| Abstract | Proponents of new and innovative construction products do not want to limit their products to one geographical area. They are looking at expanding their sales to other countries and even build new manufacturing plants abroad to supply manufactured construction goods. With today's communication facilities and the Internet, the world is becoming a global village. Therefore, construction products that may improve quality of life are being sought for import and export from all corners of the globe. However, these manufacturers face many challenges in exporting their products including high cost in repeating tests and analysis for technical assessment. Presently, there are no means of recognition for the technical assessment from one country to another. This paper highlights the different Canadian organizations that support manufacturers wanting to export their product and possibly obtain a technical assessment where required. Assistance provided by Canadian organizations is discussed and the Canadian Construction Materials Centre (CCMC) work on the international scene is presented with examples of how CCMC has interfaced on behalf of Canadian clients. This paper discusses CCMC experience with Russia, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom, with particular emphasis on the type of different agreements achieved and methods of approval accepted by these countries. It examines more closely construction products with a technical assessment in Canada and the need for a new assessment in another country. The paper looks at the performance requirements and technical assessment differences from one country to another, international standard testing procedures as a means of acceptance for product assessment and the testing laboratories accreditation and test results validation. This will represent a beginning to facilitate the understanding of differences between technical assessment in countries and establishing similar performance requirements while applying international testing |
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