[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 15, Volume 1, Parts 0 to 299]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 15CFR287.1]

[Page 427-428]
 
                  TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE
 
 CHAPTER II--NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, DEPARTMENT 
                               OF COMMERCE
 
PART 287--GUIDANCE ON FEDERAL CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 287.1  Purpose and scope of this guidance.

    (a) This part provides guidance for each Federal agency to use in 
evaluating the efficacy and efficiency of its conformity assessment 
activities. Each agency should coordinate its conformity assessment 
activities with those of other appropriate government agencies and with 
those of the private sector to reduce unnecessary duplication. This 
guidance is intended to help Federal agencies improve the management and 
coordination of their own conformity assessment activities with respect 
to other government entities and the private sector. This will help 
ensure more productive use of the increasingly limited Federal resources 
available to conduct conformity assessment activities. This will also 
support the role of the U.S. Government in pursuing international trade 
and other related negotiations and agreements with foreign countries and 
U.S. industry in pursuing agreements with foreign national and 
international private sector organizations.

[[Page 428]]

    (b) This guidance applies to all agencies, which set policy for, 
manage, operate, or use conformity assessment activities and results, 
both domestic and international, except for activities carried out 
pursuant to treaties.
    (c) This guidance does not preempt the agencies' authority and 
responsibility to make regulatory or procurement decisions authorized by 
statute or required to meet programmatic objectives and requirements. 
These decision-making activities include: determining the level of 
acceptable regulatory or procurement risk; setting the level of 
protection; balancing risk, cost and availability of technology (where 
statutes permit) in establishing regulatory and procurement objectives; 
and determining or implementing procurement or regulatory requirements 
necessary to meet programmatic or regulatory objectives. Each agency 
retains broad discretion in its selection and use of regulatory and 
procurement conformity assessment practices and may elect not to use or 
recognize alternative conformity assessment practices if the agency 
deems them to be inappropriate, inadequate, or inconsistent with 
statutory criteria or programmatic objectives and requirements. Nothing 
contained herein shall give any party any claim or cause of action 
against the Federal government or any agency thereof. Each agency 
remains responsible for representation of the agency's views on 
conformity assessment in matters under its jurisdiction. Each agency 
also remains the primary point of contact for information on the 
agency's regulatory and procurement conformity assessment actions.