For the purposes of this part:

Agency means any Executive Department, independent commission, board, bureau, office, government-owned or controlled corporation, or other establishment of the Federal Government. It also includes any regulatory commission or board, except for independent regulatory commissions insofar as they are subject to separate statutory requirements regarding policy setting, management, operation, and use of conformity assessment. It does not include the legislative or judicial branches of the Federal Government.

Agency Standards Executive means an official designated by an agency as its representative on the Interagency Committee for Standards Policy (ICSP) and delegated the responsibility for agency implementation of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-119 and the guidance in this part.

Conformity assessment is a demonstration, whether directly or indirectly, that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person, or body are fulfilled. Requirements for products, services, systems, persons, and organizations are those defined by law or regulation, by an agency in regulatory or procurement actions, or an agency programmatic policy. Conformity assessment does not include mandatory administrative procedures (such as registration notification) for granting permission for a good or service to be produced, marketed, or used for a stated purpose or under stated conditions. Conformity assessment related terminology and concepts, including a discussion of the value and benefits of conformity assessment, are contained in NIST Special Publication 2000-01, ABCs of Conformity Assessment (2018) found free of charge at: https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.2000-01 and NIST Special Publication 2000-02, Conformity Assessment Considerations for Federal Agencies, found at: https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.2000-02. The definitions of conformity assessment related terminology included in these documents are based on voluntary consensus standards. See OMB Circular A-119 for a description of voluntary consensus standards and recommendations for their development and use by Federal agencies.