University of Pennsylvania Law School and Penn Program on Regulation

NIST Standards Services Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program Awardee (2015)

Voluntary Codes and Standards: Teaching Resources for Law and Public Policy Courses

The University of Pennsylvania Law School and Penn Program on Regulation (PPR) received two awards under the NIST Standards Services Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program to develop course modules and case studies on legal and administrative issues related to codes and standards. The curricula is now available on a new website, Codes-and-Standards.org, and can be used to integrate the study of codes and standards into core and elective courses in law schools and public policy graduate programs.

Codes and Standards in the Law - Modules

Five course modules on legal issues related to codes and standards can be integrated into common and specialty law school courses, such as property law; administrative law; environmental law; real estate law; and intellectual property law; and including teaching materials that can be used by instructors with little or no prior knowledge in codes and standards. The modules are designed to provide examples and opportunities for exposing students to codes and standards in the context of teaching traditional legal concepts. The five course modules are:

• Introduction to Codes and Standards
• Standard Essential Patents
• Incorporation by Reference
• Risk Regulation
• Federal Preemption

Codes and Standards in Public Policy - Case Studies

Two in-depth, multi-media, and complementary public policy case studies on codes and standards are available to educate future lawyers and policymakers on the legal and administrative issues that surround the development, adoption, and enforcement of codes and standards, including extensive teaching materials for instructors. The two case studies involve Standard Essential Patents and Federal Preemption of State & Local Building Codes. 

Presentation: Codes and Standards: Developing Materials for Law & Public Policy Teaching, November 4, 2016

News release: PPR Launches Website on Codes and Standards, August 22, 2022

Article: Teaching About Voluntary Codes and Standards, excerpted from the IFAN Newsletter, May 2023

To highlight the importance of voluntary codes and standards, The Regulatory Review published a series of essays authored by some of the principal contributors to the materials on Codes-and-Standards.org at https://www.theregreview.org/2022/08/22/codes-and-standards-org/.

The contact for this award is Cary Coglianese, cary_coglianese [at] law.upenn.edu (cary_coglianese[at]law[dot]upenn[dot]edu). 

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This work was performed under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Institute of Standards and Technology or the U.S. Department of Commerce.