METRIC IMPORTERS OF NORTH AMERICA -- HISTORY PAGE 2

rev JUL 16, 2000:
HISTORICAL PAGE -- MINA ARTICLES FROM EARLY 1999 UP TO EARLY July 1999
They have been removed from the main welcome page to permit faster page loading and remove articles that did not apply to the latest version of the law.
rev JUL 07, 1999:
On Jul 06, 1999 there was a seven minute, forty second, NPR Morning Edition radio report on the FQA. This broadcast has been archived by NPR and can be found here. Double click on the article titled "Nuts and Bolts Safety" to start the broadcast. The following quoted text is NPR's: " -- NPR's Peter Overby reports on a new law governing the industry that makes industrial strength nuts and bolts. Consumer advocates say much of the fastening hardware on the market in the United States is sub-standard and not properly tested. The fastener industry maintains that its product is safe. (7:40)"
It was not exactly a balanced bit of reporting and MINA hopes to comment to NPR about it.
You will need the (free) Real Audio/Real player software to hear it.
If you do not have Real Player installed on your computer, please use the icon below to connect to the download site. Install the Real Player software before attempting to listen to the report.

rev MAY 27, 1999, rev MAY 28, 1999, rev JUN 06, 1999:
BULLETIN:
We are on the fast track for H.R. 1183 to become law by the June 23, 1999 deadline.
H.R. 1183 RDS has Passed the Senate on May 25, 1999 without amendment and by Unanimous Consent. The final congressionally approved text now labeled H.R. 1183 ENR has been sent to the President for his signature. On May 25, 99 an Executive Action Cleared the bill for the White House, and on May 26, 99 a message on the Senate action was sent to the House. The Presidential signing should occur within the next 10 working days, excluding Sundays.
Implementation: Remember that basically --
1. `The requirements of this Act shall be applicable only to fasteners fabricated 180 days or more after the date of the enactment of FQA99.
2. The use of accredited laboratories - shall take effect 2 years after the date of the enactment of FQA99.
After FQA99 has been signed into law MINA will publish more detailed interpretations. Text of Senate floor action is here.

rev MAY 22, 1999:
On May 20, 1999 the NIST FQA website finally acknowledged the existence of H.R. 1183 and S. 795. Click here to see their notice. The same notice supplemented with a MINA tip on 'how to use' is also available at the MINA website.
rev MAY 22, 1999:
MINA has excerpted some comments from the May 10, 1999 'TABD Mid Year Report' which concern the FQA.
The Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) offers an effective framework for enhanced cooperation between the transatlantic business community and the governments of the European Union (EU) and United States (US). It is an informal process whereby European and American companies and business associations develop joint EU-US trade policy recommendations, working together with the European Commission and US Administration.
MINA note: be aware that some of the TABD comments are not entirely correct; such as the 'repeal' statement.
rev MAY 11, 1999, rev MAY 12, 1999, rev MAY 16, 1999:
BULLETIN:
Senate Actions: On May 12, 99 H.R. 1183 EH was received in the Senate. MINA believes that there may be some text changes in the Senate which will help relieve some of the burden of the costly new House changes.
Be aware that we still are working under a tight date deadline of June 23, 1999 for S 795 IS to pass the Senate, go before a House/Senate committee for agreement with the House passed H.R. 1183 EH, and be signed into law by the President. This will bring the resolution of the FQA into a very, very tight squeeze against the date deadline.
There is also another possibility that congress could attach a rider to another bill that would delay the implementation date of the existing FQA -- P.L. 105-234 and give congress additional time to consider the new FQA act.
The Next Meeting of the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES will be at 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 11 in the House Chamber. The Program for Tuesday will include Consideration of Bill Suspensions. H.R. 1183, Fastener Quality Act Amendments Act of 1999 will be acted on. The suspension procedure is part of the congressional fast track program to ensure speedier processing of legislation through congress.
H.R. 1183 EH was passed by the House on MAY 11, 1999. Unfortunately, there were several significant changes to the the original amended text that came out of the committee meeting. These changes could complicate and add significant costs to the importation and sales of imported fasteners. MINA is attempting to learn how these text changes were made since there were no announced scheduled meetings between the APR. 29, 1999 hearing date and the submission of H.R. 1183 RH to the House floor.
rev MAY 02, 1999, rev MAY 06, 1999, rev MAY 09, 1999:
BULLETIN:
Click here for the text of S 795 IS as Amended by the May 5, 1999 Senate markup session. The amended text in this version as edited by MINA is shown in red Italic type. Senator HOLLINGS amendment could add a significant additional burden for importers as they are now treated as manufacturers. This new language contradicts the intention to relieve the discrimination between US manufacturers and non-US manufacturers. That intention was supposed to be one of the reasons for the latest congressional interest in revising the FQA.
There are now quite a few more differences between the Senate and House bills which will have to be worked out by the two bodies. However, since the two bills are still substantially similar and hopefully working out the differences should not become a major problem. Be aware that we are working under a date deadline of June 23, 1999 for these bills to pass both houses of congress, go before a House/Senate committee for agreement, and be signed into law by the President. This may bring this resolution of the FQA into a very, very tight squeeze against the date deadline.
Note: For those of you attending the Columbus, Ohio fastener show -- due to the probability that the above legislation will not be settled prior to the show dates; MINA will not hold a membership meeting. Just keep monitoring this page for the latest developments.
On May 5, 99: The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a scheduled consideration and markup session for S.795 at room SR-253 at 9:30 a.m.

