![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090508215901im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
Regulatory Announcement:
Final Rule for Amendments to Vehicle Inspection Maintenance Program Requirements
EPA420-F-065-028, March 2006
Download PDF version of this fact sheet formatted for print. (2 pp, 149K, About PDF Files)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing a regulation to revise outdated timing-related references in the Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) rule such as submission dates, start dates, evaluation dates, and other milestones and/or deadlines to make them relevant for areas that will be newly required to begin I/M programs as a result of being designated and classified under the 8-hour ozone standard.
Summary of the Final Rule
EPA is finalizing minor revisions to the Motor Vehicle I/M regulation to update submission and implementation deadlines and other timing-related requirements to reflect the new 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. Among other timing-related revisions, this rule will update the start date and evaluation date(s) for each applicable I/M performance standard.
Key Elements of the Final Rule
This final rule:
- Establishes new start and benchmark comparison dates which will relate back to the effective date of an area's classification under the 8-hour ozone standard. The final rule also specifies which model year vehicles are covered by the onboard diagnostic (OBD) test under each applicable I/M performance standard.
- Changes the current, fixed deadline for beginning program evaluation testing to the more relative deadline of "no later than 1 year after program start up."
- Establishes the submission deadline for new I/M state implementation plans (SIPs) required under the 8-hour standard as 1-year after the effective date this final rule.
- Establishes the implementation deadline for new I/M programs required under the 8-hour standard as 4 years after the effective date of classification under the 8-hour standard and clarifies that the deadline for beginning OBD testing will be "coincident with program start up" for areas newly required to implement I/M as a result of being classified under the 8-hour ozone standard.
Background
Under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990, certain ozone nonattainment areas are required to adopt vehicle I/M programs as one of the mandatory control measures used to reach attainment. On April 30, 2004, EPA published a notice of final rulemaking (69 FR 23857) addressing several key requirements related to the implementation of the 8-hour ozone standard originally promulgated on July 18, 1997 (62 FR 38856). Among other things, the 8-hour ozone standard implementation rule established deadlines for meeting the 8-hour ozone standard based upon a given area's degree of nonattainment. The rule also addressed when SIPs and attainment demonstration plans must be submitted.
As a result of the changes finalized by the 8-hour implementation rule, EPA is issuing this final rule to revise outdated timing-related references in the I/M rule such as submission dates, start dates, evaluation dates, and other milestones and/or deadlines to make them relevant for areas that will be newly required to begin I/M programs as a result of being designated and classified under the 8-hour ozone standard.
For More Information
You can access this final rule and related documents on EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality Web site at:
For further information on this rulemaking, please contact Dave Sosnowski at:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Transportation & Air Quality
2000 Traverwood Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
(734) 214-4823
E-mail: sosnowski.dave@epa.gov