ANSI Launches Online Portal for Standards Incorporated by Reference
From the post:
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is proud to announce the official launch of the ANSI IBR Portal, an online tool for free, read-only access to voluntary consensus standards that have been incorporated by reference (IBR) into federal laws and regulations.
In recent years, issues related to IBR have commanded increased attention, particularly in connection to requirements that standards that have been incorporated into federal laws and regulations be “reasonably available” to the U.S. citizens and residents affected by these rules. This requirement had led some to call for the invalidation of copyrights for IBR standards. Others have posted copyrighted standards online without the permission of the organizations that developed them, triggering legal action from standards developing organizations (SDOs).
“In all of our discussions about the IBR issue, the question we are trying to answer is simple. Why aren’t standards free? In the context of IBR, it’s a valid point to raise,” said S. Joe Bhatia, ANSI president and CEO. “A standard that has been incorporated by reference does have the force of law, and it should be available. But the blanket statement that all IBR standards should be free misses a few important considerations.”
As coordinator of the U.S. standardization system, ANSI has taken a lead role in informing the public about the reality of free standards, the economics of standards setting, and how altering this infrastructure will undermine U.S. competitiveness. Specifically, the loss of revenue from the sale of standards could negatively impact the business model supporting many SDOs – potentially disrupting the larger U.S. and international standardization system, a major driver of innovation and economic growth worldwide. In response to concerns raised by ANSI members and partner organizations, government officials, and other stakeholders, ANSI began to develop its IBR Portal, with the goal of providing a single solution to this significant issue that also provides SDOs with the flexibility they require to safeguard their ability to develop standards.
This is “free” access to standards that have the force of law in the United States.
Whether it is meaningful access is something I will leave for you to consider in light of restrictions that prevent printing, copying, downloading or taking screenshots.
Particularly since some standards run many pages and are not easy documents to read.
I wonder if viewing these “free” standards disables your cellphone camera?
SDOs could be selling enhanced electronic versions, think XML versions that are interlinked together or linked into information systems and giving the PDFs away as advertising.
That would require using the standards others (not the SDOs who house such efforts) have labored so hard to produce.
The response I get to that suggestion has traditionally been: “Our staff doesn’t have the skills for that suggestion.”
I know how to fix that. Don’t you?