The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recently submitted comments to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)'s Office of the Federal Register (OFR) regarding an October 2013 Federal Register notice on issues related to incorporation by reference (IBR) of voluntary consensus standards into government laws and regulations. In its response, ANSI reiterated its support for a flexible, multifaceted approach to making IBR standards reasonably available. The OFR notice, a partial grant of petition and notice of proposed rulemaking, was released in response to a February 2012 petition calling for the amendment of OFR's regulations regarding U.S. government agency requests to reference standards and other documents within the Code of Federal Regulations [see related story]. The 2012 petition argued that government's current use of incorporation by reference failed to provide reasonable availability to individuals seeking information about the contents of IBR standards.
In its comments, ANSI stressed the importance of continued collaboration between standards developing organizations (SDOs) and the government, noting the U.S. government's reliance upon voluntary consensus standards and ongoing support for and participation in the development of these standards.
The full text of ANSI's response is available online. The original OFR notice can be accessed in the Federal Register.
ANSI strongly encourages all affected members of the ANSI Federation and other relevant stakeholders to submit their own comments. All comments to OFR/NARA must be received by January 31, 2014, and may be submitted by email to [email protected] or online at www.regulations.gov.