Mark Your Calendars for the 2023 CANENA Annual Meeting!
The 2023 CANENA Annual General Meeting will occur in person in Mexico City the week of February 20-24, 2023. This meeting will mark CANENA’s 30th anniversary, marking a major milestone for regional collaboration on developing harmonized standards in the Americas with the benefit of greater economic integration. There is a lot to celebrate, including 110 safety-designated harmonized product standards recognized as National Standards of Canada, Mexico, and the United States and the collaborative efforts by all members that dedicated their time and expertise to create and maintain these standards. Registration will open on Nov. 1, 2022.
Call for Nominations for CANENA Leadership Award
CANENA is currently accepting nominations for the 2023 CANENA Leadership Award to honor a member who has shown strong interpersonal and leadership skills and demonstrated exceptional support for CANENA harmonization efforts by understanding and skillfully applying the CANENA process and procedures. Submit your nomination to CANENA Secretary Danny Abbate (daniel.abbate@nema.org) no later than Nov. 1, 2022.
CANENA to Sponsor IEC 2022 General Meeting
The 86th IEC General Meeting is from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, 2022, in San Francisco, Calif.,. To further demonstrate CANENA’s commitment to providing a regional platform for discussion of international standardization, CANENA has been confirmed as a sponsor for the meetings. CANENA members are invited to benefit from the IEC GM being run in the North Americas and attend in large numbers.
Member Renewals for 2023
The 2023 Membership drive will soon go live! 2022 Memberships run from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 as a calendar year and do not roll over to the following year.
Memberships fund CANENA and its essential operations to support regional harmonization of electrotechnical product safety standards between the countries of the Americas. Choosing CANENA for standards harmonization ensures the output reflects regional institutions, their values, and installed infrastructure. Our commitment to you is to keep the cost low and allow a significant number of CANENA projects. We thank you for your support. Member renewal registration will open on Nov. 1, 2022.
UL Has Become an Approved Standards Developing Organization in Mexico
On Feb. 4, 2020, UL Standards & Engagement was granted authorization as a national standardization body by the General Directorate of Standards (DGN) of the Ministry of Economy. With this authorization, UL Standards & Engagement became the first organization permitted to develop standards in each of the three countries that make up the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The Mexican government granted the authorization as a precursor to the historic introduction of the Quality Infrastructure Law (QIL), a new regulatory framework that has become a mechanism to advance the standardization and conformity assessment system in Mexico. The QIL was created to align the Mexican system with the new trends and requirements of the USMCA and the needs of the Mexican market. Additionally, it became a platform to permit new types of actors as national standardization bodies, thus opening and strengthening the system further.
This shift was a progressive transition that took the standardization system away from heavy public management and allowed it to be driven more by the private sector. The intent was to add value to the quality infrastructure framework of the country while supporting innovation and technological advancement in concert with the government’s public policy objectives.
UL Standards & Engagement has taken firm steps to strengthen and add value to the fire protection ecosystem. With the help of more than 70 experts, UL is developing standards that address issues such as the positive pressure of fire for door assemblies, stationary centrifugal pumps for fire protection services, visible signaling devices for fire alarms and signaling systems, and personal flotation devices (also known as lifejackets). A consensus of the committee members is developing these standards to reflect the specific needs of Mexico. A clear example is a Mexican standard based on UL 448, Centrifugal Stationary Pumps for Fire-Protection Service, in the publication process. This is the first Mexican standard developed within the UL Standards and Engagement Committee.
Commitment to the UL mission governs all its current actions and plans for creating better standards that benefit all of society. The organization will continue to promote international collaboration to create shared value and provide stakeholders and partners with the tools to improve products, provide confidence and acquire knowledge about compliance with safety standards.
