For more than a century, private, consensus-based standards developed by organizations like NFPA have formed the backbone of public safety, setting clear expectations for fire prevention, electrical safety, and building design.
Governments at all levels rely on these standards to create safer communities without duplicating time-intensive research or technical expertise. The result has been one of the most effective collaborations between the private and public sectors — building a foundation of trust and safety for generations.
Periodically, some seek to remove copyright protection for codes and standards referenced by government entities in regulations. It is reasonable that codes and standards referenced by government regulations be available to those who must follow the regulations. NFPA, ASTM, and other code making organizations have responded by making such codes and standards available for online viewing free of charge. Nonetheless, code-making organizations such as NFPA must continue to spend time and money defending the copyright provisions which allow them to leverage publications to fund continuing code making activity.
There is a bill, the “Pro Codes Act,” in Congress which would address this issue. The following links to more information on NFPA’s initiative on the Pro Codes Act https://www.dontchancesafety.org/resources