Title 15 — Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73

§1537 Needs assessment for data management, archival, and distribution

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 40— - DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE › § 1537

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Commerce must, within 12 months after October 29, 1992 and at least every two years after that, review whether NOAA’s environmental data and information systems are good enough. The review must look at whether there is enough capacity to handle, store, and share data from NOAA and other agencies; whether information systems and management tools support consistent and compatible data use; whether NOAA’s systems can work with others; whether common national and international data formats and standards are used; and whether data from different sources can be combined and explained so leaders can make policy decisions. Using that review, the Secretary must also, on the same schedule, send a detailed plan to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to modernize NOAA’s systems. The plan must set 10-year goals starting the year it is submitted, list needed facilities and key technologies, propose programs to carry it out, explain NOAA’s data roles with other federal and international groups (including the Earth Observing System Data and Information System), and give a timeline and funding estimates.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §1537

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(1)Not later than 12 months after October 29, 1992, and at least biennially thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce shall complete an assessment of the adequacy of the environmental data and information systems of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In conducting such an assessment, the Secretary shall take into consideration the need to—

(A)provide adequate capacity to manage, archive, and disseminate environmental data and information collected and processed, or expected to be collected and processed, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other appropriate departments and agencies;

(B)establish, develop, and maintain information bases, including necessary management systems, which will promote consistent, efficient, and compatible transfer and use of data;

(C)develop effective interfaces among the environmental data and information systems of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other appropriate departments and agencies;

(D)develop and use nationally accepted formats and standards for data collected by various national and international sources; and

(E)integrate and interpret data from different sources to produce information that can be used by decisionmakers in developing policies that effectively respond to national and global environmental concerns.

(2)Not later than 12 months after October 29, 1992, and biennially thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce shall develop and submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives a comprehensive plan, based on the assessment under paragraph (1), to modernize and improve the environmental data and information systems of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report shall—

(A)set forth modernization and improvement objectives for the 10-year period beginning with the year in which the plan is submitted, including facility requirements and critical new technological components that would be necessary to meet the objectives set forth;

(B)propose specific agency programs and activities for implementing the plan;

(C)identify the data and information management, archival, and distribution responsibilities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with respect to other Federal departments and agencies and international organizations, including the role of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with respect to large data systems like the Earth Observing System Data and Information System; and

(D)provide an implementation schedule and estimate funding levels necessary to achieve modernization and improvement objectives.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 1537

Title 15 — Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73