[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14502-14503]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-7664]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Special Programs Administration
[Notice No. 97-1]


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 1997-98 on July 1, 1997. 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 1996-97 registration 
year will be mailed a registration statement form and informational 
brochure in May.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David W. Donaldson, Office of 
Hazardous Materials Planning and Analysis, DHM-60 (202-366-4109), 
Hazardous Materials Safety, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001, or by E-mail to [email protected].

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, 
Secs. 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, three territories, and 15 Native 
American tribes during FY 1996. 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 1995 funds helped to provide: 
(1) Training for 121,000 emergency response personnel; (2) 
approximately 500 commodity flow studies and hazard analyses; (3) 4,500 
emergency response plans updated or written for the first time; (4) 
assistance to 2,150 local emergency planning committees; and (5) 770 
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 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 following persons are excepted from the registration 
requirement:
    A. Agencies of the Federal Government;
    B. Agencies of States;
    C. Agencies of political subdivisions of States;
    D. Employees of those agencies listed in A, B, or C with respect to 
their official duties;
    E. Hazmat employees, including the owner-operator of a motor 
vehicle which transports in commerce hazardous materials if that 
vehicle, at the time of those activities, is leased to a registered 
motor carrier under a 30-day or longer lease as prescribed in 49 CFR 
Part 1057 or an equivalent contractual relationship; and
    F. Persons domiciled outside the United States who offer, solely 
from locations outside the United States, hazardous materials for 
transportation in commerce, 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. However, persons domiciled 
outside the United States who carry the types and quantities of 
hazardous materials that require registration within the United States 
are subject to the registration requirement.
    The 1996-97 registration year ends on June 30, 1997. The 1997-98 
registration year will begin on July 1, 1997, and end on June 30, 1998. 
Any person who engages in any of the specified activities during the 
1997-98 registration year

[[Page 14503]]

must file a registration statement and pay the associated fee of 
$300.00 before July 1, 1997, or before engaging in any of the 
activities, whichever is later. All persons who registered for the 
1996-97 registration year will be mailed a registration statement form 
and an informational brochure in May 1997. Other persons wishing to 
obtain the form and any other information relating to this program 
should contact RSPA at the address given above. The brochure and form 
can also be downloaded from the RSPA registration Internet home page at 
http://ohm.volpe.dot.gov/ohm/register.htm.
    The registration statement has not been revised for the 1997-98 
registration year. Registrants should file a registration statement and 
pay the associated fee at least four weeks before July 1, 1997, in 
order to ensure that a 1997-98 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 ten days of RSPA's receipt of a 
properly completed 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), 1995-96 (July 
1, 1995, through June 30, 1996), or 1996-97 (July 1, 1996, through June 
30, 1997), 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 1997-98 
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.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on March 21, 1997.
Alan I. Roberts,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety.
[FR Doc. 97-7664 Filed 3-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P