CFA and Consumers Union Comments on Incorporation by Reference
When voluntary, privately-developed standards are adopted by a regulatory agency and take on the force of law, they enter into the public domain and lose their private, proprietary status. The public becomes legally entitled to protection under those standards, and regulated parties become legally required to comply with them. It is essential to our democratic system and the rule of law, as a matter of fundamental fairness and due process, that both groups have ready access to the laws under which they live.
