Prices could be as high as $10,000.

Robert Ambrogi, “This Week In Legal Tech: Showdown At The ABA Over Free Law And Free Sex,” Above the Law, 07-25-2016, https://abovethelaw.com/2016/07/this-week-in-legal-tech-showdown-at-the-aba-over-free-law-and-free-sex/?rf=1

Ignorance of the law excuses no one. So says the long-established legal principle. Is it fair, then, that citizens should have to pay for the law they are obliged to know, as much as $10,000 in some cases?

A showdown over that issue is expected during the American Bar Association annual meeting in San Francisco in two weeks, when the ABA’s House of Delegates takes up debate over a resolution concerning public access to technical and scientific standards written by private standards developing organizations (SDOs).

Some 9,500 private standards are incorporated by reference in the Code of Federal Regulations. While the CFR is freely available online, these so-called IBR (for “incorporated by reference”) rules are not. Rather, the SDOs copyright their standards and sell access to them, generally at a profit to themselves. The price for access to a single standard can range from $40 to $1,000. The complete set of standards implementing the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Act costs nearly $10,000.

For lawyers as well as the public, these standards are tremendously important. They help regulate the safety of toys, cribs and strollers, vehicle windshields, food additives and propane tanks, to name just a few of the everyday items. Lawyers need to consult them to advise clients, ensure compliance, prepare lawsuits, draft contracts and any number of other reasons.