Title 15, Commerce and TradeRelease 119-110
§278 Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology
Title 15 › CHAPTER 7 — NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY › § 278
Summary
Creates a Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology inside the Institute. The Director must appoint at least 9 members, and more than half must come from U.S. industry. The Director will ask the final members of the old NIST Visiting Committee to join if they want. The group reviews and gives advice on the Institute’s policy, organization, budget, and programs, following national priorities set by the President and Congress. Members must be well-known leaders in areas like business, research, engineering, education, labor, consulting, the environment, or international relations. They must be chosen for proven achievement, not be federal employees, and must represent a mix of U.S. industries. Terms are three years for new members, with original members split into three classes serving one, two, or three years. After two full terms, a person must wait one year before serving again. The Committee must meet at least twice a year when the Chair calls a meeting or when one-third ask in writing. A majority of members without a conflict makes a quorum, and members should get at least 15 days’ notice when possible. The Committee can form an executive committee and other subcommittees, elect a Chair and Vice Chair at the even-year annual meeting, hire up to four professional staff (appointed by the Director after talking with the Chair and paid up to GS–18 level), and must send an annual report to the Secretary for Congress within 30 days after the President’s budget is sent. It may send other reports as needed.
Full Legal Text
Title 15, §278
Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Establishment; appointment; membership and composition; review and recommendations
There is established within the Institute a Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology (hereafter in this chapter referred to as the “Committee”). The Committee shall consist of not fewer than 9 members appointed by the Director, a majority of whom shall be from United States industry. The Director shall appoint as original members of the Committee any final members of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Visiting Committee who wish to serve in such capacity. In addition to any powers and functions otherwise granted to it by this chapter, the Committee shall review and make recommendations regarding general policy for the Institute, its organization, its budget, and its programs within the framework of applicable national policies as set forth by the President and the Congress.
(b)Qualifications; recommendations for appointment
The persons appointed as members of the Committee—
(1)shall be eminent in fields such as business, research, new product development, engineering, labor, education, management consulting, environment, and international relations;
(2)shall be selected solely on the basis of established records of distinguished service;
(3)shall not be employees of the Federal Government; and
(4)shall be so selected as to provide representation of a cross-section of the traditional and emerging United States industries.
The Director is requested, in making appointments of persons as members of the Committee, to give due consideration to any recommendations which may be submitted to the Director by the National Academies, professional societies, business associations, labor associations, and other appropriate organizations.
(c)Terms of office; eligibility
(1)The term of office of each member of the Committee, other than the original members, shall be 3 years; except that any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for the remainder of such term. Any person who has completed two consecutive full terms of service on the Committee shall thereafter be ineligible for appointment during the one-year period following the expiration of the second such term.
(2)The original members of the Committee shall be elected to three classes of three members each; one class shall have a term of one year, one a term of two years, and the other a term of three years.
(d)Meetings; quorum; notice
The Committee shall meet at least twice each year at the call of the Chairman or whenever one-third of the members so request in writing. A majority of the members of the Committee not having a conflict of interest in the matter being considered by the Committee shall constitute a quorum. Each member shall be given appropriate notice, whenever possible, not less than 15 days prior to any meeting, of the call of such meeting.
(e)Appointment by Committee of executive and other committees
The Committee shall have an executive committee, and may delegate to it or to the Secretary such of the powers and functions granted to the Committee by this chapter as it deems appropriate. The Committee is authorized to appoint from among its members such other committees as it deems necessary, and to assign to committees so appointed such survey and advisory functions as the Committee deems appropriate to assist it in exercising its powers and functions under this chapter.
(f)Chairman; Vice Chairman
The election of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Committee shall take place at each annual meeting occurring in an even-numbered year. The Vice Chairman shall perform the duties of the Chairman in his absence. In case a vacancy occurs in the chairmanship or vice chairmanship, the Committee shall elect a member to fill such vacancy.
(g)Professional and clerical staff
The Committee may, with the concurrence of a majority of its members, permit the appointment of a staff consisting of not more than four professional staff members and such clerical staff members as may be necessary. Such staff shall be appointed by the Director, after consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, and assigned at the direction of the Committee. The professional members of such staff may be appointed without regard to the provisions of title 5 governing appointments in the competitive service and the provisions of chapter 51 of title 5 relating to classification, and compensated at a rate not exceeding the appropriate rate provided for individuals in grade GS–18 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of title 5, as may be necessary to provide for the performance of such duties as may be prescribed by the Committee in connection with the exercise of its powers and functions under this chapter.
(h)Annual and other reports to Secretary and Congress
(1)The Committee shall render an annual report to the Secretary for submission to the Congress not later than 30 days after the submittal to Congress of the President’s annual budget request in each year. Such report shall deal essentially, though not necessarily exclusively, with policy issues or matters which affect the Institute or with which the Committee in its official role as the private sector policy advisor of the Institute is concerned. Each such report shall identify areas of research and research techniques of the Institute of potential importance to the long-term competitiveness of United States industry, in which the Institute possesses special competence, which could be used to assist United States enterprises and United States industrial joint research and development ventures.
(2)The Committee shall render to the Secretary and the Congress such additional reports on specific policy matters as it deems appropriate.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2017—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 114–329, § 404(1), substituted “not fewer than 9 members appointed by the Director, a majority of whom” for “15 members appointed by the Director, at least 10 of whom” and “National Institute of Standards and Technology” for “National Bureau of Standards”. Subsec. (h)(1). Pub. L. 114–329, §§ 205(a)(2)(C), 404(2), made identical
Amendments
, striking out “, including the Program established under section 278n of this title,” after “which affect the Institute”. Pub. L. 114–329, § 204(a)(1)(B)(ii), struck out at end “Such report also shall comment on the programmatic planning document and updates thereto submitted to Congress by the Director under subsections (c) and (d) of section 278i of this title.” 2007—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 110–69, § 3006, substituted “twice each year” for “quarterly”. Subsec. (h)(1). Pub. L. 110–69, § 3005, substituted “not later than 30 days after the submittal to Congress of the President’s annual budget request in each year” for “on or before January 31 in each year” and inserted at end “Such report also shall comment on the programmatic planning document and updates thereto submitted to Congress by the Director under subsections (c) and (d) of section 278i of this title.” 1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–113 substituted “15 members” for “nine members” and “at least 10” for “at least five”. 1988—Pub. L. 100–418, § 5131(b), amended section generally, substituting provisions of subsecs. (a) to (h) relating to Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology for provisions of former single undesignated paragraph which related to a visiting committee which was to visit bureau at least once a year and report to Secretary of Commerce upon efficiency of its scientific work and condition of its equipment. Pub. L. 100–418, § 5115(a)(1), substituted “Institute” for “bureau”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
References in Other Laws to GS–16, 17, or 18 Pay RatesReferences in laws to the rates of pay for GS–16, 17, or 18, or to maximum rates of pay under the General Schedule, to be considered references to rates payable under specified sections of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, see section 529 [title I, § 101(c)(1)] of Pub. L. 101–509, set out in a note under section 5376 of Title 5.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
15 U.S.C. § 278
Title 15, Commerce and Trade
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110