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Title 19, Customs DutiesRelease 119-110

§2531 Certain Standards-related Activities

Title 19 › CHAPTER 13 — TRADE AGREEMENTS ACT OF 1979 › SUBCHAPTER II — TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE (STANDARDS) › Part A — Obligations of the United States › § 2531

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Allows federal agencies to make or use standards or safety rules. That includes rules to protect people, animals, plants, the environment, or consumers. Agencies can choose how much protection they want. Also lets private people, federal, and state groups work on standards as long as they do not create unnecessary barriers to U.S. trade. A standards action is not a barrier if its clear goal is a legitimate domestic aim (for example, health, safety, security, environment, or consumer protection) and it does not block imports that meet the same goal.

Full Legal Text

Title 19, §2531

Customs Duties, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)No bar to engaging in standards activity
Nothing in this subchapter may be construed—
(1)to prohibit a Federal agency from engaging in activity related to standards-related measures, including any such measure relating to safety, the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the environment, or consumers; or
(2)to limit the authority of a Federal agency to determine the level it considers appropriate of safety or of protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the environment, or consumers.
(b)Unnecessary obstacles
Nothing in this subchapter may be construed as prohibiting any private person, Federal agency, or State agency from engaging in standards-related activities that do not create unnecessary obstacles to the foreign commerce of the United States. No standards-related activity of any private person, Federal agency, or State agency shall be deemed to constitute an unnecessary obstacle to the foreign commerce of the United States if the demonstrable purpose of the standards-related activity is to achieve a legitimate domestic objective including, but not limited to, the protection of legitimate health or safety, essential security, environmental, or consumer interests and if such activity does not operate to exclude imported products which fully meet the objectives of such activity.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–465 added subsec. (a), designated existing provisions as subsec. (b), and inserted subsec. (b) heading.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1994 Amendment Pub. L. 103–465, title III, § 352, Dec. 8, 1994, 108 Stat. 4957, provided that: “This subtitle [subtitle F (§§ 351, 352) of title III of Pub. L. 103–465, amending this section and section 2532, 2544, 2571, and 2573 of this title and repealing provisions set out below] and the

Amendments

made by this subtitle take effect on the date on which the WTO Agreement enters into force with respect to the United States [Jan. 1, 1995].”

Effective Date

Pub. L. 96–39, title IV, § 454, July 26, 1979, 93 Stat. 250, which provided that this subchapter was to take effect on Jan. 1, 1980, if the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade entered into force with respect to the United States by that date, was repealed by Pub. L. 103–465, title III, § 351(g), Dec. 8, 1994, 108 Stat. 4957.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

19 U.S.C. § 2531

Title 19, Customs Duties

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110