Calendar No. 417

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 795

[Report No. 106–224]

A BILL

To amend the Fastener Quality Act to strengthen

the protection against the sale of mismarked,misrepresented, and counterfeit fasteners andeliminate unnecessary requirements, and forother purposes.

NOVEMBER 19, 1999

Reported with amendments
II

Calendar No. 417

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 795

[Report No. 106–224]

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, Mr.

BREAUX, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. ABRAHAM, and Mr. ROBB) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on

Commerce, Science, and Transportation

NOVEMBER 19, 1999

Reported by Mr. MCCAIN, with amendments

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

3 Amendments Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

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

6 5401) is amended to read as follows:

7 ‘‘SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

8 ‘‘The Congress finds that—

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

10 significant contributor to the global economy, em11 ploying thousands of workers in hundreds of commu12 nities;

13 ‘‘(2) the American economy uses billions of fas14 teners each year;

15 ‘‘(3) state-of-the-art manufacturing and im16 proved quality assurance systems have dramatically

17 improved fastener quality, so virtually all fasteners

18 sold in commerce meet or exceed the consensus

19 standards for the uses to which they are applied;

20 ‘‘(4) a small number of mismarked, misrepre21 sented, and counterfeit fasteners do enter commerce

22 in the United States; and

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

24 fasteners exist, including grade identification mark25 ings and manufacturer’s insignia, to enable pur-
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1 chasers and users of fasteners to accurately evaluate

2 the characteristics of individual fasteners.’’.

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

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

5 5402) is amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

7 ‘‘As used in this Act, the term—

8 ‘‘(1) ‘accredited laboratory’ means a fastener

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

10 required by a consensus standard or standards to

11 verify that a lot of fasteners conforms to the grade

12 identification marking called for in the consensus

13 standard or standards to which the lot of fasteners

14 has been manufactured, and which—

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

16 Guide 25, including revisions from time to time,

17 or another document approved by the Director

18 under section 10(c); and

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

20 accreditation body that meets the requirements

21 of ISO/IEC Guide 58, including revisions from

22 time to time, or another document approved by

23 the Director under section 10(d);

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

25 of a document that describes fastener characteristics
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1 published by a consensus standards organization or

2 a Federal agency, and does not include a proprietary

3 standard;

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

5 the American Society for Testing and Materials, the

6 American National Standards Institute, the Amer7 ican Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of

8 Automotive Engineers, the International Organiza9 tion for Standardization, any other organization

10 identified as a United States consensus standards

11 organization or a foreign and international con12 sensus standards organization in the Federal Reg13 ister at 61 Fed. Reg. 50582-83 (September 26,

14 1996), and any successor organizations thereto;

15 ‘‘(4) ‘Director’ means the Director of the Na16 tional Institute of Standards and Technology;

17 ‘‘(5) ‘distributor’ means a person who pur18 chases fasteners for the purpose of reselling them at

19 wholesale to unaffiliated entities or individuals per20 sons within the United States, and, for purposes of

21 this paragraph, (an an original equipment manufac22 turer and its dealers shall be considered affiliated

23 entities persons for purposes of this Act); Act;

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

25 bolt, or stud having internal or external threads,
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1 with a nominal diameter of 6 millimeters or greater,

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

3 or 1/4 inch or greater, in the case of such items de4 scribed in terms of the English system of measure5 ment, or a load-indicating washer, that is through6 hardened or represented as meeting a consensus

7 standard that calls for through-hardening, and that

8 is grade identification marked or represented as

9 meeting a consensus standard that requires grade

10 identification marking, except that such term does

11 not include any screw, nut, bolt, stud, or load-indi12 cating washer that is—

13 ‘‘(A) part of an assembly;

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

15 100 of any one screw, nut, bolt, stud, or load16 indicating washer at the time of sale;

17 ‘‘(C) produced and marked as ASTM A

18 307 Grade A, or a successor standard thereto;

