II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 795

To amend the Fastener Quality Act to strengthen the protection against

the sale of mismarked, misrepresented, and counterfeit fasteners and

eliminate unnecessary requirements, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 14, 1999

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself, Mr. HOLLINGS, Mr. FRIST, Mr. BURNS, and Mr.

BREAUX) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Fastener Quality Act to strengthen the protection against the sale of mismarked, misrepresented, and

counterfeit fasteners and eliminate unnecessary requirements, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fastener Quality Act

5 Amendments Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 Section 2 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.

8 5401) is amended to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 ‘‘The Congress finds that—

3 ‘‘(1) the United States fastener industry is a

4 significant contributor to the global economy, em5 ploying thousands of workers in hundreds of commu6 nities;

7 ‘‘(2) the American economy uses billions of fas8 teners each year;

9 ‘‘(3) state-of-the-art manufacturing and im10 proved quality assurance systems have dramatically

11 improved fastener quality, so virtually all fasteners

12 sold in commerce meet or exceed the consensus

13 standards for the uses to which they are applied;

14 ‘‘(4) a small number of mismarked, misrepre15 sented, and counterfeit fasteners do enter commerce

16 in the United States; and

17 ‘‘(5) multiple criteria for the identification of

18 fasteners exist, including grade identification mark19 ings and manufacturer’s insignia, to enable pur20 chasers and users of fasteners to accurately evaluate

21 the characteristics of individual fasteners.’’.

22 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

23 Section 3 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.

24 5402) is amended to read as follows:

25 ‘‘SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

26 ‘‘As used in this Act, the term—
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1 ‘‘(1) ‘accredited laboratory’ means a fastener

2 testing facility used to perform end-of-line testing

3 required by a consensus standard or standards to

4 verify that a lot of fasteners conforms to the grade

5 identification marking called for in the consensus

6 standard or standards to which the lot of fasteners

7 has been manufactured, and which—

8 ‘‘(A) meets the requirements of ISO/IEC

9 Guide 25, including revisions from time to time,

10 or another document approved by the Director

11 under section 10(c); and

12 ‘‘(B) has been accredited by a laboratory

13 accreditation body that meets the requirements

14 of ISO/IEC Guide 58, including revisions from

15 time to time, or another document approved by

16 the Director under section 10(d);

17 ‘‘(2) ‘consensus standard’ means the provisions

18 of a document that describes fastener characteristics

19 published by a consensus standards organization or

20 a Federal agency, and does not include a proprietary

21 standard;

22 ‘‘(3) ‘consensus standards organization’ means

23 the American Society for Testing and Materials, the

24 American National Standards Institute, the Amer25 ican Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of
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1 Automotive Engineers, the International Organiza2 tion for Standardization, any other organization

3 identified as a United States consensus standards

4 organization or a foreign and international con5 sensus standards organization in the Federal Reg6 ister at 61 Fed. Reg. 50582–83 (September 26,

7 1996), and any successor organizations thereto;

8 ‘‘(4) ‘Director’ means the Director of the Na9 tional Institute of Standards and Technology;

10 ‘‘(5) ‘distributor’ means a person who pur11 chases fasteners for the purpose of reselling them at

12 wholesale to unaffiliated entities or individuals (an

13 original equipment manufacturer and its dealers

14 shall be considered affiliated entities for purposes of

15 this Act);

16 ‘‘(6) ‘fastener’ means a metallic screw, nut,

17 bolt, or stud having internal or external threads,

18 with a nominal diameter of 6 millimeters or greater,

19 in the case of such items described in metric terms,

20 or 1/4 inch or greater, in the case of such items

21 described in terms of the English system of meas22 urement, or a load-indicating washer, that is

23 through-hardened or represented as meeting a con24 sensus standard that calls for through-hardening,

25 and that is grade identification marked or rep-
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1 resented as meeting a consensus standard that re2 quires grade identification marking, except that such

3 term does not include any screw, nut, bolt, stud, or

4 load-indicating washer that is—

5 ‘‘(A) part of an assembly;

6 ‘‘(B) in a package containing no more than

7 100 of any one screw, nut, bolt, stud, or load8 indicating washer at the time of sale;