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation met on MAY 5, 1999. The Committee ordered favorably reported: S. 795, to amend the Fastener Quality Act to strengthen the protection against the sale of mismarked, misrepresented, and counterfeit fasteners and eliminate unnecessary requirements, with amendments.
MINA will publish the text of these amendments as soon as they released by the committee. (Note: see the section above)
rev APR. 22, 1999, rev APR. 23, 1999, rev APR. 25, 1999, rev APR. 30, 1999: BULLETIN:
Links to congressional and witness statements from the SENATE HEARING ON TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION FISCAL YEAR 2000 BUDGET AND THE FASTENER QUALITY ACT AMENDMENTS held on APR. 21, 1999.
Note: these statements are in Adobe PDF format.

Full text of STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD OF SEN. JOHN BREAUX
Full text of the Statement of Steven Schonholtz, President, Gardenbolt International, Inc. on behalf of the National Fastener Distributors Association, before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space.
Full text of the Statement Of Adrian Paul Cockman, Ford Motor Company To The Subcommittee On Science, Technology And Space Committee On Commerce, Science And Transportation, U.S. Senate Regarding The Fastener Quality Act.
Full text of the Statement of Raymond G. Kammer Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology Before the Committee on Commerce, Science, And Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space, United States Senate The Technology Administration in the FY 2000 Budget and The Fastener Quality Act. For a quicker digest of the Kammer Statement: here is a 3 page extract of that portion; pages 17 through 19 that concerns the FQA. Also testifying was Robert E. Brunner, Illinois Tool Works, Inc., IL on behalf of the Industrial Fasteners Institute; but he apparently did not submit his statement* in electronic form. We have now reviewed the printed copy of the Brunner testimony and it is similar in view to the other fastener organizations. We will try to publish it here later. *(All witnesses are asked to provide electronic copies of their opening statements. Some witnesses' statements are missing because electronic copies of their remarks have not been provided to the Senate Committee.)

rev APR. 15, 1999, updated APR. 16, 1999, updated APR. 19, 1999, updated APR. 20, 1999:
BULLETIN:
On APR. 14, 1999, the Senator from Arizona (Mr. John McCain) introduced S.795; the Senate version of the FQA amendments act. The official title is: "A bill 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." S.795 has now been referred to the Committee on Commerce.
MINA will publish the text of the S.795 as soon as it becomes available in the congressional register.
Full text of S.795 as introduced into the Senate. There are a few differences between the Senate and House bills which will have to be worked out by the two bodies. However, the two bills are substantially similar and hopefully working out the minor differences should not be a major problem.

updated APR. 21, 1999
S.795 is scheduled for a Senate hearing on Apr 21, 1999 by the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space in room SR-253 at 2:00 p.m. MINA will issue a summary of this hearing as it becomes available.

