus Group, the volunteers that worked on the draft standards, and all those that submitted comments about the draft. The vast amount of feedback seems to indicate that the current draft may not be the direction the industry wants to pursue at this time.

While the ACCT Board and the Consensus Group work to determine the best path forward, here are a few options for getting involved and staying informed: 

The ACCT has convened a Task Force to review the standards development process:

ACCT is an ANSI (the American National Standards Institute) Accredited Standards Developer, otherwise known as an ASD. All ASDs are periodically audited by ANSI. These audits review the policies and procedures for drafting and publishing standards and provide feedback. The ACCT recently received the results of their latest audit and has been working through the recommendations, including updating the Accredited Procedures.

As such the ACCT, led by the Board of Directors, has convened a Task Force to bring together a diverse group of contributors from across the association to move forward with that review. ACCT members with experience in technical writing, standards development and/or an understanding of the ANSI process are encouraged to apply through the normal volunteer process. Fill out a volunteer application to get involved here.

The Consensus Group is seeking new members:

The ACCT Consensus Group now has two openings in the General Interest Category. If you have an interest in Standards and are wondering if you fit into this category, the General Interest category includes representatives with a variety of perspectives that are neither Vendors nor Users. Examples include, and are not limited to regulatory agencies, trade associations (that represent interest other than Vendors and Users), standards writing organizations, consumer groups, environmental groups, and researchers.

If you think you're a good fit, or you just want to learn more about the Consensus Group head over to their page for more info and a link to the application. We keep applications on file for all categories and contact those applicants when appropriate openings happen. If you have questions and want to talk to us about whether you might be a good fit for this category, contact us.

The Board of Directors and the Consensus Group meet monthly, and all meetings are open to the public.

The link to the BOD meeting schedule and agendas can be found here and the link to the Consensus Group meeting schedule can be found here. You will need to fill out a join request in advance of the meetings.