I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1183
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 18, 1999
Mr. SENSENBRENNER (for himself, Mr. BROWN of California, Mrs. MORELLA,
Mr. GREEN
of Wisconsin, Mr. COOK, Mrs. BIGGERT, and Mr.
KUYKENDALL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committee on Commerce,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Fastener Quality Act to strengthen the protec-
tion against the sale of mismarked, misrepresented, and
counterfeit fasteners and eliminate unnecessary require-
ments, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fastener Quality Act
Amendments Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
Section 2 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.
5401) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
‘‘The Congress finds that—
‘‘(1) the United States fastener industry is a
significant contributor to the global economy, em-
ploying thousands of workers in hundreds of commu-
nities;
‘‘(2) the American economy uses billions of fas-
teners each year;
‘‘(3) state-of-the-art manufacturing and im-
proved quality assurance systems have dramatically
improved fastener quality, so virtually all fasteners
sold in commerce meet or exceed the consensus
standards for the uses to which they are applied;
‘‘(4) a small number of mismarked, misrepre-
sented, and counterfeit fasteners do enter commerce
in the United States; and
‘‘(5) multiple criteria for the identification of
fasteners exist, including grade identification mark-
ings and manufacturer’s insignia, to enable pur-
chasers and users of fasteners to accurately evaluate
the characteristics of individual fasteners.’’.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
Section 3 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.
5402) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘As used in this Act, the term—
‘‘(1) ‘consensus standard’ means the provisions
of a document that describes fastener characteristics
published by a consensus standards organization or
a Federal agency, and does not include a proprietary
standard;
‘‘(2) ‘consensus standards organization’ means
the American Society for Testing and Materials, the
American National Standards Institute, the Amer-
ican Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of
Automotive Engineers, the International Organiza-
tion for Standardization, any other organization
identified as a United States consensus standards
organization or a foreign and international con-
sensus standards organization in the Federal Reg-
ister at 61 Fed. Reg. 50582–83 (September 26,
1996), and any successor organizations thereto;
‘‘(3) ‘Director’ means the Director of the Na-
tional Institute of Standards and Technology;
‘‘(4) ‘distributor’ means a person who pur-
chases fasteners for the purpose of reselling them at
wholesale to unaffiliated entities or individuals (an
original equipment manufacturer and its dealers
shall be considered affiliated entities for purposes of
this Act);
‘‘(5) ‘fastener’ means a metallic screw, nut,
bolt, or stud having internal or external threads,
with a nominal diameter of 6 millimeters or greater,
in the case of such items described in metric terms,
or 1⁄4 inch or greater, in the case of such items de-
scribed in terms of the English system of measure-
ment, or a load-indicating washer, that is through-
hardened or represented as meeting a consensus
standard that calls for through-hardening, and that
is grade identification marked or represented as
meeting a consensus standard that requires grade
identification marking, except that such term does
not include any screw, nut, bolt, stud, or load-indi-
cating washer that is—
‘‘(A) part of an assembly;
‘‘(B) in a package containing no more than
100 of any one screw, nut, bolt, stud, or load-
indicating washer at the time of sale;
‘‘(C) produced and marked as ASTM A
307 Grade A, or a successor standard thereto;
‘‘(D) produced in accordance with ASTM
F 432, or a successor standard thereto;
‘‘(E) specifically manufactured for use on
an aircraft if the quality and suitability of those
fasteners for that use has been approved—
‘‘(i) by the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration; or
‘‘(ii) by a foreign airworthiness au-
thority as described in part 21.29, 21.500,
21.502, or 21.617 of title 14 of the Code
of Federal Regulations;
‘‘(F) manufactured in accordance with a
fastener quality assurance system; or
‘‘(G) manufactured to a proprietary stand-
ard, whether or not such proprietary standard
directly or indirectly references a consensus
standard or any portion thereof;
‘‘(6) 
‘fastener 
quality 
assurance 
system’
means—
‘‘(A) a system that meets the require-
ments, including revisions from time to time,
of—
‘‘(i) International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) Standard 9000,
9001, 9002, or TS16949;
‘‘(ii) Quality System (QS) 9000
Standard;
‘‘(iii) Verband der Automobilindustrie
e. V. (VDA) 6.1 Standard; or
‘‘(iv) Aerospace Basic Quality System
Standard AS9000; or
‘‘(B) any fastener manufacturing system—
‘‘(i) that has as a stated goal the pre-
vention of defects through continuous im-
provement;
‘‘(ii) that seeks to attain the goal stat-
ed in clause (i) by incorporating—
‘‘(I) advance quality planning;
‘‘(II) monitoring and control of
the manufacturing process;
‘‘(III) product verification em-
bodied in a comprehensive written
control plan for product and process
characteristics, and process controls
(including process influence factors
and statistical process control), tests,
and measurement systems to be used
in production; and
‘‘(IV) the creation, maintenance,
and retention of electronic, photo-
graphic, or paper records required by
the control plan regarding the inspec-
tions, tests, and measurements per-
formed pursuant to the control plan;
and
‘‘(iii) that—
‘‘(I) is subject to certification in
accordance with the requirements of
ISO/IEC Guide 62, including revisions
from time to time, by a third party
who is accredited by an accreditation
body in accordance with the require-
ments of ISO/IEC Guide 61, includ-
ing revisions from time to time, or an-
other document approved by the Di-
rector under section 10; or
‘‘(II) undergoes regular or ran-
dom evaluation and assessment by the
end user or end users of the screws,
