forwarded to the Department. The request shall contain the following information:

(1) The purpose and scope of a suggested standard.

(2) A succinct statement of the need for the suggested standard and why it is desirable that the standard be developed through the Department of Commerce procedures.

(3) A statement of reasons why the suggested standard would be in the public interest.

(4) Available technical data essential to the suggested standard and its further development, such as physical, mechanical, chemical or performance requirements, and production figures for the common stock varieties.

(5) Any other information which may be necessary as a basis for discussion by others.

(6) The names and addresses of the members of the group making the request if it is not a nationally recognized group.

The initial request may be accompanied by a copy of a draft of the suggested standard.

(b) If a request meeting the foregoing criteria is received by the Department and the Department determines that it would not be contrary to the public interest to develop a standard for the product, the Department may initiate the development of the standard by requesting that a draft of the suggested standard be prepared by an appropriate technical committee, if one has not been submitted by the proponent group.

§ 10.2 Development of proposed standard.

(a) The proposed standard as submitted to the Department shall

(1) Be based on adequate technical information,

(2) Include performance criteria and test procedures which are adequate and can be readily understood and applied to products to determine conformance or nonconformance with the standard by any competent testing laboratory,

(3) Be not contrary to the public interest,

(4) Be generally acceptable by the producers, distributors, consumers, and users of the product,

(5) Be technically sound, and,
(6) Be in the proper form.

A proposed standard that fulfills these requirements may be submitted to the Department for further development.

(b) A proposed standard that meets the criteria set forth in paragraph (a) of this section, will be subjected to an impartial technical review by an appropriate individual or agency (Government or nongovernment, but not associated with the proponent group).

(c) A proposed standard may be made available for public comment and may be circulated by the Department to appropriate producers, distributors, users, consumers, and other interested groups for consideration and comments.

(d) The proponent group, or technical committee when appropriate, will consider all comments and suggestions received by the Department as a result of any circulation, and will recommend adjustments in the proposal that are technically sound and that will secure the greatest acceptance of the standard by the industry.

§ 10.3

Establishment of the Standard Review Committee.

(a) The Department will establish a Standard Review Committee within a reasonable time after receiving a proposed standard as revised in light of comment. The Committee will be made up of qualified representatives of producers, distributors, and consumers or users of the product for which a standard is sought and any other appropriate gen'eral interest groups. The Committee may remain in existence for a period necessary for the final development of the standard, or for 2 years, whichever is less. Alternates to committee members may be appointed by the Department if deemed necessary by the Committee and the Department.

(b) The Department shall be responsible for the organization of the Committee and the procedures under which it functions.

§ 10.4 Development of a recommended

standard.

(a) The Standard Review Committee, with the guidance and assistance of the Department and, if appropriate, the technical reviewer designated under § 10.2(b), shall review an adjusted proposed standard promptly, and, when the Committee finds that the proposal meets the requirements set forth in § 10.2(a), it may recommend the proposal for acceptance under § 10.5.

(b) The business of a Standard Review Committee, except for the final recommendation of a standard, shall be conducted by majority vote of at least a quorum. A quorum shall consist of at least two-thirds of the total membership of the Committee. No standard may be recommended to the Department by the Committee unless it has been approved by three-quarters of all the members of the Committee. A vote may be taken by letter, either by the Committee chairman or by the Department.

(c) In recommending a standard to the Department for acceptance, the Standard Review Committee shall furnish a written report explaining the principal issues before the Committee, if any, and outlining how any objections were resolved or, if any objection remains, providing a statement by the minority of the reasons for the objection together with the Committee's reasons for rejecting such objection in making its recommendations.

§ 10.5 Procedure for acceptance of recommended standard.

(a) Upon receipt from the Committee of a recommended standard and report, the Department shall give appropriate public notice and distribute the recommended standard for acceptance unless

(1) Upon a showing by any member of the Committee who has voted to oppose the recommended standard on the basis of an unresolved objection, the Department determines that if such objection were not resolved, the recommended standard

(i) Would be contrary to the public interest, if published;

or

(ii) Would be technically inadequate;

(iii) Would be inconsistent with law or established public policy.

(2) The Department determines that all criteria and procedures set forth herein have not been met satisfactorily or that there is legal objection to the recommended standard.