19 ‘‘(D) produced in accordance with ASTM

20 F 432, or a successor standard thereto;

21 ‘‘(E) specifically manufactured for use on

22 an aircraft if the quality and suitability of those

23 fasteners for that use has been approved—

24 ‘‘(i) by the Federal Aviation Adminis25 tration; or
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1 ‘‘(ii) by a foreign airworthiness au2 thority as described in part 21.29, 21.500,

3 21.502, or 21.617 of title 14 of the Code

4 of Federal Regulations;

5 ‘‘(F) manufactured in accordance with a

6 fastener quality assurance system; or

7 ‘‘(G) manufactured to a proprietary stand8 ard, whether or not such proprietary standard

9 directly or indirectly references a consensus

10 standard or any portion thereof;

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

12 means—

13 ‘‘(A) a system that meets the require14 ments, including revisions from time to time,

15 of—

16 ‘‘(i) International Organization for

17 Standardization (ISO) Standard 9000,

18 9001, 9002, or TS16949;

19 ‘‘(ii) Quality System (QS) 9000

20 Standard;

21 ‘‘(iii) Verband der Automobilindustrie

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

23 ‘‘(iv) Aerospace Basic Quality System

24 Standard AS9000; or

25 ‘‘(B) any fastener manufacturing system—
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1 ‘‘(i) that has as a stated goal the pre2 vention of defects through continuous im3 provement;

4 ‘‘(ii) that seeks to attain the goal stat5 ed in clause (i) by incorporating—

6 ‘‘(I) advance quality planning;

7 ‘‘(II) monitoring and control of

8 the manufacturing process;

9 ‘‘(III) product verification em10 bodied in a comprehensive written

11 control plan for product and process

12 characteristics, and process controls

13 (including process influence factors

14 and statistical process control), tests,

15 and measurement systems to be used

16 in production; and

17 ‘‘(IV) the creation, maintenance,

18 and retention of electronic, photo19 graphic, or paper records required by

20 the control plan regarding the inspec21 tions, tests, and measurements per22 formed pursuant to the control plan;

23 and

24 ‘‘(iii) that—
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1 ‘‘(I) is subject to certification in

2 accordance with the requirements of

3 ISO/IEC Guide 62, including revisions

4 from time to time, (or another docu5 ment approved by the Director under

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

7 accredited by an accreditation body in

8 accordance with the requirements of

9 ISO/IEC Guide 61, including revisions

10 from time to time, (or another docu11 ment approved by the Director under

12 section 10(b)); or

13 ‘‘(II) undergoes regular or ran14 dom evaluation and assessment by the

15 end user or end users of the screws,

16 nuts, bolts, studs, or load-indicating

17 washers produced under such fastener

18 manufacturing system to ensure that

19 such system meets the requirements

20 of clauses (i) and (ii);

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

22 grade-mark or property class symbol appearing on a

23 fastener purporting to indicate that the lot of fas24 teners conforms to a specific consensus standard,
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1 but such term does not include a manufacturer’s in2 signia or part number;

3 ‘‘(9) ‘importer’ means a distributor located with4 in the United States who contracts for the initial pur5 chase of fasteners manufactured outside the United

6 States;

7 ‘‘(9) (10) ‘lot’ means a quantity of fasteners of

8 one part number fabricated by the same production

9 process from the same coil or heat number of metal

10 as provided by the metal manufacturer;

11 ‘‘(10) (11) ‘manufacturer’ means a person who

12 fabricates fasteners for sale in commerce;

13 ‘‘(11) (12) ‘proprietary standard’ means the

14 provisions of a document that describes characteris15 tics of a screw, nut, bolt, stud, or load-indicating

16 washer and is issued by a person who—

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

18 load-indicating washers in the manufacture, as19 sembly, or servicing of its products; and

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

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

22 issuer of descriptions that have characteristics

23 similar to consensus standards and that bear

24 such user’s identification;
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1 ‘‘(12) (13) ‘record of conformance’ means a

2 record or records for each lot of fasteners sold or of3 fered for sale that contains—

4 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the manu5 facturer;

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

7 ‘‘(C) the lot number;

