[Federal Register: November 29, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 230)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 71127]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29no02-23]
[[Page 71127]]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
49 CFR Parts 390 and 396
[Docket No. FMCSA-98-3656]
RIN 2126-AA38
General Requirements; Inspection, Repair, and Maintenance;
Intermodal Container Chassis and Trailers
AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent to consider negotiated rulemaking process.
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SUMMARY: The FMCSA announces it is exploring the feasibility of
conducting a negotiated rulemaking (Reg Neg) concerning maintenance of
intermodal container chassis and trailers. The FMCSA has hired a
convenor to speak to interested parties about the idea of a Reg Neg.
The FMCSA anticipates that these interested parties may include driver
organizations, motor carriers, ocean carriers, rail carriers, port
authorities, chassis owners, safety advocacy groups, enforcement
officials, and insurers.
DATES: Please submit your comments no later than January 13, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Please mail or hand deliver comments about this notice to
the U.S. Department of Transportation, Dockets Management Facility,
Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590; fax to the
Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251; or submit electronically at
http://dms.dot.gov. Please include the docket number that appears in
the heading of this document in your comments. You can copy or examine
all comments received at the above street address from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays and on-line
at http://dms.dot.gov. If you want notification of receipt of comments
please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Deborah M. Freund, Vehicle and
Roadside Operations Division (MC-PSV), Office of Bus and Truck
Standards and Operations, (202) 366-4009, Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Office
hours are from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 17, 1999, the FMCSA published an
advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to ensure that it would
consider all the pertinent issues that could impact any potential
rulemaking changes for the maintenance of intermodal container chassis
and trailers (64 FR 7849). The FMCSA took comments on the ANPRM and
held three public meetings in 1999. The meetings were held in the
States of Washington, Illinois, and New York. Docket FMCSA-98-3656 has
100 comments and 3 meeting transcripts in response to the ANPRM and
public meetings.
The Regulatory Identification Number (RIN) for this action had been
2125-AE40 in February 1999 and is now 2126-AA38.
The FMCSA is now studying the feasibility of using the Reg Neg
process for this proceeding. In a Reg Neg, an agency invites
representatives of interested parties that are likely to be affected by
a regulation to work with each other and the agency on a negotiating
committee to develop a consensus draft of a proposed rule. The agency
would then publish the proposal for public comment under customary
regulatory procedures. The FMCSA believes cooperative problem solving
should be given serious consideration. An agency must determine whether
an appropriate advisory committee can be assembled that would fairly
represent all affected interests and negotiate in good faith. The FMCSA
has, therefore, retained a neutral convenor (Charles Pou, Jr.) to
undertake the initial stage in the Reg Neg process. Mr. Pou's
curriculum vitae has been placed in docket FMCSA-98-3656 for the
public's convenience.
The neutral convenor will interview affected interests, including
but not limited to, driver organizations, motor carriers, ocean
carriers, rail carriers, port authorities, chassis owners, safety
advocacy groups, enforcement officials, insurers, and others. The
convenor will determine whether additional categories of interested
parties may be necessary. The convenor will, among other things,
examine the potential for adequate and balanced representation of these
varied interests on an advisory committee that would be convened to
negotiate the regulation. The convenor will then submit a written
report of findings and recommendations to the agency. The convenor's
report will provide a basis for the FMCSA to decide whether to proceed
with Reg Neg, and, if so, to determine the scope of the issues the
committee would be charged with addressing. In the alternative, the
FMCSA may decide to proceed with traditional notice-and-comment
rulemaking, or to discontinue the rulemaking.
All interested parties should know that the confidentiality
provisions of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act, 5 U.S.C.
Section 574, will apply to the convenor's activities. The Federal
Government will make no claim to the convenor's notes, memoranda, or
recollections or to documents provided to the convenor in confidence in
the course of the convening process.
The convenor will not interpret FMCSA or DOT policy on behalf of
the FMCSA or DOT nor make decisions on items of policy, regulation, or
statute. The convenor will not take a stand on the merits of
substantive items under discussion.
The FMCSA will provide any comments it receives in reaction to this
notice to the convenor and will file the comments in docket FMCSA-98-
3656. If you want to submit comments to this notice directly to the
docket, use the addresses above under the heading ADDRESSES.
Should the FMCSA decide to proceed with a Reg Neg process, the
agency will follow the procedures set forth in the Negotiated
Rulemaking Act of 1996, 5 U.S.C. 561 et seq. This would include the
establishment of a negotiating committee under the Federal Advisory
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), and a Federal Register notice
setting forth full particulars about the process and public
participation.
Issued on: November 22, 2002.
Brian M. McLaughlin,
Associate Administrator for Policy and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 02-30102 Filed 11-27-02; 8:45 am]