THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The federal government and its policies can have enormous impact on industry beyond export controls. By 1991, LEOMA had made significant headway with the major issues that had dominated its earliest years. LEOMA coordinated input from the U.S. laser industry so that it presented a coherent and accurate picture of the industry's capability. The North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) included a category explicitly for lasers, but the proposed subdivisions within that category did not reflect a realistic breakout of industry products. The LEOMA board realized that a Commerce Department survey of domestic and international laser sales could be beneficial, but the proposed survey would not produce useful data. Although LEOMA efforts with the federal government had pretty close to negligible impact on issues such as the research and development tax credit, it had a significant impact in altering the strategies of the national laboratories.