[Federal Register: November 2, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 212)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 62198-62200]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02no07-22]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
49 CFR Parts 571 and 579
[Docket No. NHTSA-07-29294]
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Small Business Impacts of
Motor Vehicle Safety
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice of regulatory review; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA seeks comments on the economic impact of its regulations
on small entities. As required by Section 610 of the Regulatory
Flexibility Act, we are attempting to identify rules that may have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
We also request comments on ways to make these regulations easier to
read and understand. The focus of this notice is rules that
specifically relate to passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles,
trucks, buses, trailers, incomplete vehicles, motorcycles, and motor
vehicle equipment.
DATES: You should submit comments early enough to ensure that Docket
Management receives them not later than January 2, 2008.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments [identified by DOT Docket ID Number
NHTSA-07-29294] by any of the following methods:
Federal Rulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments.
Mail: Docket Management Facility: U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001
Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Fax: 202-493-2251
Instructions: For detailed instructions on submitting comments and
additional information see the Comments heading of the Supplementary
Information section of this document. Note that all comments received
will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including
any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading
below.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit http://DocketsInfo.dot.gov
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Juanita Kavalauskas, Office of
Regulatory Analysis, Office of Regulatory Analysis and Evaluation,
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590
(telephone 202-366-2584, fax 202-366-3189).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act
A. Background and Purpose
Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-
354), as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness
Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-121), requires agencies to conduct periodic
reviews of final rules that have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small business entities. The purpose of the
reviews is to determine whether such rules should be continued without
change, or should be amended or rescinded, consistent with the
objectives of applicable statutes, to minimize any significant economic
impact of the rules on a substantial number of such small entities.
B. Review Schedule
The Department of Transportation (DOT) published its Semiannual
Regulatory Agenda on November 22, 1999, listing in Appendix D (64 FR
64684) those regulations that each operating administration will review
under section 610 during the next 12 months. Appendix D also contains
DOT's 10-year review plan for all of its existing regulations.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, ``we'')
has divided its rules into 10 groups by subject area. Each group will
be reviewed once every 10 years, undergoing a two-stage process--an
Analysis Year and a Review Year. For purposes of these reviews, a year
will coincide with the fall-to-fall publication schedule of the
Semiannual Regulatory Agenda. Thus, Year 1 (1998) began in the fall of
1998 and ended in the fall of 1999; Year 2 (1999) began in the fall of
1999 and ended in the fall of 2000; and so on.
During the Analysis Year, we will request public comment on and
analyze each of the rules in a given year's group to determine whether
any rule has a significant impact on a substantial number of small
entities and, thus, requires review in accordance with section 610 of
the Regulatory Flexibility Act. In each fall's Regulatory Agenda, we
will publish the results of the analyses we completed during the
previous year. For rules that have subparts, or other discrete sections
of rules that do have a significant impact on a substantial number of
small entities, we will announce that we will be conducting a formal
section 610 review during the following 12 months.
The section 610 review will determine whether a specific rule
should be revised or revoked to lessen its impact on small entities. We
will consider: (1) The continued need for the rule; (2) the nature of
complaints or comments received from the public; (3) the complexity of
the rule; (4) the extent to which the rule overlaps, duplicates, or
conflicts with other federal rules or with State or local government
rules; and (5) the length of time since the rule has been evaluated or
the degree to which technology, economic conditions, or other factors
have changed in the area affected by the rule. At the end of the Review
Year, we will publish the results of our review. The following table
shows the 10-year analysis and review schedule:
[[Page 62199]]
NHTSA Section 610 Review Plan
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Regulations to be
Year reviewed Analysis year Review year
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1................. 49 CFR parts 501 1998 1999
through 526 and
571.213.
2................. 49 CFR 571.131, 1999 2000
571.217, 571.220,
571.221, and
571.222.
3................. 49 CFR 571.101 2000 2001
through 571.110 and
571.135.
4................. 49 CFR parts 529 2001 2002
through 579, except
part 571.
5................. 49 CFR 571.111 2002 2003
through 571.129 and
parts 580 through
588.
6................. 49 CFR 571.201 2003 2004
through 571.212.
7................. 49 CFR 571.214 2004 2005
through 571.219,
except 571.217.
8................. 49 CFR parts 591 2005 2006
through 594.
9................. 49 CFR 571.223 2007 2008
through 571.500 and
part 579.
10................ 23 CFR parts 1200 2008 2009
and 1300 and new
parts and subparts
under 23 CFR.
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C. Regulations Under Analysis
During Year 9, we will conduct a preliminary assessment of the
following sections of 49 CFR parts 571.223 through 571.500 and part
579.
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Section Title
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571.223..................... Rear impact guards.
571.224..................... Rear impact protection.
571.225..................... Child restraint anchorage systems.
571.301..................... Fuel system integrity.
571.302..................... Flammability of interior materials.
571.303..................... Fuel system integrity of compressed
natural gas vehicles.
571.304..................... Compressed natural gas fuel container
integrity.
571.305..................... Electric-powered vehicles: electrolyte
spillage and electrical shock protection.
571.401..................... Interior trunk release.
571.403..................... Platform lift systems for motor vehicles.
571.404..................... Platform lift installations in motor
vehicles.
571.500..................... Low-speed vehicles.
Part 579.................... Reporting of information and
communications about potential defects.
