Sec. 2306. International standards development
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Congress finds the following: Widespread use of standards facilitates technology advancement by defining and establishing common foundations for interoperability, product differentiation, technological innovation, and other value-added services. Standards also promote an expanded, more interoperable, and efficient marketplace. Global cooperation and coordination on standards for emerging technologies will be critical for having a consistent set of approaches to enable market competition, preclude barriers to trade, and allow innovation to flourish.
The People’s Republic of China’s Standardization Reform Plan and Five-Year Plan for Standardization highlight its high-level goals to establish China as a standards power by 2020, participate in at least half of all standards drafting and revision efforts in recognized international standards setting organizations, and strengthen China’s participation in the governance of international standards setting organizations. As emerging technologies develop for global deployment, it is critical that the United States and its allies continue to participate in the development of standards that underpin the technologies themselves, and the future international governance of these technologies.
The United States position on standardization in emerging technologies will be critical to United States economic competitiveness. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is in a unique position to strengthen United States leadership in standards development, particularly for emerging technologies, to ensure continuing United States economic competitiveness and national security. It is the sense of Congress that— the principles of openness, transparency, due process, and consensus in the development of international standards are critical; voluntary consensus standards, developed through an industry-led process, serve as the cornerstone of the United States standardization system and have become the basis of a sound national economy and the key to global market access; strengthening the unique United States public-private partnerships approach to standards development is critical to United States economic competitiveness; and the United States Government should ensure cooperation and coordination across Federal agencies to partner with and support private sector stakeholders to continue to shape international dialogues in regard to standards development for emerging technologies.
The Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director, and in consultation with the Secretary of Energy as relevant, shall— build capacity and training opportunities to help create a pipeline of talent and leadership in key standards development positions; partner with private sector entities to support strategic engagement and leadership in the development of international standards for digital economy technologies, including partnering with industry to assist private sector partners to develop standards strategies and support engagement and participation in the relevant standards activities; and prioritize efforts on standards development for emerging technologies, identify organizations to develop these standards, identify leadership positions of interest to the United States, and identify key contributors for technical and leadership expertise in these areas.