15 U.S.C. § 272 : US Code - Section 272: Establishment, functions, and activities

Search 15 U.S.C. § 272 : US Code - Section 272: Establishment, functions, and activities

(a) Establishment of National Institute of Standards and Technology
There is established within the Department of Commerce a science,
engineering, technology, and measurement laboratory to be known as
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (hereafter in
this chapter referred to as the "Institute").
(b) Functions of Secretary and Institute
The Secretary of Commerce (hereafter in this chapter referred to
as the "Secretary") acting through the Director of the Institute
(hereafter in this chapter referred to as the "Director") and, if
appropriate, through other officials, is authorized to take all
actions necessary and appropriate to accomplish the purposes of
this chapter, including the following functions of the Institute -
(1) to assist industry in the development of technology and
procedures needed to improve quality, to modernize manufacturing
processes, to ensure product reliability, manufacturability,
functionality, and cost-effectiveness, and to facilitate the more
rapid commercialization, especially by small- and medium-sized
companies throughout the United States, of products based on new
scientific discoveries in fields such as automation, electronics,
advanced materials, biotechnology, and optical technologies;
(2) to develop, maintain, and retain custody of the national
standards of measurement, and provide the means and methods for
making measurements consistent with those standards;
(3) to compare standards used in scientific investigations,
engineering, manufacturing, commerce, industry, and educational
institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the
Federal Government and to coordinate the use by Federal agencies
of private sector standards, emphasizing where possible the use
of standards developed by private, consensus organizations;
(4) to enter into contracts, including cooperative research and
development arrangements, in furtherance of the purposes of this
chapter;
(5) to provide United States industry, Government, and
educational institutions with a national clearinghouse of current
information, techniques, and advice for the achievement of higher
quality and productivity based on current domestic and
international scientific and technical development;
(6) to assist industry in the development of measurements,
measurement methods, and basic measurement technology;
(7) to determine, compile, evaluate, and disseminate physical
constants and the properties and performance of conventional and
advanced materials when they are important to science,
engineering, manufacturing, education, commerce, and industry and
are not available with sufficient accuracy elsewhere;
(8) to develop a fundamental basis and methods for testing
materials, mechanisms, structures, equipment, and systems,
including those used by the Federal Government;
(9) to assure the compatibility of United States national
measurement standards with those of other nations;
(10) to cooperate with other departments and agencies of the
Federal Government, with industry, with State and local
governments, with the governments of other nations and
international organizations, and with private organizations in
establishing standard practices, codes, specifications, and
voluntary consensus standards;
(11) to advise government and industry on scientific and
technical problems;
(12) to invent, develop, and (when appropriate) promote
transfer to the private sector of measurement devices to serve
special national needs; and
(13) to coordinate Federal, State, and local technical
standards activities and conformity assessment activities, with
private sector technical standards activities and conformity
assessment activities, with the goal of eliminating unnecessary
duplication and complexity in the development and promulgation of
conformity assessment requirements and measures.
(c) Implementation activities
In carrying out the functions specified in subsection (b) of this
section, the Secretary, acting through the Director and, if
appropriate, through other appropriate officials, may, among other
things -
(1) construct physical standards;
(2) test, calibrate, and certify standards and standard
measuring apparatus;
(3) study and improve instruments, measurement methods, and
industrial process control and quality assurance techniques;
(4) cooperate with the States in securing uniformity in weights
and measures laws and methods of inspection;
(5) cooperate with foreign scientific and technical
institutions to understand technological developments in other
countries better;
(6) prepare, certify, and sell standard reference materials for
use in ensuring the accuracy of chemical analyses and
measurements of physical and other properties of materials;
(7) in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter, accept
research associates, cash donations, and donated equipment from
industry, and also engage with industry in research to develop
new basic and generic technologies for traditional and new
products and for improved production and manufacturing;
(8) study and develop fundamental scientific understanding and
improved measurement, analysis, synthesis, processing, and
fabrication methods for chemical substances and compounds,
ferrous and nonferrous metals, and all traditional and advanced
materials, including processes of degradation;
(9) investigate ionizing and nonionizing radiation and
radioactive substances, their uses, and ways to protect people,
structures, and equipment from their harmful effects;
(10) determine the atomic and molecular structure of matter,
through analysis of spectra and other methods, to provide a basis
for predicting chemical and physical structures and reactions and
for designing new materials and chemical substances, including
biologically active macromolecules;
(11) perform research on electromagnetic waves, including
optical waves, and on properties and performance of electrical,
electronic, and electromagnetic devices and systems and their
essential materials, develop and maintain related standards, and
disseminate standard signals through broadcast and other means;
(12) develop and test standard interfaces, communication
protocols, and data structures for computer and related
telecommunications systems;
(13) study computer systems (as that term is defined in section
278g-3(d) (!1) of this title) and their use to control machinery
and processes;
(14) perform research to develop standards and test methods to
advance the effective use of computers and related systems and to
protect the information stored, processed, and transmitted by
such systems and to provide advice in support of policies
affecting Federal computer and related telecommunications
systems;
(15) determine properties of building materials and structural
elements, and encourage their standardization and most effective
use, including investigation of fire-resisting properties of
building materials and conditions under which they may be most
efficiently used, and the standardization of types of appliances
for fire prevention;
(16) undertake such research in engineering, pure and applied
mathematics, statistics, computer science, materials science, and
the physical sciences as may be necessary to carry out and
support the functions specified in this section;
(17) compile, evaluate, publish, and otherwise disseminate
general, specific and technical data resulting from the
performance of the functions specified in this section or from
other sources when such data are important to science,
engineering, or industry, or to the general public, and are not
available elsewhere;
(18) collect, create, analyze, and maintain specimens of
scientific value;
(19) operate national user facilities;
(20) evaluate promising inventions and other novel technical
concepts submitted by inventors and small companies and work with
other Federal agencies, States, and localities to provide
appropriate technical assistance and support for those inventions
which are found in the evaluation process to have commercial
promise;
(21) demonstrate the results of the Institute's activities by
exhibits or other methods of technology transfer, including the
use of scientific or technical personnel of the Institute for
part-time or intermittent teaching and training activities at
educational institutions of higher learning as part of and
incidental to their official duties; and
(22) undertake such other activities similar to those specified
in this subsection as the Director determines appropriate.
(d) Management costs
In carrying out the extramural funding programs of the Institute,
including the programs established under sections 278k, 278l, and
278n of this title, the Secretary may retain reasonable amounts of
any funds appropriated pursuant to authorizations for these
programs in order to pay for the Institute's management of these
programs.