ICC Global Services regional strategy

Because of the unique nature of the U.S. system that encourages public-private partnerships to develop consensus-based codes and standards, the International Codes are applicable to jurisdictions around the world as high-quality model codes. Just as jurisdictions throughout the U.S. turn to the International Codes to save the time, cost and effort that would be required to develop one-off building codes, so jurisdictions around the world view them as the gold standard of model codes and choose to use them as the basis for their own building safety infrastructure.

The International Code Council recognizes that the depth of expertise embodied in members and staff is invaluable to countries and jurisdictions overseas that are working to develop and implement an effective building safety infrastructure, and that the building safety mission transcends borders. The products and services offered by the Code Council and its subsidiaries can become essential tools to help jurisdictions outside of the U.S. to develop the capacity to achieve a safe and resilient built environment.

The Global Services division, sometimes in partnership with regional or multilateral organizations and development banks, works with jurisdictions to develop customized solutions to address their needs. The Code Council’s products or services are currently used in more than 55 countries, impacting nearly two billion people worldwide.

The global need for effective building safety infrastructure is great, and the Global Services group has developed a regional strategy to most effectively pursue opportunities overseas. The most immediate focus is in the regions of the Middle East — where the Code Council will soon be opening its first office outside the U.S. in Dubai to better serve stakeholders in that region — and the Caribbean — where it has just seen the CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality in collaboration with the Code Council successfully publish a regional energy code using the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code and ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2016 as its basis.

The Code Council is committed to working in both of these regions to support regulators and code officials to achieve successful implementation of the high-quality International Codes-based building codes and see resulting improvements in building safety.