COLUMN // POLICY
WHY ENGINEERS SHOULD OPPOSE THE PRO CODES ACT
Reintroduced legislation threatens safety and technical standards development.
Written by Thomas Costabile
IN JULY, THE PRO CODES ACT (HR 4072) was introduced for a third time in the United States House of Representatives. This proposed law would endanger the ability of Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) to develop their voluntary consensus standards and thereby put public health and safety at risk. It does so by eroding the copyright in standards that are incorporated by reference into federal, state, and local laws and regulations. If the Pro Codes Act is not stopped, it will deny SDOs the revenue they use to finance standards development and publishing.
Standards are engineering’s invisible infrastructure, used by engineers to design safe, efficient, and reliable products. They are the culmination of decades of often volunteer work and reflect a consensus from the engineering community. Indeed, under the consensus process used by the majority of SDOs like ASME, all voices are heard and decisions are not made until there is an engineering consensus. Enabling this process is a revenue model that doesn’t depend on any specific interest group but instead uses the royalties from code sales to support the standards setting process. Once copyright protection is lost, this funding model is also lost.
Under the Pro Codes Act, if a standard is incorporated by reference into law at the federal, state, or local level, the SDO must post the standard online for free and if it does not do so the statute mandates automatic forfeiture of the copyright in that standard. The Pro Codes Act, while purporting to “protect” standards, actually threatens them.
“We need policymakers to understand that weakening the standards ecosystem will have consequences far beyond the technical community. It will affect public safety, economic growth, and America’s role on the world stage.”
—Thomas Costabile, executive director and CEO of ASME
THE CONSEQUENCES OF BAD LEGAL POLICY
Proponents of the Pro Codes Act claim that it represents the consensus of the entire standards industry. It does not. The bill protects a small number of SDOs with a unique business model, including many that lobby for the adoption of fully comprehensive legal codes. Conversely, the bill harms SDOs that write engineering and scientific standards that are not written as laws but are merely incorporated by reference. Such organizations do not lobby for adoption of their standards—engineering and scientific SDOs have no control over the decision to incorporate a standard by reference. However, under the Pro Codes Act, this decision automatically leads to the practical or legal loss of copyright.
If passed, this bill could trigger a collapse in the availability of the safety and technical standards that engineers and the public rely on daily. Just as troubling, it would undermine U.S. leadership in global standards development. Unlike the United States, many other countries rely on government-run or state-controlled processes to create standards. Weakening the American private-sector standards process would cede influence in international standards-setting—an area critical to U.S. technological leadership and competitiveness.
ENGINEERS SHOULD MAKE THEIR VOICE HEARD
ASME and the majority of major SDOs have raised strong objections in Congress, warning that the Pro Codes Act would unravel the very system it claims to protect. But no hearings have been held to examine how the legislation would affect the standards community or the engineers, industries, and citizens who depend on it. We urgently need your help to defeat Pro Codes. Only then can a fair, open, and full debate about these complex policy issues occur.
Engineers are problem-solvers by nature, but we cannot solve this one alone. We need policymakers to understand that weakening the standards ecosystem will have consequences far beyond the technical community. It will affect public safety, economic growth, and America’s role on the world stage.
ASME urges every engineer to make their voice heard. Visit www.stopprocodesact.com to learn more and contact your members of Congress. Share your professional expertise. Explain why the sustainability of standards matters to your work, your industry, and your community.
The U.S. standards system is a model envied around the world. Let’s make sure it stays that way.
Thomas Costabile is executive director and CEO of ASME.
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