nuts, bolts, studs, or load-indicating
washers produced under such fastener
manufacturing system to ensure that
such system meets the requirements
of clauses (i) and (ii);
‘‘(7) ‘grade identification marking’ means any
grade-mark or property class symbol appearing on a
fastener purporting to indicate that the lot of fas-
teners conforms to a specific consensus standard,
but such term does not include a manufacturer’s in-
signia or part number;
‘‘(8) ‘lot’ means a quantity of fasteners of one
part number fabricated by the same production
process from the same coil or heat number of metal
as provided by the metal manufacturer;
‘‘(9) ‘manufacturer’ means a person who fab-
ricates fasteners for sale in commerce;
‘‘(10) ‘proprietary standard’ means the provi-
sions of a document that describes characteristics of
a screw, nut, bolt, stud, or load-indicating washer
and is issued by a person who—
‘‘(A) uses screws, nuts, bolts, studs, or
load-indicating washers in the manufacture, as-
sembly, or servicing of its products; and
‘‘(B) with respect to such screws, nuts,
bolts, studs, or washers, is a developer and
issuer of descriptions that have characteristics
similar to consensus standards and that bear
such user’s identification;
‘‘(11) ‘record of conformance’ means a record
or records designated for each lot of fasteners sold
or offered for sale that contains—
‘‘(A) the name and address of the manu-
facturer;
‘‘(B) a description of the type of fastener;
‘‘(C) the lot number;
‘‘(D) the nominal dimensions of the fas-
tener (including diameter and length of bolts or
screws), thread form, and class of fit;
‘‘(E) the consensus standard or specifica-
tions to which the lot of fasteners has been
manufactured, including the date, number, revi-
sion, and other information sufficient to iden-
tify the particular consensus standard or speci-
fications being referenced;
‘‘(F) the chemistry and grade of material;
and
‘‘(G) the coating material and characteris-
tics and the applicable consensus standard or
specifications for such coating;
‘‘(12) ‘represent’ means to describe one or more
of a fastener’s purported characteristics in a docu-
ment or statement that is transmitted to a pur-
chaser through any medium;
‘‘(13) ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary of Com-
merce;
‘‘(14) ‘specifications’ means the required char-
acteristics identified in the contractual agreement
with the manufacturer or to which a fastener is oth-
erwise produced, except that the term does not in-
clude proprietary standards; and
‘‘(15) ‘through-harden’ means heating above
the transformation temperature followed by quench-
ing and tempering for the purpose of achieving uni-
form hardness.’’.
SEC. 4. SALE OF FASTENERS.
Sections 5 through 7 of the Fastener Quality Act (15
U.S.C. 5404–7) are repealed, and the following new sec-
tion is inserted after section 3 of such Act:
‘‘SEC. 4. SALE OF FASTENERS.
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—It shall be unlawful for a
manufacturer or distributor, in conjunction with a sale or
offer for sale of a fastener, to knowingly misrepresent or
falsify—
‘‘(1) the record of conformance for the lot of
fasteners;
‘‘(2) the identification, characteristics, prop-
erties, mechanical or performance marks, chemistry,
or strength of the lot of fasteners; or
‘‘(3) the manufacturer’s insignia.
‘‘(b) REPRESENTATIONS.—A direct or indirect ref-
erence to a consensus standard to represent that a fas-
tener conforms to particular requirements of the con-
sensus standard shall not be construed as a representation
that the fastener meets all the requirements of the con-
sensus standard.
‘‘(c) SPECIFICATIONS.—A direct or indirect contrac-
tual reference to a consensus standard for the purpose of
identifying particular requirements of the consensus
standard that serve as specifications shall not be con-
strued to require that the fastener meet all the require-
ments of the consensus standard.
‘‘(d) VOLUNTARY
ACCREDITATION
OF
LABORA-
TORIES.—The Secretary, acting through the Director,
shall maintain a program for the voluntary accreditation
of laboratories, and shall make information about such
laboratories available to the public. If the parties to the
sale of a fastener agree, a laboratory accredited under
such voluntary program shall be used to perform tests that
may be required by consensus standards or specifica-
tions.’’.
SEC. 5. MANUFACTURERS’ INSIGNIAS.
Section 8 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.
5407) is redesignated as section 5 and is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘which is re-
quired’’ and all that follows through ‘‘by the Sec-
retary’’ and inserting ‘‘that is required by the speci-
fications or applicable consensus standard or stand-
ards in the record of conformance to bear an insig-
nia identifying its manufacturer shall be offered for
sale or sold in commerce unless the manufacturer of
such fastener has complied with the insignia rec-
ordation requirements prescribed by the Secretary,
acting through the Director,’’; and
(2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘and private
label’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘described
in subsection (a).’’.
SEC. 6. REMEDIES AND PENALTIES.
Section 9 of the Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C.
5408) is redesignated as section 6 and is amended—
(1) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘‘of this
section’’ and inserting ‘‘of this subsection’’;
(2) in subsection (b)(4), by inserting ‘‘arbi-
trate,’’ after ‘‘Secretary may’’;
(3) by striking paragraph (3) of subsection (c);
and
(4) in subsection (d)—
(A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘ENFORCE-
MENT.—’’; and
SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY.
At the end of the Fastener Quality Act, insert the
following new section:
‘‘SEC. 11. APPLICABILITY.
‘‘The requirements of this Act shall be applicable only
to fasteners fabricated 180 days or more after the date
of the enactment of the Fastener Quality Act Amendments
of 1999, except that if a manufacturer or distributor of
fasteners fabricated before that date designates a record
of conformance for such fasteners, representations about
such fasteners shall be subject to the requirements of this
Act.’’.
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