Standards voluntary

Until 1990 the EPA maintained a Hst of chemicals suitable for potable water treatment ia the United States. Siace then the entire question of certification and standards has been turned over to a group of organi2ations headed by the National Sanitation Eoundation, which has issued voluntary standards. As of January 1992, standards had been issued for most of the principal inorganic products, but only for two polymers, poly(DADMAC) and Epi-DMA (epichl orohydrin dimethyl amine) polymers (78). Certifications for commercial products meeting specified standards are issued by the National Sanitation Eoundation, Underwriter Laboratories, and Risk Eocus/Versar (79). 

Consensus standards are the key to the voluntary standards system because acceptance and use of such standards foUow direcdy from the need for them and from the involvement in their development of all those who share that need. Consensus standards must be produced by a body selected, organized, and conducted in accordance with due process procedures. AH parties or stakeholders are iavolved in the development of the standard and substantial agreement is reached according to the judgment of a properly constituted review board. Other aspects of due process involve proper issuance of notices, record keeping, baHoting, and attention to minority opinion. 

Federal Participation ia Voluntary Standards," OMB CiicxA t A-119, ASTM Standardis ation News, 1980, p. 21. 

The nature of potential exposure ha2ards of low level microwave energy continues to be investigated (116—118). In the United States, leakage emission from microwave ovens is regulated to the stringent limit of 5 mW/cm at 5 cm (119). There is no federal limit on emission from industrial systems but the IMPI has set a voluntary standard which specifies 10 mW/cm at 5 cm (120). Emission values are equivalent to personnel exposures at several meters, well below limits that had previously prevailed in eastern Europe. This conclusion, derived for microwave ovens, should be vaUd for all microwave systems (121). 

Salt produced in the United States varies in purity from 95% NaCl for rock salt to 99.99% NaCl for mechanically evaporated salt. Mechanically evaporated salt made using purified brine generally has the highest purity rock salt generally has the lowest. Several voluntary standards and mandatory specifications apply to salt to ensure appropriate gradation, quaUty, and purity for particular salt uses (Table 4). 

For distribution transformers, a voluntary standard assembled by the trade association NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) achieves substantial savings, particularly in standby energy, with a payback period typically of three years. The loss rate from the transformers is small, but the throughput of electricity accounts for a large fraction of total energy use in buildings, particularly when utility-owned transformers are considered. 

To protect operating personnel from recognized hazards, American National Standards Institute (ANSI) voluntary standards... 

Reference to standards for radiation protection and any other appropriate voluntary standards relating to safety or effectiveness. 

Members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysia included, have yet to formulate common rules for dmg regulation. Nonetheless, efforts have been made towards harmonization in terms of voluntary standards. Through the ASEAN Technical Cooperation Project in Pharmaceuticals, a number of reference substances and guidelines have been developed (17). Furthermore, agreements made for the ASEAN Free Trade Area have harmonized and reduced import tariffs on a number of goods, including pharmaceutical raw materials and finished products. 

Liu, P., Andersen, M. and Pazderka, C. (2004). Voluntary Standards and Certification for Environmentally and Socially Responsible Agricultural Production and Trade, FAO Commodities and Trade Technical Paper No 5, Commodities and Trade Division, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. 

ANSI American National Standards Institute, a private organization that is engaged in creating voluntary standards or characteristics and performance of materials, products, systems, and services. 

D. Nonregulatory activities, such as educational programs directed at users, participation in voluntary standards organizations, and so on. 

NFPA 704 is a voluntary standard. Table 5 lists the five degrees of hazard defined in NFPA 704. The NFPA hazard rating system primarily relies on qualitative criteria and judgment to assign chemical... 

American National Standards Institute (ANSI) ANSI has served in its capacity as administrator and coordinator of the United States private sector voluntary standardization system for 80 years. The Institute is a private, nonprofit membership organization supported by a diverse constituency of private and public sector organizations. ANSI Z21.83 has been published and provides a means of testing and certifying the safety of stationary fuel cell power plants having a capacity of less than 1 MW. 

ASTM (formerly American Society for Testing and Materials) International is a global fomm for the development of consensus standards organized in 1898, ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards developing organizations in the world. More than 12,000 ASTM standards can be found in the 80+-volume Annual Book of ASTM Standards. 

A voluntary standard-setting scheme administered by the private sector was rejected because such schemes were considered practically unenforceable. 

ANSI The American National Standard Institute. A professional group that works to create voluntary standards. 

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) (1997) has not proposed any occupational exposure limit for 1,2-epoxybutane in workplace air. However, manufacturers in the United States have recommended a voluntary standard of 40 ppm [118 mg/m ] for an 8-h time-weighted average exposure limit (United States National Toxicology Program, 1988). 

Although the safe design practices recommended by professional and trade associations have no legal standing where they have not actually been incorporated in a body of law, many of them have the respect and confidence of the engineering profession as a whole and have been accepted by insurance underwriters so they are widely observed. Even when they are only voluntary, standards constitute a digest of experience that represents a minimum requirement of good practice. 

The purpose of this document is to articulate the FDA s policy on development and use of standards with respect to international harmonization of regulatory requirements and guidelines. As used throughout this document, the term standards includes what are commonly referred to as consensus standards, voluntary standards, and industry standards. Also, the FDA sometimes accepts standards and makes them mandatory regulatory requirements. Although the draft policy focuses on international harmonization and international standards, its principles are applicable as well to domestic standards activities in which the FDA participates. 

Thus, in the language of the new TBT agreement, when a government acts to accept a voluntary standard to make it mandatory, the resulting document is a technical regulation. A measure used to ascertain compliance with a standard or technical regulation is a conformity assessment procedure. 

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