The International Code Council entered into a formal strategic partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Administration (ITA) to raise awareness of international standards in construction that are required across the globe. With the shared goals of promoting the use of U.S. building codes and standards and ensuring worldwide public safety in construction and infrastructure, the partnership will encourage global use of the International Codes (I-Codes), the most widely used and adopted set of building safety codes in the world.

ITA helps U.S. companies to succeed globally through international market analysis, trade and export assistance, and the enforcement of trade agreements to ensure a level playing field. The Strategic Partner designation is given to entities that have demonstrated the willingness and ability to work across ITA’s network to achieve the goal of export promotion.

The Code Council frequently serves as the voice of the U.S. building safety and regulatory community in international dialogues and is expanding its global footprint, positioning the organization to contribute to the advancement of ITA’s mission. Under this agreement, the Code Council will continue to collaborate with ITA on several global trade initiatives in the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia, as well as to facilitate transparency and harmonization in codes and standards that impact the built environment.

“With our redefined focus on our global strategy, this new strategic partnership is not only exciting, but it will help us achieve our goals to reach beyond code adoption to help countries successfully implement a cohesive building safety system to achieve a safer built environment,” said Code Council Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO. “At the same time, we will leverage our expertise and international expansion efforts to help U.S. exporters and standards developers in the construction industry to access opportunities overseas.”

The Code Council will soon roll out a Global Building Codes Tool to provide ITA clients with information about the building codes used around the world in one easy-to-access webpage. The tool, scheduled for release this month, will assist U.S. exporters in understanding the building requirements in their target markets.