Rationale

In order to develop ASTM F2291 into an international standard, this ballot will update the verbiage used when referencing USDA and NDS standards in Section 8. Both USDA and NDS standards’ jurisdiction is limited to America, and in other countries other international standards will have jurisdiction over timber structure design. This ballot will account for the usage of other international standards when designing timber structures. The NDS and USDA standards are intentionally not referenced with an associated year, which by default references the latest version of the relevant standard. As there are no specific values, links, or pointers from F2291 to the NDS and USDA documents, there is an intentional technical rationale for not including a year reference. This in accordance with section A6.3 of the ASTM Blue Book.