9 ‘‘(C) produced and marked as ASTM A

10 307 Grade A, or a successor standard thereto;

11 ‘‘(D) produced in accordance with ASTM

12 F 432, or a successor standard thereto;

13 ‘‘(E) specifically manufactured for use on

14 an aircraft if the quality and suitability of those

15 fasteners for that use has been approved—

16 ‘‘(i) by the Federal Aviation Adminis17 tration; or

18 ‘‘(ii) by a foreign airworthiness au19 thority as described in part 21.29, 21.500,

20 21.502, or 21.617 of title 14 of the Code

21 of Federal Regulations;

22 ‘‘(F) manufactured in accordance with a

23 fastener quality assurance system; or

24 ‘‘(G) manufactured to a proprietary stand25 ard, whether or not such proprietary standard
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1 directly or indirectly references a consensus

2 standard or any portion thereof;

3 ‘‘(7) ‘fastener quality assurance system’

4 means—

5 ‘‘(A) a system that meets the require6 ments, including revisions from time to time,

7 of—

8 ‘‘(i) International Organization for

9 Standardization (ISO) Standard 9000,

10 9001, 9002, or TS16949;

11 ‘‘(ii) Quality System (QS) 9000

12 Standard;

13 ‘‘(iii) Verband der Automobilindustrie

14 e. V. (VDA) 6.1 Standard; or

15 ‘‘(iv) Aerospace Basic Quality System

16 Standard AS9000; or

17 ‘‘(B) any fastener manufacturing system—

18 ‘‘(i) that has as a stated goal the pre19 vention of defects through continuous im20 provement;

21 ‘‘(ii) that seeks to attain the goal stat22 ed in clause (i) by incorporating—

23 ‘‘(I) advance quality planning;

24 ‘‘(II) monitoring and control of

25 the manufacturing process;
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1 ‘‘(III) product verification em2 bodied in a comprehensive written

3 control plan for product and process

4 characteristics, and process controls

5 (including process influence factors

6 and statistical process control), tests,

7 and measurement systems to be used

8 in production; and

9 ‘‘(IV) the creation, maintenance,

10 and retention of electronic, photo11 graphic, or paper records required by

12 the control plan regarding the inspec13 tions, tests, and measurements per14 formed pursuant to the control plan;

15 and

16 ‘‘(iii) that—

17 ‘‘(I) is subject to certification in

18 accordance with the requirements of

19 ISO/IEC Guide 62, including revisions

20 from time to time, (or another docu21 ment approved by the Director under

22 section 10(a)) by a third party who is

23 accredited by an accreditation body in

24 accordance with the requirements of

25 ISO/IEC Guide 61, including revisions
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1 from time to time, (or another docu2 ment approved by the Director under

3 section 10(b)); or

4 ‘‘(II) undergoes regular or ran5 dom evaluation and assessment by the

6 end user or end users of the screws,

7 nuts, bolts, studs, or load-indicating

8 washers produced under such fastener

9 manufacturing system to ensure that

10 such system meets the requirements

11 of clauses (i) and (ii);

12 ‘‘(8) ‘grade identification marking’ means any

13 grade-mark or property class symbol appearing on a

14 fastener purporting to indicate that the lot of fas15 teners conforms to a specific consensus standard,

16 but such term does not include a manufacturer’s in17 signia or part number;

18 ‘‘(9) ‘lot’ means a quantity of fasteners of one

19 part number fabricated by the same production

20 process from the same coil or heat number of metal

21 as provided by the metal manufacturer;

22 ‘‘(10) ‘manufacturer’ means a person who fab23 ricates fasteners for sale in commerce;

24 ‘‘(11) ‘proprietary standard’ means the provi25 sions of a document that describes characteristics of
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1 a screw, nut, bolt, stud, or load-indicating washer

2 and is issued by a person who—

3 ‘‘(A) uses screws, nuts, bolts, studs, or

4 load-indicating washers in the manufacture, as5 sembly, or servicing of its products; and

6 ‘‘(B) with respect to such screws, nuts,

7 bolts, studs, or washers, is a developer and

8 issuer of descriptions that have characteristics

9 similar to consensus standards and that bear

10 such user’s identification;

