[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 47 (Friday, March 8, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9518-9519]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-5565]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Special Programs Administration
[Notice No. 96-5]


Hazardous Materials Transportation; Registration and Fee 
Assessment Program

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of filing requirements.

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SUMMARY: The Hazardous Materials Registration Program will enter 
registration year 1996-97 on July 1, 1996. Persons who transport or 
offer for transportation certain hazardous materials are required to 
annually file a registration statement and pay a fee to the Department 
of Transportation. Persons who registered for the 1995-96 registration 
year will be mailed a registration statement form and informational 
brochure in April.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David W. Donaldson, Office of 
Hazardous Materials Planning and Analysis (202-366-4109), Hazardous 
Materials Safety, 400 Seventh Street S.W., Washington, DC 20590-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is intended to notify persons 
who transport or offer for transportation certain hazardous materials 
of an annual requirement to register with the Department of 
Transportation. Each person, as defined by the Federal hazardous 
materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.), who engages in 
any of the specified activities relating to the transportation of 
hazardous materials is required to register annually with the 
Department of Transportation and pay a fee. The regulations 
implementing this program are in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, 
Sections 107.601-107.620.
    Proceeds from the fee are used to fund grants to State, local, and 
Indian tribal governments for emergency response training and planning. 
Grants were awarded to all states, two territories, and 12 Native 
American tribes during FY 1995. By law, 75 percent of the Federal grant 
monies awarded to the States is further distributed to local emergency 
response and planning agencies. The FY 1994 funds helped to provide (1) 
training for 126,000 emergency response personnel, (2) approximately 
300 commodity flow studies and hazard analyses, (3) 1,200 emergency 
response plans updated or written for the first time, (4) assistance to 
2,200 local emergency planning committees, and (5) 850 emergency 
exercises.
    The persons affected by these regulations are those who offer or 
transport in commerce any of the following materials:
    A. Any highway route-controlled quantity of a Class 7 (radioactive) 
material;
    B. More than 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of a Division 1.1, 1.2, or 
1.3 (explosive) material in a motor vehicle, rail car, or freight 
container;
    C. More than one liter (1.06 quarts) per package of a material 
extremely toxic by inhalation (that is, a ``material 

[[Page 9519]]
poisonous by inhalation'' that meets the criteria for ``hazard zone 
A'');
    D. A hazardous material in a bulk packaging having a capacity equal 
to or greater than 13,248 liters (3,500 gallons) for liquids or gases 
or more than 13.24 cubic meters (468 cubic feet) for solids; or
    E. A shipment, in other than a bulk packaging, of 2,268 kilograms 
(5,000 pounds) gross weight or more of a class of hazardous materials 
for which placarding of a vehicle, rail car, or freight container is 
required for that class.
    The 1995-96 registration year ends on June 30, 1996. The 1996-97 
registration year will begin on July 1, 1996, and end on June 30, 1997. 
Any person who engages in any of the specified activities during the 
1996-97 registration year must file a registration statement and pay 
the associated fee of $300.00 before July 1, 1996, or before engaging 
in any of the activities, whichever is later. All persons who 
registered for the 1995-96 registration year will be mailed a 
registration statement form and an informational brochure in April 
1996. Other persons wishing to obtain the form and any other 
information relating to this program should contact the program number 
given above.
    The registration statement has not been revised for the 1996-97 
registration year. In a final rule published under Docket HM-208B (May 
23, 1995; 60 FR 27231) two minor changes in the registration 
requirements were made, effective beginning with the 1996-97 
registration year: (1) foreign offerors are permanently excepted from 
the registration requirement if the country in which they are domiciled 
does not impose registration or a fee upon U.S. companies for offering 
hazardous materials into that country, and (2) the definition of 
``materials extremely toxic by inhalation'' has been expanded to 
include all materials poisonous by inhalation that meet the criteria 
for hazard zone A.
    Registrants should file a registration statement and pay the 
associated fee well before July 1, 1996, in order to ensure that a 
1996-97 certificate of registration has been obtained by that date to 
comply with the recordkeeping requirements. These include the 
requirement that the registration number be made available on board 
each truck and truck tractor (not including trailers and semi-trailers) 
and each vessel used to transport hazardous materials subject to the 
registration requirements. A certificate of registration is generally 
mailed within three weeks of RSPA's receipt of a registration 
statement.
    Persons who engage in any of the specified activities during a 
registration year are required to register for that year. Persons who 
engaged in these activities during registration year 1992-93 (September 
16, 1992, through June 30, 1993), 1993-94 (July 1, 1993, through June 
30, 1994), 1994-95 (July 1, 1994, through June 30, 1995), or 1995-96 
(July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996) and have not filed a registration 
statement and paid the associated fee of $300.00 for each year for 
which registration is required should contact RSPA to obtain the 
required form (DOT F 5800.2). A copy of the form that will be 
distributed for the 1996-97 registration year may be used to register 
for previous years. Persons who fail to register for any registration 
year in which they engaged in such activities are subject to civil 
penalties for each day a covered activity is performed. The legal 
obligation to register for a year in which any specified activity was 
conducted does not end with the registration year. Registration after 
the completion of a registration year may also involve the imposition 
of a late fee and interest in addition to a civil penalty.
    During the 1994-95 and 1995-96 registration years, RSPA 
participated with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) in a 
pilot test of an alternate procedure for filing the Federal 
registration statement for motor carriers who were also subject to the 
State of Ohio's registration program through the PUCO. That test has 
been completed and will not be continued during the 1995-96 
registration year while the results are evaluated. All persons required 
to register with RSPA should do so by submitting the registration 
statement with payment directly to the U.S. Department of 
Transportation, Hazardous Materials Registration, P.O. Box 740188, 
Atlanta, Georgia 30374-0188.

    Issued in Washington, DC on March 5, 1996.
Alan I. Roberts,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety.
[FR Doc. 96-5565 Filed 3-7-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P