AC-75-05-2 -- Mandatory Standards in the United States PDF

Until very recently, the set of engineering standards which apply to articles of commerce in the United States could be described as voluntary. Today, however, that set is no longer a totally voluntary one but includes, in increasing numbers, mandatory standards.

From the legal point of view, the distinguishing feature of a mandatory standard as opposed to a voluntary standard is that mandatory standards have the force of law and noncompliance with them can result in legally enforceable sanctions. Adherence to a voluntary standard, on the other hand, is discretionary. Standards which have been developed within the voluntary system, however, can and have been adopted extensively by governmental jurisdictions and have thus become mandatory standards.

This narrow, legal distinction, however, is far too simplistic. Standards developed under a federal mandatory system impose specific social values on a system which, as a voluntary one, has been governed primarily by economic considerations. Many of the long-term effects of federal mandatory standards can be expected to arise not only from the content of the standards but also from the ways they are developed and the influence of that process on the traditional system of developing voluntary standards.