American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is pleased to have this opportunity to respond to Docket No. PHMSA-2012-0142 on “Implementing Incorporation by Reference Requirements of Section 24 of the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011.” As PHMSA may already be aware, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) recently solicited comments on a Federal Register notice dealing with the issue of incorporation by reference. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has also recently solicited comments on whether and how to supplement Circular A-119, “Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities.” Because many of the issues raised by PHMSA mirror those in the NARA and OMB requests for comments, ANSI is submitting a copy of its NARA and OMB responses herewith. Both of these comments address why incorporation by reference (IBR) matters to ANSI and to the standardization community. The documents also provide an overview of the U.S. standardization system, and offer the Institute’s thoughts on reasonable availability and the public-private partnership. With respect to the OMB response, the IBR information on pages 6 and 7 may be most germane to PHMSA. To summarize, the U.S. government’s announced policy under OMB Circular A-119 is to “observe and protect” the right of copyright holders when incorporating by reference into law voluntary consensus standards. The very purpose of this policy is to permit the government to benefit from the efficiencies of the voluntary consensus standards development process. ANSI appreciates this opportunity to share more information about the U.S. standardization system, and welcomes further dialogue on this critical issue. We thank you for this opportunity to provide comments.