The board has said the ruling merely codified its existing practice.

But a senior Pentagon official and a colleague of Mr. Nunn said the legislation merely codified the Clinton plan.

David Palombi, a spokesman for Freddie Mac, said the consent decree merely codified the company's longstanding position on the litigation by regulators.

Playing to their public, American officials have stressed that the new accord merely codifies NATO military plans, which the alliance is free to change.

Much of today's debate was spent on whether the bill merely codified Roe v. Wade, the 1973 abortion decision, as its supporters contended, or went far beyond it.

But domestic security officials said they had already been putting out more pinpointed, regional alerts and the Congressional proposal for "limited advisories" would merely codify the practice.

These agreements merely codified large increases in Soviet forces - hardly the kind of arms control we need.

Coast Guard officials said the directive merely codified a longstanding policy.

It merely codifies the lowest common denominator to emerge from the legislation in the Member States.

This proposal confines itself to merely codifying the existing texts, without any change in their substance.