8 ‘‘(D) the nominal dimensions of the fas9 tener (including diameter and length of bolts or

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

11 ‘‘(E) the consensus standard or specifica12 tions to which the lot of fasteners has been

13 manufactured, including the date, number, revi14 sion, and other information sufficient to iden15 tify the particular consensus standard or speci16 fications being referenced;

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

18 and

19 ‘‘(G) the coating material and characteris20 tics and the applicable consensus standard or

21 specifications for such coating; and

22 ‘‘(H) the results or a summary of results of

23 any tests performed for the purpose of verifying

24 that a lot of fasteners conforms to its grade iden25 tification marking or to the grade identification
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1 marking the lot of fasteners is represented to

2 meet;

3 ‘‘(13) (14) ‘represent’ means to describe one or

4 more of a fastener’s purported characteristics in a

5 document or statement that is transmitted to a pur6 chaser through any medium;

7 ‘‘(14) (15) ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of

8 Commerce;

9 ‘‘(15) (16) ‘specifications’ means the required

10 characteristics identified in the contractual agree11 ment with the manufacturer or to which a fastener

12 is otherwise produced, except that the term does not

13 include proprietary standards; and

14 ‘‘(16) (17) ‘through-harden’ means heating

15 above the transformation temperature followed by

16 quenching and tempering for the purpose of achiev17 ing uniform hardness.’’.

18 SEC. 4. SALE OF FASTENERS.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Sections 5 through 7 of the Fas20 tener Quality Act (15 U.S.C. 5404 through 5406) are re21 pealed, and the following new section is inserted after sec22 tion 3 of such Act:

23 ‘‘SEC. 4. SALE OF FASTENERS.

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

25 manufacturer or distributor, in conjunction with a sale or
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1 offer for sale of a fastener, the sale or offer for sale of fas2 teners from a single lot, to knowingly misrepresent or

3 falsify—

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

5 fasteners;

6 ‘‘(2) the identification, characteristics, prop7 erties, mechanical or performance marks, chemistry,

8 or strength of the lot of fasteners; or

9 ‘‘(3) the manufacturer’s insignia.

10 ‘‘(b) REPRESENTATIONS.—A direct or indirect ref11 erence to a consensus standard to represent that a fas12 tener conforms to particular requirements of the con13 sensus standard shall not be construed as a representation

14 that the fastener meets all the requirements of the con15 sensus standard.

16 ‘‘(c) SPECIFICATIONS.—A direct or indirect contrac17 tual reference to a consensus standard for the purpose of

18 identifying particular requirements of the consensus

19 standard that serve as specifications shall not be con20 strued to require that the fastener meet all the require21 ments of the consensus standard.

22 ‘‘(d) USE OF ACCREDITED LABORATORIES.—In the

23 case of fasteners manufactured solely to a consensus

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

25 consensus standard or standards, if any, for the purpose
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1 of verifying that a lot of fasteners conforms with the grade

2 identification marking called for in the consensus standard

3 or standards to which the lot of fasteners has been manu4 factured shall be conducted by an accredited laboratory.’’.

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

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

7 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

8 SEC. 5. MANUFACTURERS’ INSIGNIAS.

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

10 5407) is redesignated as section 5 and is amended—

11 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol12 lows:

13 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—Unless the specifications pro14 vide otherwise, a fastener that is required fasteners that

15 are required by the applicable consensus standard or

16 standards to bear an insignia identifying its their manu17 facturer shall not be offered for sale or sold in commerce

18 unless—

19 ‘‘(1) the fastener bears fasteners bear such an

20 insignia; and

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

22 insignia recordation requirements established under

23 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 paragraph (1) of subsection (b)

8 and inserting the following:

9 ‘‘(b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—

10 ‘‘(1) Any person who is determined by the Sec11 retary, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing,

12 to have—

13 ‘‘(A) negligently violated section 7 or any

14 regulation under section 7 shall be liable to the

15 United States for a civil penalty of not more

16 than $10,000 for each violation;

17 ‘‘(B) committed gross negligence in vio18 lating section 7 or any regulation under section

