The FAA will determine whether a safety element is eligible for and may be issued a safety element approval. The FAA will base its determination on performance-based criteria, against which it may assess the effect on public health and safety and on safety of property, in the following hierarchy:

(a) FAA or other appropriate Federal regulations.

(b) Government-developed or adopted standards.

(c) Industry consensus performance-based criteria or standard.

(d) Applicant-developed criteria. Applicant-developed criteria are performance standards customized by the manufacturer that intends to produce the system, system component, or part. The applicant-developed criteria must define—

(1) Design and minimum performance;

(2) Quality assurance system requirements;

(3) Production acceptance test specifications; and

(4) Continued operational safety monitoring system characteristics.