Commerce would guide manufacturers using biology and study supply risks

Commerce would publish a guide to relevant federal processes and maintain online resources. The resources would cover products made using biological systems and supplies used to make them. FDA and EPA contacts would help outside groups find publicly available information about relevant agency requirements. These duties would end five years after enactment.

Commerce would publish voluntary practices for manufacturers using biological systems. Practices would cover bringing products to market, reliable production, and managing suppliers. Commerce would provide at least one opportunity for public input. Commerce would publish the practices within one year of enactment and revisit them afterward when it considers appropriate, until the five-year cutoff.

Commerce would assess supply risks and barriers to selling products, then publish plans ranking risks and possible responses. Reviews would cover U.S. production capacity and barriers to bringing products made with biological systems to market. Plans would identify existing federal assistance and resources that might address the risks. Assessments would be due within one year of enactment and every two years thereafter, with these duties ending five years after enactment.

Commerce would withhold qualifying business information and sensitive supply information from public release. Protection would cover voluntarily submitted, nonpublic information, including details that could expose supply-chain weaknesses. Commerce could not release information flagged for protection unless it determined that the information does not qualify. Commerce could give the specified congressional committees protected information in a private report attachment.