[Federal Register: December 15, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 240)]
[Proposed Rules]               
[Page 69969-69975]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15de99-21]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

15 CFR Part 280

[Docket No. 980623159-9316-03]
RIN 0693-AB47

 
Procedures for Implementation of the Fastener Quality Act

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Bureau 
of Export Administration and the Patent and Trademark Office, United 
States Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Director of the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (NIST), United States Department of Commerce, and the Under 
Secretary of the Bureau of Export Administration, United States 
Department of Commerce, and the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and 
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, United States Department of 
Commerce, request comments on proposed changes to the regulations 
pertaining to the implementation of the Fastener Quality Act (``the 
FQA'') to incorporate amendments to the FQA contained in the Fastener 
Quality Act Amendments of 1999 (``the Act''). The proposed changes 
include the elimination of testing and paperwork requirements and of 
NIST's role in evaluating and approving bodies that accredit 
laboratories and registrars. The proposed changes also set forth 
procedures under which NIST will accept petitions for approval of 
certain documents and self-declarations for accreditation bodies.
    The proposed changes amend the enforcement provisions of the 
regulations to eliminate violations that are not violations of the FQA, 
as amended and adding violations imposed by the Act. In addition, the 
proposed changes amend the recordal of insignia provisions of the 
regulations to remove all references to private label distributors and 
to provide that fasteners whose insignia must be recorded are those 
fasteners that are required by the applicable consensus standards to 
bear ``an insignia'' rather than a ``raised or depressed insignia,'' 
and that these fasteners are not subject to the recordal requirements 
if the specifications provide otherwise.