Standards Open for Comment

Standards open for comment at OSAC

The following SDO-published standards are being considered for the OSAC Registry.

• None at this time. 

The following OSAC Proposed Standard is being considered for submission to an SDO. The final draft provided to the SDO will be available on the OSAC Registry as an “OSAC Proposed Standard.” OSAC welcomes comments on whether the current draft is suitable for release to the SDO and suggestions for improvements in content and wording. To be considered, comments must be placed in the OSAC Comment Form and sent to comments [at] nist.gov (comments[at]nist[dot]gov) by 11:59 p.m. ET on June 30, 2025.

• OSAC 2025-S-0021, Standard for Validation of Multilocus Databases. 

Visit the Registry Approval Process webpage for more information about the Registry approval processes for SDO-published and OSAC Proposed Standards¹. 

Standards Open for Comment at SDOs

ASB

The following Academy Standards Board (ASB) documents are open for public comment. To provide comments, download the comment template and return it to asb [at] aafs.org (asb[at]aafs[dot]org) by the deadline.  

• Recirculation* - ASB Standard 173, Standard for Education, Training, Continuing Education, and Certification of Forensic Toxicology Laboratory Personnel, 202x, 1st Ed. Comment deadline June 16, 2025.
• Recirculation* - ASB Best Practice Recommendation 129, Best Practice Recommendations for Internal Validation of Human Short Tandem Repeat Profiling on Capillary Electrophoresis Platforms, 202x, 1st Ed. Comment deadline July 14, 2025.
• Recirculation* - ASB Standard 039, Standard for Internal Validation of Human Short Tandem Repeat Profiling on Capillary Electrophoresis Platforms. 202x, 1st Ed. Comment deadline July 14, 2025.
• ASB Standard 199, Standard for Familial DNA Searching, 202x, 1st Ed. Comment deadline July 14, 2025.
  • NOTE: This is OSAC 2021-S-0029, Standard for Familial DNA Searching, currently on the OSAC Registry.
• Recirculation* - ASB Best Practice Recommendation 193, Best Practice Recommendations for Determining What Scene and Death Locations a Medicolegal Death Investigation Authority Should Respond to for Investigation, 202x, 1st Ed. Comment deadline July 21, 2025.
  • NOTE: This is OSAC 2022-N-0027, Medicolegal Death Investigation Response to Death Locations and Incident Scenes: Best Practice Recommendations, currently on the OSAC Registry.
• Recirculation* - ASB Standard 196, Standard for the Documentation and Processing of Shooting Scenes, 202x, 1st Ed. Comment deadline July 21, 2025.
  • NOTE: This is OSAC 2021-N-0019, Standard for the Documentation and Processing of Shooting Scenes, currently on the OSAC Registry. 

*Comments on a re-circulation will only be accepted on revised sections of a document; comments made to text not revised from the previous public comment period will not be accepted. 

ASTM

The following ASTM standards are currently open for public comment through ANSI. To obtain an electronic copy of the document, email accreditation [at] astm.org (accreditation[at]astm[dot]org). To provide comments, download the comment template and return it to accreditation [at] astm.org (accreditation[at]astm[dot]org) (copy psa [at] ansi.org (psa[at]ansi[dot]org)) by the comment deadline.

• ASTM WK72441, Guide for Developing Discipline-Specific Methodology for ACE-V (new standard). Comment deadline June 23, 2025.
• ASTM WK84882, Practice for Forensic Science Testimony (new standard). Comment deadline June 23, 2025.
• ASTM WK88832, Practice for the Collection of Primer Gunshot Residue (pGSR) Particles from Clothing, Vehicles, and Other Inanimate Objects using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Stubs (new standard). Comment deadline June 23, 2025.
  • NOTE: This is OSAC 2023-N-0010, Standard Practice for the Collection of Primer Gunshot Residue (pGSR) from Clothing, Vehicles and Other Inanimate Objects using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) Stubs, currently on the OSAC Registry.  
• ASTM WK89493, Guide for the Detection and Preservation of Forensic Trace Evidence (new standard). Comment deadline June 23, 2025.
  • NOTE: This is OSAC 2023-N-0027, Standard Guide for Forensic Trace Evidence Recovery, currently on the OSAC Registry.
• ASTM WK72932, Guide for the Forensic Collection, Analysis, Comparison and Evaluation of Glass (new standard). Comment deadline July 21, 2025.
• ASTM WK93265, Guide for the Forensic Analysis of Geological Materials by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry (new standard). Comment deadline July 21, 2025.
  • NOTE: This is OSAC 2024-S-0012, Standard Practice for the Forensic Analysis of Geological Materials by Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry, currently on the OSAC Registry.
• ASTM E2881-xx, Test Method for Extraction and Derivatization of Vegetable Oils and Fats from Fire Debris and Liquid Samples with Analysis by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (revision of ANSI/ASTM E2881-18). Comment deadline July 21, 2025.

¹In January 2022, OSAC’S Forensic Science Standards Board (FSSB) approved that the requirement for an OSAC-managed comment period for Registry approval of SDO-published standards can be met during the SDO's public comment period. The public will have an opportunity to comment on a standard during its development through the SDO's public comment period. This change allows comments to be submitted during the SDO development process, prior to publication, enabling upgrades to be directly incorporated into the standard rather than receiving the comments after the standard is published. In cases where OSAC can document the SDO's public comment opportunity, OSAC will not execute a second public comment period during its Registry approval process. See the "Standards Open for Comment at SDOs" section above for the standards currently open for comment at SDOs.