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INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL STANDARDS

ACTIVITIES

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1966

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND ASTRONAUTICS,
AD HOC SUBCOMMITTEE ON H.R. 17424,
Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, in room 2325, Rayburn House Office Building, at 10 a.m., Hon. J. Edward Roush (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Mr. ROUSH. The committee will be in order.

Our first witness this morning was to have been Congressman John D. Dingell of Michigan. Congressman Dingell has a prepared statement for the subcommittee which I understand will be presented by Mr. Gregg Potvin, counsel to the Select Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives.

Mr. POTVIN. That is correct, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. ROUSH. You may present Mr. Dingell's testimony as you see fit. Mr. POTVIN. Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, Congressman Dingell has asked me to express his regrets at not being able to appear. His two legislative committees are meeting at the same hour this morning. He has asked me to express his appreciation for kindly allowing me to substitute for him.

STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN JOHN D. DINGELL (MICHIGAN), SELECT COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS (PRESENTED BY GREGG POTVIN, COUNSEL)

Mr, POTVIN. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to appear and present my views concerning H.R. 17424. I would like to commend Chairman Miller for introducing this bill and you, Chairman Roush, for holding these valuable hearings.

The question of standards is one which is of increasing concern and importance to many sectors of our economy. It is clear that participation by the Federal Government in international standardization must be increased if America is to compete in the overseas markets which are expanding so rapidly. I am fully in accord with the intent of the bill and feel confident that the Secretary of Commerce will act to advance our national interests through the tools proposed to be given to him through this legislation.

I am here primarily, however, to express an antitrust and small business point of view. In this capacity there are a few caveats I wish to

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enter. The language of H.R. 17424 is necessarily broad. The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to promote, develop, support, and improve U.S. participation in international commercial standardization and to establish and maintain a clearinghouse service for the benefit of producers, distributors, users, consumers, and the general public for the collection and dissemination of engineering or product standards. In furtherance of this grant of authority, the Secretary of Commerce is empowered to do all things necessary to carry out these functions. This includes the making of grants to, and the entering of contracts with, private nonprofit organizations and the establishing of such policies as are necessary for the administration of the act.

Quite frankly, when confronted with language this broad I find myself unable to state with any degree of certainty what the precise result of the bill might be.

As an example, the bill would seem to give the option to the Secretary to either have the Department of Commerce itself participate in international standards activities or contract this function out to private nonprofit organizations. This is evidently left to the discretion of the Secretary. There is no way to foresee the extent to which either of these options will be exercised. It is my hope that the language of the bill will not be regarded as a mandate to contract out all such activity. It is clear that in most instances a public agency is best qualified to pass on matters affecting the public interest. It is often difficult for members of a particular industry to take a broader point of view than their own needs might dictate. Not infrequently the standard most convenient or profitable to a given set of producers is less than satisfactory to their smaller competitors or to distributors and consumers. It must be borne in mind, too, that present standards promulgated under the administration of the Department of Commerce, that would be the commodities standards program, require participation not only by producers, but by distributors and consumers as well, on the standards committee while the procedures of the private sector counterpart of this program center around committees consisting of producers only.

In reading the language of the bill, I do not find a requirement that the public interest-consumers, distributors, users, and the general public-be represented on the various committees and subcommittees that must be created to implement the act. While I have the utmost confidence in the present Secretary of Commerce, I do believe that the bill should be amended to include such a safeguard. Again, I find no limitation on the duration of contracts that can be entered into with private organizations. Unfortunate experiences in other agencies and an inability to foresee the future again indicate that the committee would do well to consider imposing such a limitation. This is in no way meant as a comment on the present personnel of the Department of Commerce but is rather evidence of our inability to foresee the future.

The bill addresses itself primarily to the international aspects of standardization, yet it is clear that domestic programs must be coordinated and indeed integrated with international standards programs. As a practical matter, it is unusual to have one standard for a given domestic product and another for the same product for export trade. What is, of course, most apt to happen is that a standard would

be devised which would be equally appropriate for both purposes, where possible. We must also, therefore, consider the impact of the legislation upon competitive balances within our own economy.

It is a fact that within the private sector those fully versed in the technicalities and intricacies of standards matters are almost without exception employees of, or at any rate primarily available to, larger firms.

