[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 157 (Tuesday, August 13, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42004-42005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-20560]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
[Docket No. 960709188-6188-01]
RIN 0693-XX20
National Voluntary Conformity Assessment System Evaluation
(NVCASE) Program
AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, (NIST)
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: This is to advise the public that the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) received a letter dated May 3, 1996
from the PFS/TECO Corporation requesting the development of a new
program under the National Voluntary Conformity Assessment System
Evaluation (NVCASE) Program to evaluate and accredit third party
product certification bodies which inspect and certify structural use
panels and engineered wood products. The proposed program would provide
a domestic alternative to similar programs currently operated by the
Japanese and Canadian Governments and would allow testing and
certification performed in the United States to be accepted by those
countries on an equal basis as if performed in either of those
countries.
DATES: Comments on this request must be received by October 28, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted in writing to Robert L.
Gladhill, NVCASE Program Manager, NIST, Bldg. 820, Room 282,
Gaithersburg, MD 20899, by fax at 301-963-2871, or email
rlglad@nist.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robert L. Gladhill, NVCASE Program Manager, at NIST, Bldg 820, Room
282, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, by telephone at 301-975-4029, by fax at
301-963-2871 or by email at rlglad@nist.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NVCASE procedures at 15 CFR Part 286
require NIST to seek public consultation when it receives such
requests. This program involves a collection of information subject to
the Paperwork Reduction Act. This collection is approved by the Office
of Management
[[Page 42005]]
and Budget under OMB Control No. 0693-0019.
The text of the request follows:
May 3, 1996, PFS/TECO Corporation, 2402 Daniels Street, Madison, WI
53704
Dr. Manager, NVCASE Program: Please accept this formal request
from PFS/TECO Corporation for NVCASE to develop a specific
evaluation program for third party quality assurance certification
agencies involved in the inspection and certification agencies
involved in the inspection and certification of structural use
panels (plywood and oriented strand board) and engineered wood
panels, structural glued laminated timber, prefabricated wood I-
joists, composite structural lumber, sandwich panels either rigid or
foam), particleboard and construction adhesives used in these
products.
Using the NIST outline for submitting this request, the
following is the background information that should assist NIST in
moving ahead with this application.
Foreign Requirements
PFS/TECO Corporation is applying to NIST for development of a
NVCASE program in the above wood products area in response to
programs currently run by the Japanese Government and the Canadian
Government that currently allow for, or will soon allow for, the
mutual recognition of a NVCASE certified third party quality
assurance certification and inspection agency.
The Japanese program for the wood products and components listed
above is under the direction of the Japanese Agricultural Service
(JAS) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
(MAFF). Dr. Belinda Collins of NIST made a recent presentation to
JAS and MAFF at a Tokyo meeting in which she described the
capability of NVCASE to certify United States third party quality
assurance certification and inspection agencies. This was done to
pave the way for JAS/MAFF to recognize NVCASE certified third party
agencies.
This application is a follow-up to that presentation in that
PFS/TECO has already obtained the first private sector Foreign
Testing Organization (FTO) recognition granted by JAS for plywood,
OSB and engineered wood products. This was done at great expense
(over $500,000) and three years of arduous effort. It would be
beneficial to PFS/TECO to receive NVCASE recognition acceptable to
JAS/MAFF in lieu of the continuing costly trips to Tokyo and costly
audits with Japanese staff coming to the United States to maintain
the current JAS FTO recognition. The audit and maintenance of a
NVCASE recognition would be within the continental United States at
greatly reduced expense to PFS/TECO when contrasted to current JAS/
FTO approval maintenance costs.
The Canadian program is run by the Standards Council of Canada
(SCC) under the SCC ``Criteria and Procedures for Accreditation of
Certification Organizations''. The existing North American Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) allows for mutual recognition by Canada and the
United States of each other country's certified third party testing
laboratories and third party quality assurance certification and
inspection organizations.
