BSI enters cooperative agreement with MET Laboratories in North America

PRESS RELEASE

September 6, 2002

BSI and MET Laboratories ( www.metlab.com) have signed a cooperative agreement to expand each company's global testing, registration and certification services. 

"This agreement means that BSI and MET will be well positioned to work together to offer our existing clients and new clients registration, testing and certification," said Robert G Perry, President of BSI Inc.

MET customers will gain access to BSI's services such as BSI's exclusive Kitemark for the British market, CE marking, auditing and certification to the management systems standards. BSI customers in Europe will gain access to MET's services for US and Canadian product certification, while BSI customers in North America will gain access to MET's laboratories for product safety and EMC testing services for Medical, Information Technology and Telecom Equipment.

With offices in USA, Canada and Mexico, BSI Management Systems - part of the BSI Group, the world's largest international standards, testing, registration and certification organization - is North America's leading management systems registrar. As the world's first national standards body (founded in 1901) and a founding member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), BSI facilitated and published the first commercial standards to address quality management systems, environmental management systems, occupational health and safety management systems, and project management.

Since then BSI Management Systems has registered over 40,000 companies worldwide to ISO 9000 (quality management), QS-9000, ISO/TS 16949, ISO 14001 (environmental management), OHSAS 18001 (occupational health and safety), and many other management systems. Many Global 500 companies have chosen BSI as their preferred registrar. BSI's registration and assessment services cover virtually every industrial and commercial sector including automotive, aerospace, chemical and allied processes, and IT/software.

Along with registration and assessment, BSI's other services include standards facilitation, training, product certification, product testing, and CE marking. BSI is a Notified Body for more CE marking directives than any other organization.

Today BSI is a modern, globally respected and dynamic commercial force with a dedicated staff of over 4900 operating in more than 110 countries. It offers delivery through an extensive global network of offices, laboratories and test facilities geared to supporting international business needs. BSI Management System's Americas operation is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

MET Laboratories, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, was founded as Maryland Electrical Testing in 1959. As the customer base quickly expanded beyond Maryland, the name was changed to MET Electrical Testing Company. In the 1970's, MET was among the first laboratories to perform EMI and telecommunications testing to the emerging FCC regulations.

In 1988, MET became the first Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) in the United States for testing and certifying products to UL safety standards. In 1992, MET changed its focus exclusively to testing and certification of electrical products - whether in the laboratory or at customer locations. Consequently, the name changed to the present MET Laboratories. Also in 1992, the MET test report became accepted in 42 countries through the IECEE Certified Body Scheme.

MET has been a pioneer in testing certification services and continues to be in the forefront of the standard's industry. Over the past 35 years, MET and the MET Label have become recognized by States, local jurisdictions, United States government agencies and international bodies.

"Both BSI and MET have outstanding track records of being committed to meeting clients objectives and delivering service that supports manufacturers in bringing products to market on a timely basis," commented Ronald D Mathis, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales for BSI Inc. "Together BSI and MET will be in a position to offer a powerful portfolio of complimentary services to support manufacturers' testing, registration and certifications needs. It will be another testimonial of our companies' dedication to meeting and exceeding our clients' needs."