NOAA shall work, to the extent practicable, through existing, recognized, compliance testing bodies in the writing and adopting of compliance tests for a hydrographic product or class. It shall be the responsibility of the sponsor to propose an appropriate compliance testing body. NOAA may accept this body at its discretion, or may select an alternate body. NOAA will then undertake, jointly with the sponsor and acknowledged representatives of the affected communities, to secure the cooperation of the selected compliance testing body.

NOAA shall undertake, jointly with representatives of the affected community, members of the compliance testing body, other governmental representatives, and the sponsor as appropriate, to write compliance tests for the hydrographic product or class according to the practices of the compliance testing body and the Quality Assurance Program standard adopted by NOAA. Participation in the writing of compliance tests may be determined according to the procedures of the compliance testing body.

NOAA shall then undertake, jointly with representatives of the affected community, members of the compliance testing body and the body itself, other governmental representatives, and the sponsor as appropriate, to have the resulting compliance tests adopted according to the procedures of that body.

NOAA may, at its option, proceed without the participation of an existing, recognized, compliance testing body should it so choose. Such action might be taken, for example, if there were no appropriate compliance testing body. In this eventuality, NOAA will adhere to the following general procedure:

Announce, in the Federal Register or by other appropriate means, NOAA's intention to organize and chair a working group to write and publish compliance tests for the hydrographic product or class;

Solicit, via the Federal Register or by other appropriate means, participation and select, reject, and/or revoke permission to participate as NOAA deems appropriate so as to proceed in an orderly and representative manner in writing compliance tests;

Initiate, schedule, host, and chair, or designate a chair for, the work of the working group;

Circulate, via the Federal Register, or by other appropriate means, the drafts of the working group;

Announce, via the Federal Register or by other appropriate means, a NOAA proposed final version of the compliance tests and provide an opportunity for public comment;

Announce, via the Federal Register or by other appropriate means, and make available the final version of the compliance tests, and

Provide the necessary administrative support.

NOAA may, at its option, adopt existing compliance tests as the NOAA compliance tests for this program. In this eventuality, NOAA shall adhere to the following general procedure:

Announce, in the Federal Register or by other appropriate means, NOAA's intention to adopt existing compliance tests for the proposed hydrographic product or class; and

Solicit, via the Federal Register or by other appropriate means including public meetings, comment on the proposed compliance tests that NOAA proposes to adopt, and shall consider the comments received.

Alternatively, NOAA may, at its option, proceed by writing compliance tests by itself. Such action might be used, for example, in cases where the tests are obvious. Producing exact copies of existing NOAA products might be one such case. Once written, these NOAA-authored tests shall be made publicly available for comment, and comments shall be considered before NOAA publishes the final compliance tests.

At the conclusion of the compliance test writing, whether through an existing body, by a NOAA-convened working group, by adopting existing compliance tests, or by NOAA itself, NOAA shall consider the resulting compliance tests and comments, and either adopt or reject them as the NOAA Quality Assurance Program compliance tests for the particular hydrographic product standard. NOAA's decision shall be publicly announced in the Federal Register or by other appropriate means.

Any party may request NOAA to reconsider its decision to adopt or reject the compliance tests by submitting its request in writing to the Quality Assurance Program address within 30 days of NOAA's announcement of its decision. NOAA shall have, if its other obligations permit, 60 calendar days after the receipt of a request for reconsideration to either deny the request, or to reconsider and announce its decision. NOAA's original decision if unappealed within 30 days, or its decision upon reconsideration shall be considered final.