[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 104 (Wednesday, May 29, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26891-26892]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-13399]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
[Docket No. 950802199-6064-02]
RIN 0693-XX10


Approval of Withdrawal of Eighteen Federal Information Processing 
Standards

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce that the Secretary 
of Commerce has approved the withdrawal of eighteen Federal Information 
Processing Standards (FIPS).
    On August 22, 1995, notice was published in the Federal Register 
(60 FR 43586-43587) proposing withdrawal of eighteen Federal 
Information Processing Standards (FIPS). These FIPS adopt voluntary 
industry standards for Federal government use. In some cases, the FIPS 
documents have not been updated to reference current or revised 
voluntary industry standards. In other cases, commercial products 
implementing the voluntary industry standards, such as punched cards, 
paper tape, optical character recognition equipment, and microfilm 
readers, are widely available; as a result, it is no longer necessary 
for the government to mandate standards in these areas.
    Withdrawal means that the FIPS will no longer be part of a 
subscription series that is provided by the National Technical 
Information Service, and that NIST will no longer be able to support 
the standards by answering implementation questions or updating the 
FIPS when the voluntary industry standards are revised. Current 
voluntary industry standards should be used by agencies in their 
procurement actions were appropriate, in accordance with OMB Circular 
A-119, Federal Participation and Use of Voluntary Standards.
    The written comments submitted by interested parties and other 
material available to the Department relevant to these standards were 
revised by NIST. On the basis of this review, NIST recommended that the 
Secretary approve the withdrawal of the eighteen FIPS, and prepared a 
detailed justification document for the Secretary's review in support 
of that recommendation.
    The detailed justification document which was presented to the 
Secretary is part of the public record and is available for inspection 
and copying in the Department's Central Reference and Records 
Inspection Facility, Room 6020, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th Street 
between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20230.
    This notice provides only the FIPS publication number, title, and 
the technical specifications number for each of the eighteen standards 
being withdrawn:

--FIPS 2-1, Perforated Tape Code for Information Interchange (ANSI 
X3.6-1965/R1991)
--FIPS 13, Rectangular Holes in Twelve-Row Punched Cards (ANSI X3.21-
1967/R1991)
--FIPS 14-1, Hollerith Punched Card Code (ANSI X3.26-1980/R1991)
--FIPS 26, One-Inch Perforated Paper Tape for Information Interchange 
(ANSI X3.18-1967/R1990)
--FIPS 27, Take-Up Reels for One-Inch Perforated Tape for Information 
Interchange (ANSI X3.20-1967/R1990)
--FIPS 32-1, Character Sets for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) 
(ANSI X3.2-1970/R1976, X3.17-1981, and X3.49-1975/R1982)
--FIPS 33-1, Character Set for Handprinting (ANSI X3.45-1982)
--FIPS 40, Guideline for Optical Character Recognition Forms
--FIPS 54-1, Computer Output Microform (COM) Formats and Reduction 
Ratios, 16mm and 105mm (ANSI/AIIM MS5-1991 and MS14-1988)
--FIPS 82, Guideline for Inspection and Quality Control for 
Alphanumeric Computer-Output Microforms (ANSI/AIIM MS1-1980)
--FIPS 84, Microfilm Readers (ANSI/AIIM (NMA) MS20-1979)

[[Page 26892]]

--FIPS 85, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Inks (ANSI X3.86-1980)
--FIPS 89, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Character Positioning 
(ANSI X3.93M-1981)
--FIPS 90, Guideline for Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Print 
Quality (ANSI X3.99-1983)
--FIPS 107, Local Area Networks: Baseband Carrier Sense Multiple Access 
with Collision Detection Access Method and Physical Layer 
Specifications and Link Layer Protocol (ANSI/IEEE 802.2 and 802.3)
--FIPS 108, Alphanumeric Computer Output Microform Quality Test Slide 
(AIIM MS28-1983)
--FIPS 129, Optical Character Recognition (OCR)--Dot Matrix Character 
Sets for OCR-MA (ANSI X3.111-1986)
--FIPS 149, General Aspects of Group 4 Facsimile Apparatus (ANSI/EIA-
536-1988)

EFFECTIVE DATE: This withdrawal is effective May 29, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Shirley Radack, National Institute 
of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, telephone (301) 
975-2833.

    Authority: Federal Information Processing Standards Publications 
(FIPS PUBS) are issued by the National Institute of Standards and 
Technology after approval by the Secretary of Commerce pursuant to 
section 5131 of the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 
1996 and the Computer Security Act of 1987, Pub. L. 104-106.

    Dated: May 22, 1996.
Samuel Kramer,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 96-13399 Filed 5-28-96; 8:45 am]
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