updated APR. 20, 1999, rev APR. 30, 1999
Text of Senator John McCain's introductory statement on S.795. On APR. 19, 1999 an additional cosponsor, the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Ashcroft) signed onto S.795.
On APR. 27, 1999 additional cosponsors were added. At the request of Mr. McCain, the name of the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Abraham) was added as a cosponsor of S. 795, a bill 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. At the request of Mr. Robb, his name was added as a cosponsor of S. 795, supra.
rev MAR. 22, 1999, updated Mar. 25, 1999, rev MAR. 27, 1999, rev MAR. 31, 1999, rev APR. 30, 1999, rev MAY. 03, 1999:
BULLETIN:
"Fastener Quality Act Amendments Act of 1999"
H.R. 1183. A bill to amend the Fastener Quality Act has
been introduced into congress on March 18, 1999.
The science committee completed its markup of H.R. 1183 on Mar. 25, 1999.
There was an amendment introduced during this hearing which could again make burdensome and unworkable changes to H.R. 1183 and the FQA. We do not yet have the full text of that amendment, but will publish it here as soon as it becomes publicly available.
The above information was announced based on listening to the audio portion of the testimony during the markup hearing, but now examination of the actual En Bloc amendment text shows that it does not seem to be quite the problem that was projected in the above (purple text) sentence.
See the 'Fastener Quality Act Amendments Act of 1999' H.R. 1183 plus the text of the March 25, 1999 Morella/Barcia En Bloc amendments merged with the existing FQA.
As compiled by MINA.
On Apr 29, 99: H.R. 1183 was reported (Amended) by the Committee on Science. H. Rept. 106-121, Part I. This report has all the details and correspondence of the committee. It also includes the full text of the Mar. 25, 1999 hearing.
Also the Committee on Commerce discharged H.R. 1183, and it was placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 64. This means that the next action on H.R. 1183 will take place before the full house.
See the official full text of H.R. 1183 as amended here.

See the (before amendments) full text of H.R. 1183 here.
See the (before En Bloc amendments) text of 'Fastener Quality Act Amendments Act of 1999'. amendment merged with the existing FQA
H.R. 1183 is now scheduled to come before the commerce committee during the week of April 12, 1999.
Read it! Please let MINA have your feedback. We will have more comments about this proposed amendment to the FQA after further study. Stay tuned.
The Mar. 25, 1999 science committee hearing webcast has been archived and is now available for review if you were not able to catch it live.
This is the location of the Mar. 25, 1999 archived webcast (as of MAR. 27, 1999). Note: once the hearing has started to display, advance your Real Player slider to about 56 minutes into the hearing. This is the point in the time line where the discussion of H.R. 1183 begins. The portion of the hearing concerning H.R. 1183 lasts about 14 minutes.

rev APR. 30, 1999:
The National Fastener Distributors Association has an FQA information page with some helpful materials on HR1183 and S795. It includes sample form letters for sending to your congresspersons.
rev MAR. 6, 1999:
See the latest MINA press release on the FEB. 25, 1999 congressional hearing. The Fastener Quality Act: Can A Decade of Digression be "Unscrewed"? -- 3/5/99
BULLETIN:
"Unscrewing the Fastener Quality Act"**.

rev FEB. 27, 1999:
Special attention to: Fastener Industry CEO's, COO's, Managers, Principals, Owners, Partners. We need your help! Click here for a printable version of the CBNSA's FASTENER QUALITY ACT POSITION/PETITION (FQA) on the FQA. The originals of this petition will be submitted to the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, with copies going to the offices of the congress persons in the districts covered by companies signing the petition. We also welcome submissions from companies outside the USA.
rev FEB. 27, 1999, rev MAR. 2, 1999, rev MAR. 4, 1999, rev MAR. 6, 1999, rev MAR. 31, 1999:

Click here for the full (MINA corrected) NIST Press release on the FQA report.
This is a short quote from the press release: "In order to approach the original intent of Congress to cover "1 percent of high-strength fasteners used in critical applications," the report recommends coverage under the Act should be limited to only high-strength fasteners—those possessing a minimum tensile strength 830 megapascals*** (120,000 pounds per square inch), the generally accepted level for "high-strength" steel fasteners throughout the industry."
The original uncorrected NIST Press release is here.

