--H.R.3824--

H.R.3824

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,

the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight

An Act

Amending the Fastener Quality Act to exempt from its coverage certain fasteners approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for use in aircraft.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. AMENDMENT.

Section 15 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C. 5414) is amended--

(1) by inserting `(a) TRANSITIONAL RULE- ' before `The requirements of this Act'; and

(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:

`(b) AIRCRAFT EXEMPTION-

`(1) IN GENERAL- The requirements of this Act shall not apply to fasteners specifically manufactured or altered for use on an aircraft if the quality and suitability of those fasteners for that use has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration, except as provided in paragraph (2).

`(2) EXCEPTION- Paragraph (1) shall not apply to fasteners represented by the fastener manufacturer as having been manufactured in conformance with standards or specifications established by a consensus standards organization or a Federal agency other than the Federal Aviation Administration.'.

SEC. 2. DELAYED IMPLEMENTATION OF REGULATIONS.

The regulations issued under the Fastener Quality Act by the National Institute of Standards and Technology on April 14, 1998, and any other regulations issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology pursuant to the Fastener Quality Act, shall not take effect until after the later of June 1, 1999, or the expiration of 120 days after the Secretary of Commerce transmits to the Committee on Science and the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, a report on--

(1) changes in fastener manufacturing processes that have occurred since the enactment of the Fastener Quality Act;

(2) a comparison of the Fastener Quality Act to other regulatory programs that regulate the various categories of fasteners, and an analysis of any duplication that exists among programs; and

(3) any changes in that Act that may be warranted because of the changes reported under paragraphs (1) and (2).

The report required by this section shall be transmitted to the Committee on Science and the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives, and to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, by February 1, 1999.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.

END