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We are seeking comments on whether any requirements in 49 CFR
571.223 through 571.500 and part 579 have a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities. ``Small entities'' include
small businesses, not-for-profit organizations that are independently
owned and operated and are not dominant in their fields, and
governmental jurisdictions with populations under 50,000. Business
entities are generally defined as small businesses by Standard
Industrial Classification (SIC) code, for the purposes of receiving
Small Business Administration (SBA) assistance. Size standards
established by SBA in 13 CFR 121.201 are expressed either in number of
employees or annual receipts in millions of dollars, unless otherwise
specified. The number of employees or annual receipts indicates the
maximum allowed for a concern and its affiliates to be considered
small. If your business or organization is a small entity and if any of
the requirements in 49 CFR 571.223 through 571.500 or part 579 have a
significant economic impact on your business or organization, please
submit a comment to explain how and to what degree these rules affect
you, the extent of the economic impact on your business or
organization, and why you believe the economic impact is significant.
If the agency determines that there is a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities, it will ask for
comment in a subsequent notice during the Review Year on how these
impacts could be reduced without reducing safety.
II. Plain Language
A. Background and Purpose
Executive Order 12866 and the President's memorandum of June 1,
1998, require each agency to write all rules in plain language.
Application of the principles of plain language includes consideration
of the following questions:
Have we organized the material to suit the public's needs?
Are the requirements in the rule clearly stated?
Does the rule contain technical language or jargon that is
not clear?
Would a different format (grouping and order of sections,
use of headings, paragraphing) make the rule easier to understand?
Would more (but shorter) sections be better?
Could we improve clarity by adding tables, lists, or
diagrams?
What else could we do to make the rule easier to
understand?
If you have any responses to these questions, please include them
in your comments on this document.
B. Review Schedule
In conjunction with our section 610 reviews, we will be performing
plain language reviews over a ten-year period on a schedule consistent
with the section 610 review schedule. We will review 49 CFR 571.223
through 571.500 and part 579 to determine if these regulations can be
reorganized and/or rewritten to make them easier to read, understand,
and use. We encourage interested persons to submit draft regulatory
language that clearly and simply communicates regulatory requirements,
and other recommendations, such as for putting information in tables
that may make the regulations easier to use.
Comments
How do I prepare and submit comments?
Your comments must be written and in English. To ensure that your
comments are correctly filed in the
[[Page 62200]]
Docket, please include the docket number of this document in your
comments.
Your comments must not be more than 15 pages long. (49 CFR 553.21.)
We established this limit to encourage you to write your primary
comments in a concise fashion. However, you may attach necessary
additional documents to your comments. There is no limit on the length
of the attachments.
Please submit two copies of your comments, including the
attachments, to Docket Management at the address given above under
ADDRESSES.
Please note that pursuant to the Data Quality Act, in order for
substantive data to be relied upon and used by the agency, it must meet
the information quality standards set forth in the OMB and DOT Data
Quality Act guidelines. Accordingly, we encourage you to consult the
guidelines in preparing your comments. OMB's guidelines may be accessed
at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/reproducible.html DOT's guidelines may be accessed at http://dmses.dot.gov/submit/.
mit/.
How can I be sure that my comments were received?
If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of
your comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the
envelope containing your comments. Upon receiving your comments, Docket
Management will return the postcard by mail.
How do I submit confidential business information?
If you wish to submit any information under a claim of
confidentiality, you should submit three copies of your complete
submission, including the information you claim to be confidential
business information, to the Chief Counsel, NHTSA, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. In
addition, you should submit two copies, from which you have deleted the
claimed confidential business information, to Docket Management at the
address given above under ADDRESSES. When you send a comment containing
information claimed to be confidential business information, you should
include a cover letter setting forth the information specified in our
confidential business information regulation. (49 CFR part 512.)
Will the agency consider late comments?
We will consider all comments that Docket Management receives
before the close of business on the comment closing date indicated
above under DATES. To the extent possible, we will also consider
comments that Docket Management receives after that date.
How can I read the comments submitted by other people?
You may read the comments received by Docket Management at the
address given above under ADDRESSES. The hours of the Docket are
indicated above in the same location.
You may also see the comments on the Internet. To read the comments
on the Internet, take the following steps:
(1) Go to the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) at http://regulations.gov
.
(2) FDMS provides two basic methods of searching to retrieve
dockets and docket materials that are available in the system: (a)
``Quick Search'' to search using a full-text search engine, or (b)
``Advanced Search,'' which displays various indexed fields such as the
docket name, docket identification number, phase of the action,
initiating office, date of issuance, document title, document
identification number, type of document, Federal Register reference,
CFR citation, etc. Each data field in the advanced search may be
searched independently or in combination with other fields, as desired.
Each search yields a simultaneous display of all available information
found in FDMS that is relevant to the requested subject or topic.
(3) You may download the comments. However, since the comments are
imaged documents, instead of word processing documents, the ``pdf''
versions of the documents are word searchable.
Please note that even after the comment closing date, we will
continue to file relevant information in the Docket as it becomes
available. Further, some people may submit late comments. Accordingly,
we recommend that you periodically check the Docket for new material.
Joseph Carra,
Associate Administrator for the National Center for Statistics and
Analysis.
[FR Doc. E7-21628 Filed 11-1-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P