Introduction to ABNT
Find in this article what is ABNT and why this institution is important for Brazilian companies to be accepted on the international market.
Founded in 1940, ABNT is the institution responsible for technical normalization in Brazil, providing the necessary basis for the technological development of the country.
What is ABNT?
ABNT, short for Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas, is the representative institution of Brazil at ISO (International Organization for Standardization ), being its founding member. The association is also a member of the Mercosur Standardization Association (AMN), of the International Eletrotechnical Committee (IEC) and of the Panamerican Technical Standards Commission (COPANT).
Rather than many people could think, ABNT is a private association that is recognized by the Brazilian government. Their purpose is to develop the Brazilian market, providing automated knowledge, permitting production and commercialization of goods and services, stimulating the market competition.
They have as a philosophy to develop the country while taking care of the environment and defending consumer rights.
How ABNT works?
The association provides many services to companies and also to the population, such as:
Normalization
When society claims for new standards, a committee presents a new project to be analyzed by ABNT, that assists the process, making a national consultation, and if approved, the new standard is presented officially.
Technological Information
ABNT is the responsible for identifying international normalization standards, doing researches in international normalization projects, looking for specific or general points. The good point is that they provide this information on their online collection or via email. Anyone can have access to it. The negative point is that most of this information is only available in Portuguese.
Certification
The association provides quality certificates for goods and services. Having an ABNT certification is important for companies that work inside or outside the country, once with their representative on international agreements, their certificates are accepted in many other countries.
Courses
In order to qualify the internal market, ABNT provides courses about normalization in many sectors, such as transportation, quality and risk management. They have more than twenty themes for their courses.
Fairs and Events
To promote the exchange of ideas and experiences, ABNT is responsible for promoting many fairs and entrepreneurs meetings.
Association ?
ABNT has members associated and anyone can join it, you just have to ask for a member propose, and if approved according to their requirements, your company will have discounts on internal normalization and on international normalization, discounts on courses, win the right to vote on their committees and also receive useful information from other companies in first hand.
The association is respected in the whole country, famous for their professionalism and service quality.
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