G/TBT/N/USA/1696  
3 February 2021  
(21-0896) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) [1725]  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
Please submit comments to: USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point, Email: usatbtep@nist.gov  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [X], 5.7.1 [   ], other :  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Nuclear 
power plant engineering; Quality (ICS 03.120), Nuclear energy engineering (ICS 27.120)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Approval of 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Code Cases (19 page(s), in English)  
6. Description of content:  Proposed rule - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
is proposing to amend its regulations to incorporat e by reference proposed revisions of 
three regulatory guides, which would approve new, revised, and reaffirmed Code Cases 
published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. The NRC is also incorporating 
by reference one NRC NUREG associated with a proposed condition on one of the 
regulatory guides. This proposed action would allow nuclear power plant licensees, and 
applicants for construction permits, operating licenses, combined licenses, standard 
design certifications, standard design approvals an d manufacturing licenses, to use the 
Code Cases listed in these draft regulatory guides as voluntary alternatives to engineering 
standards for the construction, inservice inspection, and inservice testing of nuclear power 
plant components. The NRC is reque sting comments on this proposed rule and on the 
draft versions of the three regulatory guides proposed to be incorporated by reference. 
The NRC is also making available a related draft regulatory guide that lists Code Cases 
that the NRC has not approved fo r use. This draft regulatory guide will not be incorporated 
by reference into the NRC's regulations.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Protection of the environment; Quality requirements  
8. Relevant documents:   
86 Federal Register (FR) 7820, 2 February 2021; Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) Part 50:  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/F R-2021-02-02/html/2021 -00890.htm  
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR -2021-02-02/pdf/2021 -00890.pdf  G/TBT/N/USA/1696  
 
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  This proposed rule is identified by Docket Number NRC -2017-0025. The Docket Folder is 
available on Regulations.gov at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=NRC -2017-0025 
and provides access to primary documents as well as comments rece ived. Documents are 
also accessible from Regulations.gov  by searching the Docket Number. WTO Members 
and their stakeholders are asked to submit comments to the USA TBT Enquiry Point . 
Comments received by the USA TBT Enquiry Point from WTO Members and their 
stakeholders will be shared with the regulator and will also be submitted to the Docket on 
Regulations.gov if received within the comment period.  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined  
10. Final date for comments:  5 April 2021  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
https://members.wto.org/cr nattachments/2021/TBT/USA/21_0838_00_e.pdf