GAO Report: No Evidence FQA Small Lot Exemption Has Been Misused

John Wolz

In its report to the U.S. Congress, the General Accounting Office concluded it “found no evidence that the fastener industry has changed any practices resulting from,. or apparently resulting from, the small-lot exemption” to the U.S. Fastener Quality Act.
Tests by U.S. Customs of fasteners imported in 2001 “found no evidence of substandard fasteners or a decline in the quality of fasteners from the results of tests Customs conducted in 1998,” according to the report.
“Similarly, responses to our Federal Register notice uncovered no evidence of changed practices resulting from the small-lot exemption,” the GAO added. “Further, officials from federal agencies that use fasteners stated that they had no evidence of industry changes.”
The small-lot exemption was included in the 1999 amendments to the FQA � Public Law 101-592 as amended by P.L. 106-34 � because of concern that lab testing costs and recordkeeping could make fasteners purchased in small packages for service repairs or assembly kits prohibitively expensive.
The exemption is for spare, substitute, service or replacement parts in packages containing 75 or fewer fasteners or in an assembly kit.
The GAO said neither Department of Commerce nor Department of the Treasury officials offered substantive written comments on the exemption.
The Department of Defense “provided comments concurring in the report findings and providing technical comments,” the GAO report noted.
Congress required the GAO report to determine if the exemption led to manufacturers selling substandard, untested fasteners in packages of 75 or fewer or in kits. �2001 FastenerNews.com