It’s the only feasible solution. Alternatives to the PCA either crush impartiality or profitability.

Chris Coons, “Protecting and Enhancing Public Access to Codes (Pro Codes) Act of 2023,” https://www.coons.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/pro_codes_act_one_pager.pdf

To fund their efforts, SDOs typically sell copies of their standards to professionals who use them in the course of their business, like builders and developers. As an original work of authorship, SDO standards are protected by copyright.

Federal, state, and local governments routinely adopt laws or regulations that require adherence to a particular standard, incorporating the standard into the law by referencing it by name. Recognizing the public interest in these incorporated standards, some SDOs, including NFPA, make all of their standards freely available for online viewing on the internet.

Some argue that the copyright on a standard is forfeited when it is incorporated by reference in statute. Some courts have called the SDOs’ copyrights into question, ruling that despite the immense public benefits and congressional preference for private, consensus-based standards development, SDOs lose the benefit of copyright protection for incorporated safety standards.

Extinguishing the copyright for a standard incorporated by reference makes it impossible for SDOs to sell copies of their standards to the professionals who use them. Alternatives to the current process, like taxpayer or private industry funding or a fee-for-service model, have significant negative consequences, including lacking the impartiality and efficiency of the current system.

What Can We Do?

Enact legislation to protect and enhance public access to codes

The Pro Codes Act would ensure that a standard does not lose its copyright protection by virtue of having been incorporated by reference into law or regulation, provided that the standard is available for free viewing on a publicly accessibly website.

This solution allows citizens to know what the law is without having to pay for it while preserving the efficient and effective SDO system that serves an important public service at no cost to the taxpayer.