Standards Development Organization Advancement Act of 2002

This bill, introduced in 2002, aims to protect nonprofit organizations that create voluntary industry standards—such as safety codes for buildings or technical specifications for electronics—from certain types of antitrust lawsuits. It ensures that when these organizations work together to develop standards, their actions are judged by whether they actually harm competition rather than being automatically considered illegal.

For everyday citizens, this bill is designed to encourage the development of high-quality safety and technical standards that make products more reliable and compatible. By reducing the threat of expensive legal battles for these organizations, the bill helps ensure that experts can continue to collaborate on the "hidden" rules that keep consumer products safe and efficient without increasing costs for the public.