[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 75 (Monday, April 20, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19573-19574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-10384]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration
[Notice No. 98-4]


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 1998-99 on July 1, 1998. 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 1997-98 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 S.W., 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, 
Sections 107.601-107.620.
    Proceeds from the fee are used to fund grants to State, local, and 
Native American tribal governments for emergency response training and 
planning. Grants were awarded to 49 states, the District of Columbia, 
five territories, and 17 Native American tribes during FY 1997. By law, 
75 percent of the Federal grant monies

[[Page 19574]]

awarded to the States is further distributed to local emergency 
response and planning agencies. The FY 1996 funds helped to provide: 
(1) Training for 120,000 emergency response personnel; (2) 
approximately 520 commodity flow studies and hazard analyses; (3) 5,650 
emergency response plans updated or written for the first time; (4) 
assistance to 1,850 local emergency planning committees; and (5) 800 
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 1997-98 registration year ends on June 30, 1998. The 1998-99 
registration year will begin on July 1, 1998, and end on June 30, 1999. 
Any person who engages in any of the specified activities during the 
1998-99 registration year must file a registration statement and pay 
the associated fee of $300.00 before July 1, 1998, or before engaging 
in any of the activities, whichever is later. All persons who 
registered for the 1997-98 registration year will be mailed a 
registration statement form and an informational brochure in May 1998. 
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://hazmat.dot.gov/register.htm.
    The registration statement has not been revised for the 1998-99 
registration year. Registrants should file a registration statement and 
pay the associated fee at least four weeks before July 1, 1998, in 
order to ensure that a 1998-99 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), 1996-97 (July 1, 1996, through June 
30, 1997), or 1997-98 (July 1, 1997, through June 30, 1998) 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 1998-99 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 April 14, 1998.
Alan I. Roberts,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety.
[FR Doc. 98-10384 Filed 4-17-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P