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UL announces revised STP regulations; new interest categories to improve balance in STP membership

On July 14, UL began implementing its revised accredited procedures for development of its Standards for Safety. The revised procedures will apply to new UL Standards projects kicked off after the implementation date. The newly revised procedures expand the number of interest categories participating in UL's Standards development process and broaden the basis of Standards appeals. Revisions to the "Regulations Governing ANSI/UL Standards Technical Panels" were approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on Nov. 10, 2005.

New interest categories improve balance

UL created its new Standards Technical Panels (STP) interest categories by splitting the user category into six separate interest categories: consumer, government, authorities having jurisdiction, standards/testing organizations, supply chain and commercial/industrial users. The existing producer and general interest categories remain essentially unchanged.

UL's goal in revising its regulations is to improve the balance of membership by limiting the representation of each interest category to no more than one-third of the membership of an individual STP. Expanding the number of interest categories gives UL the flexibility to add STP members while maintaining the balance of membership.

UL is implementing the new regulations carefully: With nearly 3,000 STP members, reclassifying their interest categories is a major undertaking requiring careful planning to miminize disruptions to the membership and the flow of UL Standards work.

"UL is committed to improving the balance of its STPs to broaden the input into UL's Standards and to enhance the integrity of its Standards development process," says Don Snyder, manager of Standards for UL. "UL has embarked on an ambitious outreach initiative to recruit new members to UL's STPs to improve balance by working with trade associations and national organizations, publishing articles, attending trade shows, and posting calls for members on UL's Standards website."

Broader appeals criteria

In addition to expanding the number of interest categories, the revised regulations also included expanded appeals criteria. Previously, a participant in the UL Standards development process could register an appeal only based on procedural errors. UL has now expanded the types of appeals to include both administrative appeals and special circumstances appeals. Administrative appeals are used for procedural errors and membership issues. Special circumstance appeals cover safety-related appeals and code conflict appeals. UL believes the addition of special circumstance appeals will further safeguard the integrity of its Safety Standards.

UL has formed more than 320 STPs and continues to recruit STP participants, especially those representing the new interest categories. STP participation does not necessarily require a tremendous investment in time or expense, and will help see that a variety of stakeholder perspectives are represented in the development of UL's Safety Standards.

For more information on UL's standards development process or about serving on a Standards Technical Panel, contact Deborah Prince, Standards Technical Panel membership coordinator, at +1-919-549-1460 (voice), +1-919-547-6178 (fax) or Deborah.R.Prince@us.ul.com.

More information on UL's STPs and its Standards development process can be found at http://ulstandardsinfonet.ul.com/stp/regulations.html.

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