The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has submitted comments in response to a Federal Register notice by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on the topic of incorporation by reference (IBR). On February 27, 2012, the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) announced a public comment period on a petition filed by a group of academics to amend NARA's regulations governing the approval of agency requests to incorporate materials by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations. The comment period was extended to June 1 from its original close date of March 28. [see related news item]
"This issue impacts the standards community in a number of key ways, especially with respect to defining the reasonable availability of voluntary consensus standards that have been incorporated into regulation," explained S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO.
In its role as the coordinator of the U.S. standards and conformity assessment system, ANSI developed and submitted its response on behalf of the standardization community. The response was informed by comments solicited and received from a broad cross-section of ANSI's membership, which includes industry, standards developers, government agencies, and conformity assessment bodies. [see related news item]
To read ANSI's input, which was submitted on May 31, click here.
The ANSI input document affirms that the U.S. standardization system is a democratic process that thrives on the active participation and engagement of all affected stakeholders. The open, market-driven, and private sector-led nature of the system is critical to achieving the widely shared policy goals of expanded U.S. leadership and innovation on the global stage.
The document goes on to state that decisions made about the U.S. standardization system and its priorities for action reach far beyond our borders, especially when it comes to the continued success of U.S. products, services, and workforce on the global stage.
The document also makes reference to a recent, related white paper authored by ANSI's Intellectual Property Rights Policy Committee (IPRPC) entitled "Why Voluntary Consensus Standards Incorporated by Reference into Federal Government Regulations Are Copyright Protected."