§ 1537. — Needs assessment for data management, archival, and distribution.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC1537]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 40--DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Sec. 1537. Needs assessment for data management, archival, and
distribution
(1) Not later than 12 months after October 29, 1992, and at least
biennially thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce shall complete an
assessment of the adequacy of the environmental data and information
systems of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In
conducting such an assessment, the Secretary shall take into
consideration the need to--
(A) provide adequate capacity to manage, archive, and
disseminate environmental data and information collected and
processed, or expected to be collected and processed, by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other
appropriate departments and agencies;
(B) establish, develop, and maintain information bases,
including necessary management systems, which will promote
consistent, efficient, and compatible transfer and use of data;
(C) develop effective interfaces among the environmental data
and information systems of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and other appropriate departments and agencies;
(D) develop and use nationally accepted formats and standards
for data collected by various national and international sources;
and
(E) integrate and interpret data from different sources to
produce information that can be used by decisionmakers in developing
policies that effectively respond to national and global
environmental concerns.
(2) Not later than 12 months after October 29, 1992, and biennially
thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce shall develop and submit to the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of
Representatives a comprehensive plan, based on the assessment under
paragraph (1), to modernize and improve the environmental data and
information systems of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. The report shall--
(A) set forth modernization and improvement objectives for the
10-year period beginning with the year in which the plan is
submitted, including facility requirements and critical new
technological components that would be necessary to meet the
objectives set forth;
(B) propose specific agency programs and activities for
implementing the plan;
(C) identify the data and information management, archival, and
distribution responsibilities of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration with respect to other Federal departments
and agencies and international organizations, including the role of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with respect to
large data systems like the Earth Observing System Data and
Information System; and
(D) provide an implementation schedule and estimate funding
levels necessary to achieve modernization and improvement
objectives.
(Pub. L. 102-567, title I, Sec. 106(c), Oct. 29, 1992, 106 Stat. 4274.)
Change of Name
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of House of
Representatives treated as referring to Committee on Science of House of
Representatives by section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104-14, set out as a note
preceding section 21 of Title 2, The Congress.
