ASHRAE, along with other standards development organizations (SDOs), affirmed legislation for copyright protection of codes and standards adopted or incorporated by reference as long as they are available on a publicly accessible website for viewing.

U.S. Representatives Ted Deutch (FL-22) and Darrell Edward Issa (CA-50) introduced H.R.6769, a bipartisan bill to preserve copyright protection of codes and standards when they are incorporated by reference into federal regulations.

"This legislation simply confirms the legal copyright of standards created by ASHRAE and other SDOs," said 2021-22 ASHRAE President Mick Schwedler, P.E., LEED AP. "We are delighted that Reps. Deutch and Issa have introduced legislation confirming this fact. This allows SDOs and our volunteer members to continue the important work of developing standards that can be incorporated by reference into regulations and building codes, which in turn provide important safety, sustainability and resiliency benefits."

The proposed statue would allow full access to standards incorporated by reference in laws or regulations through free viewing on a publicly accessible website, while still preserving the long-standing public-private partnership standards development infrastructure, at no cost to taxpayers.

Learn more about H.R.6769 here.