[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 135 (Friday, July 13, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36820-36821]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-17570]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG-2001-10066]


Define Inflatable Liferafts as Associated Equipment for 
Recreational Vessels

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Boating Safety Advisory Council (NBSAC) 
recommended that the Coast Guard (we) extend the application of our 
existing authority so that, when necessary, we can recall defective 
inflatable liferafts carried on recreational vessels. We would like 
your comments to help us determine the current extent of any problems 
with inflatable liferafts. Comments received will help us fully 
evaluate the NBSAC recommendation.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before October 11, 2001.

ADDRESSES: To make sure your comments and related material are not 
entered more than once in the docket, please submit them by only one of 
the following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001.
    (2) By delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif 
Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    (3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
notice. Comments and material received from the public, as well as 
documents mentioned in this notice as being available in the docket, 
will become part of this docket and will be available for inspection or 
copying at room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 
Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays. You may also find this docket 
on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
contact Rick Gipe, Project Manager, Office of Boating Safety, telephone 
202-267-0985, e-mail [email protected]. If you have questions on 
viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Dorothy Beard, 
Chief, Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone 202-366-5149.
    You may obtain a copy of this notice by calling the U.S. Coast 
Guard Infoline at 1-800-368-5647 or read it on the Internet at the Web 
Site for the Office of Boating Safety at http://www.uscgboating.org or 
at http://dms.dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Under 46 U.S.C. 4310, manufacturers of recreational boats and 
certain items of associated equipment identified by regulation must 
notify owners and recall and repair or replace their products when the 
products either fail to comply with an applicable Coast Guard safety 
standard or contain defects that create a substantial risk of personal 
injury to the public. The defect-notification regulations in 33 CFR 
part 179 currently apply to the following items of designated 
associated equipment: (1) An inboard engine, (2) an outboard engine, 
(3) a stern drive unit, and (4) an inflatable personal flotation device 
approved under 46 CFR 160.076.
    By law, the Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety is required to 
consult with the National Boating Safety Advisory Council (NBSAC) in 
prescribing regulations and regarding other major boating safety 
matters. NBSAC is made up of 21 members: Seven from the boating 
industry, seven who are State boating officials, and seven who 
represent national boating organizations or the general public.
    At a May 2000 meeting, a NBSAC member, who is also an inflatable 
boat and liferaft manufacturer, briefed the council about problems with 
the construction of certain inflatable liferafts typically carried by 
recreational boaters. Liferafts that do not deploy properly, e.g., fail 
to inflate or fail to maintain inflation, are a danger to recreational 
boaters who depend upon them as a safety device. We informed NBSAC 
that, unlike Coast Guard approved liferafts which are required to be 
carried on commercial vessels, the liferafts typically carried by 
recreational boaters are not constructed to any specific standard and 
do not fall within the Coast Guard's existing recall authority. 
Therefore, NBSAC passed a resolution urging the Coast Guard to consider 
making inflatable liferafts carried on recreational vessels an 
additional item of designated associated equipment subject to the 
existing defect-notification requirements.

Questions

    To assist us in considering NBSAC's resolution, we ask for your 
comments, particularly in response to the following questions:
    1. What data or studies are available indicating failure rates or 
failure modes for inflatable liferafts carried on recreational vessels?
    2. What types of defects in the construction of inflatable 
liferafts carried on recreational vessels should be considered severe 
enough to require a manufacturer to conduct defect notification?
    3. What are the economic and other impacts on inflatable liferaft 
manufacturers if the Coast Guard were to require those companies to 
notify owners and to recall and repair or replace defective liferafts 
that contain defects that create a substantial risk of personal injury 
to the public?
    4. Would the designation of inflatable liferafts carried on 
recreational vessels as ``associated equipment'' place an inappropriate 
and inconsistent burden on manufacturers in relation to other items of 
``associated equipment?'' Why or why not?
    5. The Coast Guard is mindful of the potential adverse impacts on 
small business entities. The term ``small entities'' comprises small 
businesses, not-for-profit organizations that are independently owned 
and operated and are not dominant in their fields, and governmental 
jurisdictions with populations of less than 50,000. To what extent are 
small entities engaged in the manufacture of inflatable liferafts 
carried on recreational vessels?
    6. How many companies are currently manufacturing inflatable 
liferafts for use on recreational vessels?
    7. In order to properly designate inflatable liferafts carried on 
recreational vessels as ``associated equipment,'' we request your 
suggestions on how to define these liferafts so as to distinguish them 
from

[[Page 36821]]

similar equipment, such as inflatable buoyant apparatus for merchant 
vessels approved under 46 CFR 160.010-3, inflatable liferafts for 
domestic service approved under 46 CFR part 160, subpart 160.051, SOLAS 
inflatable liferafts approved under 46 CFR part 160, subpart 160.151, 
and water toys used at beaches and in swimming pools. In other words, 
how should we define the term ``inflatable liferaft carried on 
recreational vessels''?
    8. U.S. manufacturers and importers of recreational boats and 
designated associated equipment are required by law to maintain first 
purchaser lists and conduct recalls when their products fail to comply 
with an applicable Coast Guard safety standard or contain substantial 
risk defects. However, currently we have no legal authority over 
foreign manufacturers of inflatable liferafts carried on recreational 
vessels. How could we ensure that foreign manufacturers of inflatable 
liferafts carried on recreational vessels would be legally responsible 
for the safety of their products?
    9. What other information about boating accidents involving the use 
of inflatable liferafts carried on recreational vessels should we 
consider?

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to participate in this request for comments by 
submitting comments and related material and answering the above 
questions. If you do so, please include your name and address, identify 
the docket number for this notice (USCG-2001-10066), indicate by number 
each question you are answering, and give the reason for each comment. 
You may submit your comments and material by mail, hand-delivery, fax, 
or electronic means to the Docket Management Facility at the address 
under ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and material by only 
one means. If you submit them by mail or hand-delivery, submit them in 
an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail and would 
like to know they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, self-
addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and 
material received during the comment period. Your comments will help us 
to determine whether to initiate a rulemaking in response to the NBSAC 
resolution.

Public Meeting

    We do not now plan to hold a public meeting. But you may submit a 
request for one to the Docket Management Facility at the address under 
ADDRESSES explaining why one would be beneficial. If we determine that 
one would aid the consideration of the NBSAC resolution, we will hold 
one at a time and place announced by a later notice in the Federal 
Register.

    Dated: July 6, 2001.
Kenneth T. Venuto,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Director of Operations Policy.
[FR Doc. 01-17570 Filed 7-12-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P