FAQS

  • Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) write the safety standards that keep Americans safe and secure, and American industries in a position of global leadership.

    The Pro Codes Act would require that any safety standards referenced in laws or regulations be posted online for free. This might sound like a good thing on its surface but in reality, it would either force SDOs to forfeit their copyrights or strip them entirely of their ability to generate revenue, which would mean the processes they fund to develop these standards would cease to exist. 

    And so in addition to impacting those written into law, Pro Codes also negatively impacts SDOs who work on highly technical standards that are not lobbied into law.

    We must ensure that SDOs are protected so they can do their jobs effectively to the benefit of us all.

  • By gutting our system for safety standards, the consequences of this legislation would:

    • Risk public safety: The Pro Codes Act would undermine SDOs' ability to maintain and update critical safety codes, potentially leaving industries like manufacturing and construction with outdated or inadequate standards that jeopardize public safety.

    • Threaten economic stability: SDOs help ensure industries remain consistent and reliable. If they go out of business, gaps will need to be filled by inefficient government programs, leading to delays and increased costs that could harm industrial growth and America’s competitiveness while burdening taxpayers. 

    • Undermine national security: While intended to make technical standards more accessible, the bill’s unintended consequences would compromise sensitive infrastructure, weaken cybersecurity, and give foreign adversaries a strategic advantage.

    • Send the copyright industry into uncertainty: The bill would force SDOs to forfeit their copyrights if they fail to post standards for free online. This change could have implications across other industries, allowing domestic and foreign entities to exploit standards, create derivative works and undermine intellectual property protections, even including the music, film and publishing industries.

    As a result, Congress has rejected this bill twice before, but proponents are trying to quickly move this forward.


  • This bill is largely a response to litigation pursued by a very small subset of standards organizations. After facing repeated setbacks in courts across the country, these groups are now seeking to achieve through legislation what they could not achieve through established legal channels. Their lawsuits have already caused confusion and uncertainty across the standards community, and this bill would compound the harm by imposing a sweeping, one-size-fits-all “fix” that benefits only a few parties in their private disputes—while undermining the broader standards system that protects safety, quality and innovation.

  • Our coalition is far-reaching. We are millions of engineers and technical experts across America, world-leading SDOs, top legal experts, national security and economic analysts, and more. 

    Members include the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Welding Society, ASTM International, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the North American Energy Standards Board, the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors and SAE International.

  • Right now, the bill is being considered by the House Judiciary Committee – please click here and take one minute to tell your Member of Congress to oppose this bill.