Also, in the past the majority of those actively participating in the adoption of standards within the private sector have been representatives of larger firms. Even within standards programs administered by the Department of Commerce there have been problems. Members of the House Small Business Committee have sometimes found it necessary to call to the attention of the Department that standards committees have not included adequate small business rep

resentation.

As a result of such activity, the Softwood Lumber Standards Committee was reconstituted to provide a broader base of representation and the Plywood Standards Committee had a small business representative added to it.

Just this week, the chairman of the House Small Business Committee, Hon. Joe L. Evins, has written the Secretary of Commerce pointing out the necessity of a small business representative on the Automotive Safety Advisory Council.

In examining the bill I am disturbed by the fact that I do not find a requirement that the antitrust division of the Department of Justice be consulted concerning the vast anticompetitive potential of increased standards activities. In my judgment, there should be a requirement that the antitrust division should be asked to pass upon the antitrust aspects of new standards, et cetera. I am troubled, too, in attempting to determine the effect of the bill on the private antitrust litigant who feels that he has been damaged by trade associations or similar groups of producers who have obtained a standard which in one way or another prevents him from competing on equal terms. I am hopeful that these are matters which the committee will explore fully in their consideration of the bill.

Because of my very high regard for Secretary Connor, I feel that he is entitled to have the committee see that he is provided with all the tools required to perform the vital tasks envisioned by this legislation. For this reason it seems to me the committee should receive testimony which would develop staffing patterns that might be expected at the Department if the bill is enacted. Ample staffing is imperative if the public interest is to be fully protected.

In closing, gentlemen, I would like to reiterate my unqualified support of the intent of this legislation and to underline my concern. regarding the necessity for insuring against any possible misuse or anticompetitive impact which might occur in the future if adequate safeguards are not included in the legislation.

Mr. ROUSH. Are you prepared to answer questions in this field? I am sure that as counsel to the Small Business Comitittee you are acquainted with efforts toward standardization.

Mr. POTVIN. While, I'm not sure I can answer them to the degree the Congressman could; in his absence I certainly would be most willing to attempt to do so.

Mr. ROUSH. Did the Congressman expect you to be answering questions this morning?

Mr. POTVIN. I believe that was his intention.

Mr. ROUSH. On page 4 of the Congressman's testimony, the last sentence of the paragraph which has been carried over from the preceding page, he state:

We must also, therefore, consider the impact of the legislation upon competitive balances within our own economy.

Do you see that there will be either a positive or a negative impact? Mr. POTVIN. I believe the cardinal point we wanted to make was that the language of the bill as such does not reveal this. New standards inevitably have profound effects on competitive balances. I know in the work of the committee we have had hearings on one set of standards and are currently looking at several other standards that were having very, very great effect in some regions and on some of the smaller producers in those industries.

Now, it simply does not seem possible at this time to foresee the extent to which domestic standards might be altered as a result of increased international participation. It is safe to say that to some degree it is bound to happen, and when it does I think it is just imperative that not only the consumer but the smaller producer be given a voice and a vote in the fashioning of these new standards.

Mr. ROUSH. We discussed this with Dr. Hollomon yesterday, particularly expressing concern that small business might come out on the short end if big business were permitted to control the setting of standards, and it is a matter that the subcommittee is concerned with. It is a matter that we are going to explore further, and you might tell the Congressman of our concern.

On page 3, middle paragraph, the Congressman states that he finds no limitation on the duration of contracts that can be entered into with private organizations.

Do you know whether he is prepared to suggest a time limitation, together with language which might be added to the bill?

Mr. POTVIN. It is not clear to me whether he had a precise length of time to suggest. His thinking that is something on the order of 2 or 3 years would perhaps encourage a review from time to time of how the relationship is working out and allow the infusion of such new ideas as might be appropriate rather than crystallizing it for a longer period of time.

Mr. ROUSH. If there are no further questions, we would like you to express our appreciation to Congressman Dingell for his statement and his concern in this field. The Congressman is a very capable legislator and able spokesman for those causes in which he believes. And I believe through this statement he has made a valuable contribution to the work of the subcommittee as it addresses itself to this particular bill.

I would appreciate it also if you would assure the Congressman that the suggestions which he has made will be explored further and given full consideration.

Mr. POTVIN. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for your courtesy. I will convey your message.

Mr. ROUSH. Thank you.

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