11 ‘‘(12) ‘record of conformance’ means a record

12 or records for each lot of fasteners sold or offered

13 for sale that contains—

14 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the manu15 facturer;

16 ‘‘(B) a description of the type of fastener;

17 ‘‘(C) the lot number;

18 ‘‘(D) the nominal dimensions of the fas19 tener (including diameter and length of bolts or

20 screws), thread form, and class of fit;

21 ‘‘(E) the consensus standard or specifica22 tions to which the lot of fasteners has been

23 manufactured, including the date, number, revi24 sion, and other information sufficient to iden-
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1 tify the particular consensus standard or speci2 fications being referenced;

3 ‘‘(F) the chemistry and grade of material;

4 and

5 ‘‘(G) the coating material and characteris6 tics and the applicable consensus standard or

7 specifications for such coating;

8 ‘‘(13) ‘represent’ means to describe one or more

9 of a fastener’s purported characteristics in a docu10 ment or statement that is transmitted to a pur11 chaser through any medium;

12 ‘‘(14) ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of Com13 merce;

14 ‘‘(15) ‘specifications’ means the required char15 acteristics identified in the contractual agreement

16 with the manufacturer or to which a fastener is oth17 erwise produced, except that the term does not in18 clude proprietary standards; and

19 ‘‘(16) ‘through-harden’ means heating above

20 the transformation temperature followed by quench21 ing and tempering for the purpose of achieving uni22 form hardness.’’.

23 SEC. 4. SALE OF FASTENERS.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Sections 4 through 7 of the Fas25 tener Quality Act (15 U.S.C. 5403 through 5406) are re-
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1 pealed, and the following new section is inserted after sec2 tion 3 of such Act:

3 ‘‘SEC. 4. SALE OF FASTENERS.

4 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—It shall be unlawful for a

5 manufacturer or distributor, in conjunction with a sale or

6 offer for sale of a fastener, to knowingly misrepresent or

7 falsify—

8 ‘‘(1) the record of conformance for the lot of

9 fasteners;

10 ‘‘(2) the identification, characteristics, prop11 erties, mechanical or performance marks, chemistry,

12 or strength of the lot of fasteners; or

13 ‘‘(3) the manufacturer’s insignia.

14 ‘‘(b) REPRESENTATIONS.—A direct or indirect ref15 erence to a consensus standard to represent that a fas16 tener conforms to particular requirements of the con17 sensus standard shall not be construed as a representation

18 that the fastener meets all the requirements of the con19 sensus standard.

20 ‘‘(c) SPECIFICATIONS.—A direct or indirect contrac21 tual reference to a consensus standard for the purpose of

22 identifying particular requirements of the consensus

23 standard that serve as specifications shall not be con24 strued to require that the fastener meet all the require25 ments of the consensus standard.
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1 ‘‘(d) USE OF ACCREDITED LABORATORIES.—In the

2 case of fasteners manufactured solely to a consensus

3 standard or standards, end-of-line testing required by the

4 consensus standard or standards, if any, for the purpose

5 of verifying that a lot of fasteners conforms with the grade

6 identification marking called for in the consensus standard

7 or standards to which the lot of fasteners has been manu8 factured shall be conducted by an accredited laboratory.’’.

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 4(d) of the Fastener

10 Quality Act, as added by subsection (a), shall take effect

11 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

12 SEC. 5. MANUFACTURERS’ INSIGNIAS.

13 Section 8 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.

14 5407) is redesignated as section 5 and is amended—

15 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol16 lows:

17 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—Unless the specifications pro18 vide otherwise, a fastener that is required by the applica19 ble consensus standard or standards to bear an insignia

20 identifying its manufacturer shall not be offered for sale

21 or sold in commerce unless—

22 ‘‘(1) the fastener bears such an insignia; and

23 ‘‘(2) the manufacturer has complied with the

24 insignia recordation requirements established under

25 subsection (b).’’; and
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1 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘and private

2 label’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘described

3 in subsection (a).’’.

