METRIC IMPORTERS OF NORTH AMERICA -- HISTORY PAGE 2

rev 5/14/06:
HISTORICAL PAGE -- MINA inactive or older articles from July 1999 up to May 2006
They have been removed from the main welcome page to permit faster page loading.
rev APR 8, 2003:
There will be a seminar on FASTENER QUALITY ACT Thursday, May 8, 2003 - 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm at The 23rd National Industrial Fastener Show & Conference / East in Orlando Florida. Click here for more info.

rev OCT 28, 2001: There is a new Fastener Quality Act contact person at NIST. Wayne Stiefel has replaced Dr. Subhas Malghan. Wayne Stiefel can be reached at (301) 975-4510 or email: fqa@nist.gov.
Now that the comment period for the small lot exemption is over, MINA will publish the results here as they become available.

rev JUN 28, 2000, rev JUL 04, 2000, rev JUL 16, 2000, rev JUL 28, 2000, rev DEC 04, 2000: An inflation adjustment rule was issued on November 1, 2000.
"The civil monetary penalties provided by law within the jurisdiction of the respective agencies or bureaus of the Department, as set forth below in this section, are hereby adjusted in accordance with the inflation adjustment procedures prescribed in Section Five, from the amounts of such penalties in effect prior to November 1, 2000, to the amounts of such penalties, as thus adjusted.
(a) Bureau of Export Administration.
(1) 15 U.S.C. 5408(b)(1), Fastener Quality Act, violation: from $25,000 to $27,500."
rev AUG 20, 2000, AUG 26, 2000, NOV 04, 2000: Remember that comments about the small lot exemption must be received by November 30, 2000
MINA had a preliminary meeting with several GAO officials earlier this year about the small lot exemption of the FQA99. At that time MINA suggested that it was too early to assess any impact of that exemption. Now that the FQA99 is fully implemented, the time may be proper to begin this study.
On AUG 9, 2000 the GAO (GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE) issued several versions of the Statutorily Required Study and request for comments of the FQA99 ``small lot'' exemption clause. MINA has published a portion of the summary text below. The full text is here and a PDF format version is here.

Fastener Quality Act Amendments Act of 1999; Statutorily Required Study
SUMMARY: The General Accounting Office is requesting interested parties to provide information for a report to Congress on any changes that manufacturers, importers, distributors, or retailers of fasteners have made as a result of the ``small lot'' exemption clause of the Fastener Quality Act Amendments Act of 1999 (C). Fasteners include metallic screws, nuts, bolts, studs, or load-indicating washers; and manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers make up the fastener industry. The FQAAA exempts those fasteners that are ``a part that is ordered for use as a spare, substitute, service, or replacement part, unless that part is in a package containing more than 75 of any such part at the time of sale, or a part that is contained in an assembly kit.'' We refer to both exemptions as the ``small lot'' exemption. The FQAAA requires GAO to submit a report to Congress ``describing any changes in industry practice resulting from or apparently resulting from'' the enactment of the small lot exemption; we expect to use information from your comments in this report.
Some additional GAO links:
Click here for the GAO Media Advisory bulletin or Click here for the text of GAO's submission to the Federal Register in PDF format.

