Technical Standards - Finding and Use

Incorporated By Reference (IBR) Standards

When the U.S. Government or Federal Government Agencies write the use of a particular standard into in the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) and the Federal Register, those standards are "Incorporated By Reference" and must be available for pubic viewing in some manner.

This is codified in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title I, Chapter II, Part 51 "Incorporation by Reference."

1. IBR standards must be available for public viewing, not necessarily download or printing. Many of these IBR standards appear in these resources as "read-only." (You can always save a permalink to the IBR standard for future reference.)
2. IBR standards are not necessarily the "most recent" version of a standard. An IBR standard represents the standard as it existed at the time of rule, regulation, or law enactment.