4 SEC. 6. REMEDIES AND PENALTIES.

5 Section 9 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.

6 5408) is redesignated as section 6 and is amended—

7 (1) by striking ‘‘of this section’’ in subsection

8 (b)(3) and inserting ‘‘of this subsection’’;

9 (2) by inserting ‘‘arbitrate,’’ in subsection

10 (b)(4) after ‘‘Secretary may’’;

11 (3) in subsection (d)—

12 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘ENFORCE13 MENT.—’’; and

14 (B) by adding at the end the following:

15 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall establish and maintain a

16 hotline system to facilitate the reporting of alleged viola17 tions of this Act, and the Secretary shall evaluate allega18 tions reported through that system and report any credible

19 allegations to the Attorney General.’’.

20 SEC. 7. RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS.

21 Section 10 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.

22 5409) is redesignated as section 7 and is amended by

23 striking subsections (a) and (b) and inserting the fol24 lowing:
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1 ‘‘Manufacturers shall retain the record of conform2 ance for fasteners for 5 years, on paper or in photographic

3 or electronic format in a manner that allows for

4 verification of authenticity. Upon request of a distributor

5 who has purchased a fastener, or a person who has pur6 chased a fastener for use in the production of a commer7 cial product, the manufacturer of the fastener shall make

8 available information in the record of conformance to the

9 requester.’’.

10 SEC. 8. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAWS.

11 Section 11 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.

12 5410) is redesignated as section 8.

13 SEC. 9. CONSTRUCTION.

14 Section 12 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.

15 5411) is redesignated as section 9 and is amended by

16 striking ‘‘in effect on the date of enactment of this Act’’.

17 SEC. 10. CERTIFICATION AND ACCREDITATION.

18 Sections 13 and 15 of the Fastener Quality Act (15

19 U.S.C. 5412 and 5414) are repealed, and the following

20 new section is added at the end of that Act:

21 ‘‘SEC. 10. CERTIFICATION AND ACCREDITATION.

22 ‘‘(a) CERTIFICATION.—A person publishing a docu23 ment setting forth guidance or requirements for the cer24 tification of manufacturing systems, including fastener

25 manufacturing systems, by an accredited third party may
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1 petition the Director to approve such document for use

2 as described in section 3(7)(B)(iii)(I). The Director shall

3 act upon a petition within 180 days after its filing, and

4 shall approve such petition if the document provides equal

5 or greater rigor and reliability as compared to ISO/IEC

6 Guide 62.

7 ‘‘(b) ACCREDITATION.—A person publishing a docu8 ment setting forth guidance or requirements for the ap9 proval of accreditation bodies to accredit third parties de10 scribed in subsection (a) may petition the Director to ap11 prove such document for use as described in section

12 3(7)(B)(iii)(I). The Director shall act upon a petition

13 within 180 days after its filing, and shall approve such

14 petition if the document provides equal or greater rigor

15 and reliability as compared to ISO/IEC Guide 61.

16 ‘‘(c) LABORATORY ACCREDITATION.—A person pub17 lishing a document setting forth guidance or requirements

18 for the accreditation of laboratories may petition the Di19 rector to approve such document for use as described in

20 section 3(1)(A). The Director shall act upon a petition

21 within 180 days after its filing, and shall approve such

22 petition if the document provides equal or greater rigor

23 and reliability as compared to ISO/IEC Guide 25.

24 ‘‘(d) APPROVAL OF ACCREDITATION BODIES.—A

25 person publishing a document setting forth guidance or
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1 requirements for the approval of accreditation bodies to

2 accredit laboratories may petition the Director to approve

3 such document for use as described in section 3(1)(B).

4 The Director shall act upon a petition within 180 days

5 after its filing, and shall approve such petition if the docu6 ment provides equal or greater rigor and reliability as

7 compared to ISO/IEC Guide 58.’’.

8 SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY.

9 At the end of the Fastener Quality Act, as amended

10 by section 10, add the following:

11 ‘‘SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY.

12 ‘‘The requirements of this Act shall be applicable only

13 to fasteners fabricated 180 days or more after the date

14 of the enactment of this Act, except that if a manufacturer

15 or distributor of fasteners fabricated before that date pre16 pares a record of conformance for such fasteners, rep17 resentations about such fasteners shall be subject to the

18 requirements of this Act.’’.

19 SEC. 12. ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

20 Section 14 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.

21 5413) is redesignated as section 12.

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