Virginia Code Title 36. Housing § 36-73. Authority of Board to promulgate rules and regulations

The Board shall from time to time promulgate rules and regulations prescribing standards to be complied with in industrialized buildings for protection against the hazards thereof to safety of life, health and property and prescribing procedures for the administration, enforcement and maintenance of such rules and regulations. The standards shall be reasonable and appropriate to the objectives of this law and within the guiding principles prescribed by the General Assembly in this law and in any other law in pari materia. The standards shall not be applied to manufactured homes defined in § 36-85.3.

In making rules and regulations, the Board shall have due regard for generally accepted safety standards as recommended by nationally recognized organizations, including but not limited to the International Code Council and the National Fire Protection Association.

Where practical, the rules and regulations shall be stated in terms of required levels of performance, so as to facilitate the prompt acceptance of new building materials and methods. Where generally recognized standards of performance are not available, the rules and regulations of the Board shall provide for acceptance of materials and methods whose performance has been found by the Department, on the basis of reliable test and evaluation data presented by the proponent, to be substantially equal in safety to those specified.