1. Membership in the entity shall be open on a nondiscriminatory basis to any person or organization that has an interest in uniform thermal performance ratings for fenestration products and exterior doors, including, but not limited to, members of the fenestration industry, glazing infill industry, building industry, design professionals, specifiers, utilities, government agencies, and public interest organizations. The membership shall be composed of a broad cross section of those interested in uniform thermal performance ratings for fenestration products.
2. The governing body of the entity shall reflect a reasonable cross section of the interests represented by the membership.
3. The entity shall maintain a program of oversight of product manufacturers, laboratories, and independent certifying organizations that ensures uniform application of the NFRC Rating Procedures, labeling and certification, and such other rating procedures for other factors affecting energy performance as the NFRC and the Commission may adopt.
4. The entity shall require manufacturers and independent certifying organizations within its program to use laboratories accredited by the supervisory entity to perform simulations and tests under the NFRC Rating Procedure or by an NFRC Approved Calculation Entity (ACE) under the Component Modeling Approach (CMA) Product Certification Program (PCP).
5. The entity shall maintain appropriate guidelines for testing and simulation laboratories, manufacturers, and certifying agencies, including requirements for adequate:
A. Possession and calibration of equipment;
B. Education, competence, and training of personnel;
D. Record keeping and reporting;
E. Periodic review (including, but not limited to, blind testing by laboratories; inspections of products; and inspections of laboratories, manufacturing facilities, and certifying agencies);
F. Challenges to certified ratings; and
G. Guidelines to maintain the integrity of the program, including, but not limited to, provisions to avoid conflicts of interest within the rating and certification process.
6. The entity shall be a nonprofit organization and shall maintain reasonable, nondiscriminatory fee schedules for the services it provides and shall make its fee schedules, the financial information on which fees are based, and financial statements available to its members for inspection.
7. The entity shall provide hearing processes that give laboratories, manufacturers, and certifying agencies a fair review of decisions that adversely affect them.
8. The entity shall maintain a certification policy committee whose procedures are designed to avoid conflicts of interest in deciding appeals, resolving disputes, and setting policy for the certifying organizations within its program.
9. The entity shall publish at least annually a directory of products certified and decertified within its program.
10. The entity itself shall be free from conflict-of-interest ties or to undue influence from any particular manufacturing interest(s), testing or simulation lab(s), or independent certifying organization(s).
11. The entity shall provide or authorize the use of labels and label certificates for Component Modeling Approach and site-built fenestration products that can be used to meet the requirements of Sections 110.6(a), 110.6(a)3 and 110.6(a)4, and this section.
12. The entity's certification program shall allow for multiple participants in each aspect of the program to provide for competition between manufacturers, testing labs, simulation labs, and independent certifying organizations.