PFS/TECO was able to successfully become certified via NIST's
NVLAP program for its wood products testing laboratories which had
led to its mutual acceptance in Canada for wood products testing
purposes. However, with no existing parallel NVCASE program, PFS/
TECO is currently undergoing a difficult, time consuming application
with the SCC in Canada with an estimate time for completion of up to
two years and at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars.
Meanwhile, existing Canadian third party wood product quality
assurance inspection and certification agencies with their prior SCC
approval (obtained years ago as a requirement within Canada) are
readily accepted here in the United States under NAFTA. The quick
development of the NVCASE program for wood products based third
party certification and inspection agencies would put PFS/TECO back
on a ``level playing field'' at, again, a greatly reduced cost and
at a faster turn-around compared to the deliberate, slow pace of the
Canadian SCC approval process.
Industry Sector
As stated in our opening paragraph, the industry sector is wood
panels, engineered wood components and related wood based structural
products and adhesives. These include:
Plywood--Currently certified to NIST/DOC Standard PS1-95
Oriented Strand Board (OSB)--Currently certified to NIST/DOC
Standard PS 2-92
Structural Use Panels--Either PS 1 or PS 2 certified
Additionally, all of the following industry sector are certified
to a wide range of ASTM and ANSI standards and/or PS 2:
Wood Composite Panels
Structural Glued Laminated Timber
Prefabricated Wood I-Joists
Composite Structural Lumber
Sandwich Panels (Rigid or Foam)
Particleboard
Construction adhesives--used in all of the above products
Program Area
The program area would cover product certification only. The
testing laboratory portion is already covered by NVLAP and PFS/TECO
is certified as a testing laboratory for all of the above wood
products or adhesives under NVLAP.
Level of Recognition
The program would involve direct accreditation by NVCASE as the
NAFTA agreement allows reciprocal recognition by Canada by NVCASE
certified third party certification and inspection agencies. PFS/
TECO believes that NIST, via Dr. Belinda Collins, is negotiating
similar reciprocal recognition of NVCASE by JAS/MAFF for use in the
Japanese market segment that PFS/TECO currently serves via its own
FTO certification and engineered wood certification by JAS/MAFF.
Recommended Criteria/Technical Requirements
The recommended criteria would include PS 1-95 and PS 2-92
issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce coupled with a wide range
of ASTM and ANSI standards dealing with the various physical
property testing or measurement approaches for plywood, OSB, and
their related engineered wood components. Please refer to PFS/TECO's
NVLAP accreditation of file at NIST which details the over 50 ASTM
and ANSI standards involved in these various wood products and
components.
Rationale
Covered in the above discussion are the difficulties, costs and
extensive time involved in directly achieving recognition by the
JAS/MAFF for Japan and the SCC for Canada. That alone should suffice
as the justifying rationale for a NVCASE program as Canada via NAFTA
already recognized NVCASE certified third parties and NIST appears
to be successfully negotiating NVCASE recognition with JAS/MAFF in
Japan.
Both Canada and Japan do not recognize other private sector
accreditation approaches or non-Federal government approaches for
third party quality assurance inspection and certification agencies
such as via the model building codes, or via various state
governments. Japan and Canada will only accept, at this time, a
Federal government program such as NVCASE in that it parallels their
own national, centralized governmental approach to certification of
third party organizations.
If this NVCASE program were to move ahead, PFS/TECO believes
that it would ease or further ease market access for the large
segments of the U.S. plywood and OSB industry into Japan or into
Canada. PFS/TECO is aware of approximately ten other U.S. private
sector third party quality assurance inspection and certification
agencies that would benefit by and would probably participate in
this NVCASE program if it were developed into fruition.
After review of the above, please advise what NIST's opinion and
response is. If there are any questions or if I can provide
additional details, please contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Slifka, P.E.,
Executive Vice President.
Interested parties should respond in writing to the above address.
All comments submitted will become part of the public record and will
be available for inspection and copying at the U.S. Department of
Commerce Central Reference and Records and Inspection Facility, Room
6020, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th and Constitution Avenue,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: August 6, 1996.
Samuel Kramer,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 96-20560 Filed 8-12-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-M