***as of Mar. 31, 1999 the copy of the official NIST press release posted on the NIST website is still erroneously reading "millipascals" instead of "megapascals" and also within the same press release there is another error implying that 5 mm=0.25 inch "a nominal diameter of 5 millimeters (0.25 inch)". You would think that NIST would know better. MINA has pointed these errors out to NIST over a month ago and they have apparently chosen not to correct the errors.
rev FEB. 26, 1999, rev MAR. 4, 1999, rev MAR. 6, 1999, rev APR. 16, 1999:
Hearing update:
NIST/SoC (Secretary of Commerce) did not deliver the FQA report which was due on Feb. 1, 1999 to congress until 4 PM on Feb 24, 1999. This was just a few hours before the hearing was scheduled to begin. The congressional committee was so displeased with this lateness that they withdrew the invitation to the NIST/DoC officials including NIST Director Ray Kammer, that were scheduled to testify at the hearing. This reduced the number of witnesses testifying to just 3.
The following quote is from the committee hearing charter posted for the week of Feb. 22, 1999: "P.L. 105-234 directed that the Secretary of Commerce report its study of the fastener industry and recommended changes that are necessary to the FQA by February 1, 1999. Unfortunately, the Science Committee is yet to receive the report."
The inaction by NIST/SoC automatically postpones the FQA implementation date until no earlier than June 23, 1999.
The simple synopsis of the hearing is that the FQA will probably undergo a significant rewrite tending toward a simplification of the rules and with an emphasis on curbing the fraudulent misrepresentation of fasteners. The committee chairperson, Congresswoman Constance A. Morella acknowledged that the current FQA is flawed and that the committee intends to fix the FQA "once and for all!" The late delivery of the report by NIST/SoC may necessitate scheduling another congressional hearing after the committee has had time to analyze the NIST/SoC report. MINA has made the text of the congressional and witness statements available at the following links. It includes statements from Chairwoman Constance Morella, Congressman Barcia, Ed McIihon, John O'Brien, George Parker, and; Raymond Kammer even though he was barred from testifying in person. The full text of the FQA/SoC report is here (it is in PDF format and is quite long; a 2654 byte file). We have also extracted a one page summary of the report in PDF format here.
The final paragraph of the summary is below:
"After analysis of all available information, weighing significant advances made by industry in the manufacture of fasteners, and assessing public safety needs, if Congress determines that it is appropriate to continue to regulate fasteners, the Department recommends that Congress amend the Act to limit its application to fasteners where public safety may remain a problem. The Department recommends application of the Act be limited to "high strength" fasteners, the paperwork burdens be streamlined, the Act be amended to recognize quality management systems in manufacturing and provide simpler compliance requirements for those manufacturers using quality management systems of sufficient rigor and consistency, and amend Title 18 of the United States Code by adding a criminal penalty for fraudulent activity in commercial transactions involving fasteners. The intent of these changes is to have a statute that recognizes the positive developments in the fastener industry, focuses on assuring public safety, and imposes the least possible burden on industry."
If you want to submit any comments on the hearing, the congressional committee will keep the record open until March 5, 1999.
updated FEB. 23, 1999, rev FEB. 25, 1999, rev FEB. 27, 1999, rev MAR. 6, 1999, rev MAR 27, 1999:
Another congressional hearing on the Fastener Quality Act will be held on February 25, 1999, 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM in room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building before the Technology Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science.
The **official government title of this hearing is: "Unscrewing the Fastener Quality Act". The hearing is the third in a series of hearings to review the need for the 1990 Fastener Quality Act (FQA) (PL 101-592). The hearing will focus on the Department of Commerce�s report on the fastener industry and discuss recommendations on amending FQA, including the views of fastener manufacturers, distributors and consumers. Click here for the full text of the hearing charter which includes the list of witnesses and the main issues to be discussed.

You may attend this hearing from anywhere in the world through an internet connection!
A very special feature of this hearing is that it will be carried live as a webcast on the internet. (Note: now that the hearing has already taken place, see the instructions below for accessing the archived edition.)
Webcast provides both audio and video and is similar to a TV picture. Neat technology. To view the hearing you will need to have the free Real Player installed on your computer.
If you do not have Real Player installed on your computer, please use the icon below to connect to the download site. Install the Real Player software before attempting to view the hearing.

The hearing webcast has been archived and is now available for review if you were not able to catch it live.
This is the location of the archived webcast (as of MAR. 27, 1999).

Test your Real Player installation: To listen and view a sample archived hearing click on the icon
If anyone watched the hearing live, please send an e-mail to let us know. Just click on the following link. [ e-mail to webmaster about the webcast ] Press notice: You are welcome to freely use any MINA materials. Just credit MINA as the source. Be advised that any communications from MINA should not be taken as legal advice.
CONTACTS AT: METRIC IMPORTERS OF NORTH AMERICA
[ e-mail to BONNIE CARTER c/o MINA ] [ e-mail to LEE SACKS c/o MINA ] [ e-mail to webmaster ]
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