Regulations, Codes, and Standards

The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA) works closely with the U.S. National Laboratories, National Codes and Standards Development Organizations, and the International Standards Development Organizations to offer opportunities for members to comment and provide input on a variety of code changes and keep interested parties informed about developments in hydrogen and fuel cell requirements.

FCHEA also maintains the Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Safety Report, a website and electronic newsletter published every other month which highlights the latest developments for U.S. and international codes and standards for fuel cell and hydrogen technologies.

What are Regulations, Codes, and Standards?

Codes

  • A set of laws or regulations that have been adopted by one or more governmental bodies and is enforceable by law.

Regulations

  • Either a rule dealing with details of procedure or an order issued by government and enforced by law.
  • Regulations are generally safety-oriented

Standards

  • Technical definitions and guidelines that function as instructions for designers/manufacturers and operators/users of equipment
  • Standards are considered voluntary because they are guidelines and not enforceable by law.

A more in-depth overview on the distinctions between codes, standards, regulations, technical specifications, technical reports, and information reports is available on our Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Safety Report website.

Why are Codes and Regulations Needed?

Hydrogen has been used extensively in the petrochemical and chemical industries and in smaller quantities in the electronics, steel-producing, glass-making, and food hydrogenation industries for over seventy years. In energy applications, the most significant historical use of hydrogen has been in the space programs.

Existing industrial safety rules, regulations, consensus standards, and codes relating to the transporting and utilization of hydrogen are adequate for small markets. The use of hydrogen has resulted in an outstanding safety record. However, in the case of widespread usage of hydrogen across the economy, yesterday’s safety rules, consensus standards, codes, etc. may not be adequate.

Systematic efforts by local/state/federal government entities, producers of hydrogen products (e.g., automotive industry, etc.), codes and standards organizations, users, and others have been devoted to:

  1. Identifying safety-related issues associated with the production and use of hydrogen-fueled systems; and
  2. Developing or updating and then validating regulations, codes and standards relating to the safe transportation, use and servicing of hydrogen-fueled systems.

Because of the growing applications for hydrogen for energy needs, efforts were undertaken to create consensus standards for domestic and international use, develop enforceable building, fire, mechanical, plumbing, and other building code provisions, and to harmonize, to a practical extent, requirements from different countries to facilitate international trade.

Codes and standards development is occurring in advance of, or in parallel with, applications for hydrogen-fueled systems. Codes and standards development is being coordinated with technology development so that the technologies can be sited as they enter commercial or pre-commercial deployment phases. R&D efforts are also needed to validate proposed requirements.

Hydrogen energy safety is based on three primary elements: regulatory requirements, capability of safety technology, and the systematic application of equipment and procedures to minimize risks. Industry currently implements many successful proprietary methodologies for safely handling large amounts of hydrogen. There are several codes and standards specifically for hydrogen that are in place or under development at all levels of government in many countries and overarching international efforts.

Who is Involved?

U.S. Standards Development Organizations (SDOs)

  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • Compressed Gas Association
  • Society of Automotive Engineers
  • CSA Group
  • American Society for TEsting & Materials
  • Center for Hydrogen Safety

International Key Organizations

  • Global Technical Regulations
  • International Electrotechnical Committee TC 105
  • International Organization for Standardization TC 197
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

U.S. Code Development Organizations (CDOs)

  • International Code Council
  • National Fire Protection Association

In addition to the fuel cell and hydrogen standards organizations above, individual market sectors such as aviation, maritime transportation, and railways each have their own groups which govern the usage of fuel cells and hydrogen in those applications.

An excellent resource for understanding which organizations are involved, and the progress of these efforts is through the National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Codes and Standards Coordinating Committee. This group meets monthly by teleconference. Minutes of the calls are posted on the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Safety Report website.

Where Can I Go to Learn More?

There are a wealth of other resources available to learn more about fuel cell and hydrogen regulations, codes, and standards (RCS).  Please see the below list of links for more information:

  • The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Safety Report is a bi-monthly newsletter published by FCHEA which provides the latest developments on fuel cell and hydrogen RCS activities. FCHEA also publishes through the Safety Report a Regulatory Affairs Matrix. This Matrix is a prioritized tracking document for the latest regulations, codes, and standards affecting the fuel cell and hydrogen industry.

  • The Fuel Cell Standards website and the Department of Energy’s H2Tools standards database provide organized data on existing RCS efforts with drill-down capability providing further information and contacts for individual efforts.

  • The Hydrogen Safety Best Practices Manual is an online manual that captures the wealth of knowledge and experience related to the safe handling and use of hydrogen that exists as a result of its extensive history in a wide variety of applications. The purpose of the manual, prepared collaboratively by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory, is to share this knowledge gathered from numerous experts, public domain documents, and references in an online, easy-to-use manner.

For other information, or if you have any questions about how your organization can get involved, please feel free to Contact Us. You can learn more about FCHEA membership here.

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