(b) Distribution for acceptance will be made to a list compiled by the Department, which shall be representative of producers, distributors, users, consumers, appropriate testing laboratories, and interested State and Federal agencies, and to any others upon request.

(c) The Department will analyze the responses and if such analysis indicates that the recommended standard is sup

ported by a consensus, then it will be published as a product standard by the Department. (For the purpose of these procedures, consensus means general concurrence with no substantive objection deemed valid by the Department.) § 10.6 Standing Committee for published product standard.

(a) Prior to the printing of a product standard, the Department will appoint a Standing Committee, which may include members from the Standard Review Committee, to receive and consider proposals to revise or amend the standard in light of changing circumstances and to make appropriate recommendations to the Department.

(1) The Committee may be called upon to assist the Department in interpreting the standard. The members of a Standing Committee should be knowledgeable about

(i) The product or products covered by the standard,

(ii) The standard itself, and (iii) Industry and trade practices relating to the standard.

(2) The membership of a Standing Committee shall have an adequate balance among producers, distributors, users and consumers, and any other important interest such as State or Federal agencies, independent testing laboratories, educational institutions, or professional organizations.

(b) The appointments to the Standing Committee will be for a maximum term of 5 years. However, the Committee may be reconstituted by the Department, whenever necessary to meet changing situations.

(c) The procedures, organization, and functions of a Standing Committee may be fixed by the Department.

§ 10.7 Publication of standard.

(a) A standard published by the Department under these procedures is a voluntary standard and thus by itself has no mandatory or legally-binding effect. Any person may choose to use or not to use such a standard.

(b) A publication fee will be charged to the sponsoring group, as appropriate, to cover the initial publication expenses incurred by the Government Printing Office in printing the final standard as issued by the Department. This fee will entitle the sponsoring group to one thousand copies of the standard. Additional copies will be sold by the Public Printer

in accordance with the Government printing laws and regulations.

§ 10.8 Reference to a standard.

Appropriate reference in contracts, codes, advertising, invoices, announcements, product labels, and the like, may be made to a standard published under these procedures. Such reference shall be in accordance with such policies as the Department may establish.

§ 10.9 Revision or amendment of a standard.

(a) A published standard shall require revision when any of its basic or substantive provisions are determined to be inadequate by its Standing Committee or by the Department for one or more of the following reasons or for other appropriate reasons:

(1) Any portion of the standard is obsolete, technically inadequate, or no longer acceptable to or used by the industry.

(2) The standard or any part of it is being used to mislead consumers or is found to be against the best interests of consumers.

(3) The standard is being used to control or limit production, to set prices, to create undue artificial economic advantages for one part of the industry in relation to another, or otherwise to constitute an unreasonable restraint of trade or create illegal dominance in the industry.

(b) Each suggestion for revision shall be referred to the Standing Committee for appropriate consideration. The processing of a suggested revision is the same as for the development of a new standard under these procedures and the Standing Committee serves the same functions as the Standard Review Committee in the process.

(c) Each standard will be reviewed within 5 years after initial issuance or last revision. Minor technical amendments may be published, at the discretion of the Department, upon the general concurrence of the Standing Committee. § 10.10 Withdrawal of a published

standard.

(a) Any standard published under these or any previous procedures may be withdrawn by the Department at any time upon reasonable public notice if the standard is obsolete, technically inadequate, no longer acceptable to and used by the industry, contrary to law, not in the public interest, or for other reasons, and revision is not feasible or would serve no useful purpose.

(b) Before withdrawing a published standard the Department will review with the Standing Committee for that standard, if such a committee exists, the relative advantages and disadvantages of revision or amendment, development of a new standard, or withdrawal.

(c) Adequate public notice of intent to withdraw an existing standard will be given and all previous acceptors of the standard will be notified of this intent. Withdrawal terminates the authority to refer to the published standard as a commodity or a product standard developed under Department of Commerce procedures, from the effective date of the withdrawal.

§ 10.11 Effect of procedures.

These procedures, effective upon issuance, supersede all commodity standards procedures previously issued by the Department of Commerce or any of its offices or bureaus, but current commodity standards published under any such superseded procedures will remain in effect.