19 7 shall be liable to the United States for a civil

20 penalty of not more than $35,000 for each viola21 tion;

22 ‘‘(C) recklessly or intentionally violated sec23 tion 7 or any regulations under section 7 shall

24 be liable to the United States for a civil penalty

25 of not more than $50,000 for each violation;
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1 ‘‘(D) violated section 4(a) or any regulation

2 under section 4(a) shall be liable to the United

3 States for a civil penalty of not more than

4 $50,000 for each violation; or

5 ‘‘(E) violated any other provision of this

6 Act or any other regulation under this Act shall

7 be liable to the United States for a civil penalty

8 of not more than $25,000 for each violation.’’;

9 (1) (2) by striking ‘‘of this section’’ in sub10 section (b)(3) and inserting ‘‘of this subsection’’;

11 (2) (3) by inserting ‘‘arbitrate,’’ in subsection

12 (b)(4) after ‘‘Secretary may’’;

13 (3) (4) in subsection (d)—

14 (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘ENFORCE15 MENT.—’’; and

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

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

18 hotline system to facilitate the reporting of alleged viola19 tions of this Act, and the Secretary shall evaluate allega20 tions reported through that system and report any credible

21 allegations to the Attorney General.’’.

22 SEC. 7. RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS.

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

24 5409) is redesignated as section 7 and is amended by
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1 striking subsections (a) and (b) and inserting the fol2 lowing:

3 ‘‘Manufacturers and importers shall retain the record

4 of conformance for fasteners for 5 years, on paper or in

5 photographic or electronic format in a manner that allows

6 for verification of authenticity. Upon request of a dis7 tributor who has purchased a fastener, or a person who

8 has purchased a fastener for use in the production of a

9 commercial product, the manufacturer or importer of the

10 fastener shall make available information in the record of

11 conformance to the requester.’’.

12 SEC. 8. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAWS.

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

14 5410) is redesignated as section 8.

15 SEC. 9. CONSTRUCTION.

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

17 5411) is redesignated as section 9 and is amended by

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

19 SEC. 10. CERTIFICATION AND ACCREDITATION.

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

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

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

23 ‘‘SEC. 10. CERTIFICATION AND ACCREDITATION.

24 ‘‘(a) CERTIFICATION.—A person publishing a docu25 ment setting forth guidance or requirements for the cer-
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1 tification of manufacturing systems, including fastener

2 manufacturing systems, by an accredited third party may

3 petition the Director to approve such document for use

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

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

6 shall approve such petition if the document provides equal

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

8 Guide 62.

9 ‘‘(b) ACCREDITATION.—A person publishing a docu10 ment setting forth guidance or requirements for the ap11 proval of accreditation bodies to accredit third parties de12 scribed in subsection (a) may petition the Director to ap13 prove such document for use as described in section

14 3(7)(B)(iii)(I). The Director shall act upon a petition

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

16 petition if the document provides equal or greater rigor

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

18 ‘‘(c) LABORATORY ACCREDITATION.—A person pub19 lishing a document setting forth guidance or requirements

20 for the accreditation of laboratories may petition the Di21 rector to approve such document for use as described in

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

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

24 petition if the document provides equal or greater rigor

25 and reliability as compared to ISO/IEC Guide 25.
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1 ‘‘(d) APPROVAL OF ACCREDITATION BODIES.—A

2 person publishing a document setting forth guidance or

3 requirements for the approval of accreditation bodies to

4 accredit laboratories may petition the Director to approve

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

6 The Director shall act upon a petition within 180 days

7 after its filing, and shall approve such petition if the docu8 ment provides equal or greater rigor and reliability as

9 compared to ISO/IEC Guide 58.’’.

10 SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY.

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

12 by section 10, add the following:

13 ‘‘SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY.

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

15 to fasteners fabricated 180 days or more after the date

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

17 or distributor of fasteners fabricated before that date pre18 pares a record of conformance for such fasteners, rep19 resentations about such fasteners shall be subject to the

20 requirements of this Act.’’.