Note: FQAAA = FQA99
It has been MINA's experience so far that this exemption has not been overused. Please let MINA know about your companies usage of, or experience with the small lot exemption.
rev FEB 17, 2000, rev MAR 12, 2000, rev APR 12, 2000, rev APR 20, 2000, rev JUN 6, 2000, JUN 24, 2000:
On JUN 23, 2000 NIST advised that the comment period results and the hotline information are scheduled to be released on JUN 28, 2000.
On MAY 23, 2000 NIST again advised a further delay of a few more weeks for the announcement about the public comments and the hotline. We are now at the six month anniversary of FQA99 and still no resolution of the above two outstanding issues.
On APR 20, 2000 NIST advised a further delay of a few more weeks for the announcement about the public comments and the hotline.
On MAR 08, 2000 NIST advised that they have had finished their meetings and review of the public comments; and that agreements have been reached on all major issues of FQA99. NIST is expected to publish the final combined NIST, PTO, BXA regs in the Federal register within the next 4 to 6 weeks.
NIST also advised that there will also be an announcement on the long delayed hotline within the next 4 to 6 weeks.
rev DEC 05, 1999, rev DEC 09, 1999, rev DEC 15, 1999, rev JAN 09, 2000, rev JAN 11, 2000: The original 30 day comment period on the proposed procedures has been extended until January 28, 2000. NIST is granting this extension based on requests received from the public for an extension of the comment period. Since the holiday season fell in the middle of the comment period, there was not sufficient time to correlate industry comments and meet the stipulated January 14, 2000 due date. As of JAN 09, 2000 the extension notice is NOT yet in the federal register. (see Note 0111 below) Click here for the text of the extension.
Note 0111: On JAN 11, 2000 the notice was published in the federal register. Click here for the federal register version text of the extension.
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On December 15, 1999 the proposed procedures from NIST were published in the Federal Register. A copy of the official proposed procedures as published in the Federal Register (about 15 printed pages) have now been posted on the MINA web site. MINA has also posted an official (about 7 printed pages) PDF version and an official summary text version of the proposed procedures. The 30 day comment period on the proposed procedures has begun and the comments must be received by NIST no later than January 14, 2000.
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On Dec 08, 1999, the long promised Procedures for Implementation of the Fastener Quality Act from NIST were submitted to the Federal Register for publication and they should be published in the Federal Register shortly. A copy of the proposed procedures (about 25 pages) has now been posted on the MINA web site and on the PTO (Patent and Trademark Office) web site. It seems to consist mainly of housekeeping wording -- to delete obsolete portions of the FQA from prior versions of the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations); and updating and clarifications on head marking/trademark regulations and enforcement regulations. There is also a provision for a 30 day comment period (starting from the date of publication in the Federal Register) on the proposed procedures. In general, there do not seem to be any surprises in the proposed procedures.
However, there still doesn't seem to be any movement yet from NIST on establishing the mandated hotline.
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rev DEC 05, 1999:
1 day to go until FQA99 implementation and still no sight of the promised regulations from NIST! (see the item below) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
rev NOV 21, 1999, rev DEC 05, 1999: NIST had advised in early November that final regulations on:
'recordation of the insignias', 'civil penalties', 'enforcement', and 'the hotline' will ;be issued shortly. Still not issued and with only 14 days remaining until implementation, they are cutting it mighty close.
rev OCT 28, 1999:
MINA membership materials will be available in booth 1147 at The National Industrial Fastener Show in Las Vegas, NV on November 5, 1999.
rev FEB 14, 2000, rev FEB 17, 2000: MINA report of the public comments on the FQA99 proposed procedures from NIST that were published in the Federal Register on Dec 15, 1999 with an extended response deadline of JAN 28, 2000. There were 13 respondents with only 9 of the responses being germane to the proposed procedures. They are listed below in alphabetical order.

Company/Organization Responding Signatory MINA comments

American Association of Fastener Importers Matthew T. McGrath Note 1

American Association for Laboratory Accrediation Peter S. Unger Note 1

Association of International Automobile Manufacturers Charles H. Lockwood/Van H. Wilber Note 1

Black and Decker Corporation Samuel A. Bleicher Note 1, 2
Consultants in Quality, Inc. Richard B. Stump Note 3
Grant Fastener, Inc. Tommy Grant Note 3
Industrial Fasteners Institute John M. O'Brien/Robert J, Harris Note 1, 2
Japan Accrediation Board for Conformity Assessment Yuichiro Isu Note 1
National Fastener Distributors Association Joseph P. McIlhon Note 1, 2
Nipon Steel Corporation Shin Suzuki Note 3
Product Risk Reduction Inc. S. John Cole Note 3
TurnaSure LLC David F. Sharp Note 1
Western Association of Fastener Distributors Steve Dunham Note 1, 2

Note 1: specifically addresses points of the proposed procedures
Note 2: addresses the lack of the hotline implementation
Note 3: addresses other FQA issues not covered by the proposed procedures

There was a server crash at our website hosting provider on 8/28/01.
Backup tapes that were to be maintained by the hosting service are unreadable.
MINA is attempting to restore the website from the various backups and authoring data that we have.
However, there may be some broken links while we are doing this restoration.
Update: 8/31/01 - Most of the restoration is now completed.

Metric Importers of North America (MINA) and its members are deeply saddened by the American Tragedy which took place on September 11, in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. You can help now by supporting relief organizations.
To learn more about these organizations click here.

rev DEC 05, 1999: MINA will be releasing some additional FQA99 information and forms during the week of December 6, 1999.
Press notice: You are welcome to freely use any MINA materials. Just credit MINA as the source. Be advised that any communications from MINA should not be taken as legal advice.
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