Bill > HR4072

This bill seeks to clarify and establish guidelines for technical standards and voluntary consensus standards that are incorporated by reference into federal, state, and local laws and regulations. The Pro Codes Act recognizes the critical role of private standards development organizations in creating specialized technical standards that benefit public health, safety, innovation, and commerce. The bill aims to balance two key objectives: protecting the copyright and revenue model of standards development organizations while ensuring public access to standards that have been incorporated into law. Under the bill, standards development organizations can retain copyright protection if they make the incorporated standards publicly accessible online at no cost, with a searchable format. The legislation defines important terms like "incorporated by reference" and "publicly accessible online" and establishes that creating or publishing a work that includes both a law and an incorporated standard does not change the standard's legal status. The bill also specifies that if a user must create an account to access a standard, this does not prevent it from being considered publicly accessible, as long as there is no monetary cost and personal information is not misused. Importantly, in any legal proceedings challenging an organization's compliance with these requirements, the burden of proof lies with the party making the assertion.

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https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4072/all-info